It doesn't matter what your preferred streaming service is these days — you're bound to the algorithm to help you find new songs, artists, or albums. Thankfully, apps like YouTube Music have plenty of playlists, algorithmic and otherwise, to help suggest similar music to your already-established tastes. YouTube Music is looking to go one step further with a new feature designed to push you from album to album, and it could be the sort of thing that helps you discover your next favorite track.
As spotted by Reddit user u/yperfysikos, YouTube Music has a new "Recommended" section in the works for its album pages (via Android Authority). Rather than displaying simple copyright notices or alternate versions of albums at the bottom of any given album tracklist, this Reddit user noticed a new carousel of similar LPs worth diving into. In the screenshot shared, for example, Swans' landmark To Be Kind included suggestions for the band's most recent album The Beggar, as well as Godspeed You! Black Emperor's 2012 release 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! — both of which, to my ear, are solid recommendations.
Likewise, AP's News Editor Dallas Thomas spotted recommendations on his account. He saw follow-up recommendations for Run the Jewels' RTJ4 (which, naturally, included the group's second album) and Three Dog Night's Cyan, which featured the group's album Seven Separate Fools and Dan Fogelberg's Captured Angel.
Album recommendations could help YouTube Music catch up to its competition
But we're still waiting for them to roll out widely
This feature on YouTube Music, as well as similar tools on Spotify and Apple Music.
As both Android Authority and the vast majority of comments note, it doesn't seem like this feature has rolled out to most users. Unlike this Redditor and my AP colleague, on the most recent build distributed through the Play Store, my album pages end after their tracklist (or, when available, alternate versions like extended editions). We all know how much Google loves a server side update, and I'd be shocked if that didn't apply here. Still, if the recommendations are as good as this sole Reddit user's screenshot seems to imply, it could be a great new addition to YouTube Music.
However, if you really want something like this in your life, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Spotify and Apple Music have both beaten Google to the punch on this front. Spotify fares the worst out of the three; while it does have a "You might also like" section for every album, every tracklist I checked out recommended genre-related playlists curated by Spotify, not individual albums. This speaks volumes about where Spotify wants its users to live, in my opinions — within endlessly rotating playlists, not within an actual curated LP.
Apple Music, though, seems to offer exactly what YouTube Music is bringing here. Pulling up the exact same Swans album, I fully expected to see Daughters You Won't Get What You Want — the first recommendation, naturally — along with albums from Xiu Xiu, Death Grips, and another appearance from 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!. All feel pretty fitting for fans of Swans (or, frankly, Anthony Fantano's YouTube channel).
With any luck, this new recommendations section will roll out to everyone soon. If you've seen it on your YouTube Music album pages, let us know — I have to imagine we're all pretty excited to check out some new music suggestions.