Author: The News Feed
AI: Changing the music listening experience
by Kate Haas-
With artificial intelligence becoming a hot topic across various industries, Spotify’s new AI-powered DJ has raised concerns about the future of music streaming platforms.
As a leading music streaming service, Spotify attributes its success to one major hallmark: they provide a personalized music experience for users. By partnering with the company that owns the ubiquitous ChatGPT, OpenAI and Spotify launched one of the most personalized features for Premium users.
This new feature, currently only available in the United States and Canada, creates a unique radio station for each listener based on past favorites, recent repeats and new recommendations.
In between each song, the AI-powered host, DJ X, provides commentary about different artists and tracks using a generated, realistic-sounding radio voice.
DJ X also updates commentary each month to include cultural references during song breaks. In honor of Women’s History Month, DJ X has been recommending users listen to the playlist “Women of Pop Throughout the Ages.”
The goal of the new feature, explained Spotify, is for the platform to get to know listeners well enough for the DJ to choose what to play with the click of a single button. Or, as Spotify said in their press release, it’s putting an “AI DJ in your pocket.”
How do other online music streaming services plan to compete with Spotify by integrating AI into their own systems? Will AI change the future of the music business? Experts within the industry have their own responses to these burning questions.
“I think that we’ll see other platforms attempt to integrate AI into their systems in unique ways – maybe YouTube Music will implement AI searching or Pandora will try to create AI talk shows,” said Artem Bank, an esteemed audio engineer and professor of audio technology at Virginia Tech. “I think for any service, AI integration is the buzzword right now, just as ‘algorithm’ was for search relevance not too long ago.”
Bank said there are several dangers that arose when Spotify merged AI with music.
The priorities of Spotify’s version of AI focus on data sets of popularity. This means when DJ X is recommending artists for a user to listen to, popular artists with a higher listener count will get priority over a smaller artist, even if the user listens to both. This specific piece of the algorithm could be threatening to smaller names trying to gain popularity on streaming platforms.
“AI can replicate based on what it’s learned, but it struggles to create something brand new in terms of style and genre,” said Bank, the lead live audio engineer for the PBS series “Live at 9:30.”
Bank also noted that until AI seeks to replace composers and songwriters as a whole, a major shift in the future of the music industry won’t happen.
Although Spotify has taken the lead in integrating cutting-edge AI technology into their streaming service, the challenge for musicians to create unique and innovative sound becomes even more difficult amidst an evolving industry landscape.
Taxes explained
by Nicole Tutino and Emaryi Williams —
Taxes are a complicated thing that millions of working Americans deal with every year. In this video, we explain how taxes came to be in the United States, why citizens need them and why the current filing system remains complicated.
Religion’s influence on health
by Savannah Webb-
Religion and health are often kept separate, but studies show there is more overlap than might be expected.
“Religious involvement is related to virtually every single aspect of health — mental, social, behavioral and physical,” said Harold Koenig, director of Duke University’s Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health. “Literally every health outcome is in some way connected to religious involvement.”
Koenig has over four decades of research experience studying the health effects of monotheistic religions like Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
“It’s really about devoutness,” Koenig said. “To what extent is a person’s attitudes and lifestyle driven by their religious beliefs? If it doesn’t affect the way they make their decisions and the way they treat other people and think about themselves, it’s not going to help.”
Positive mental health benefits such as lower levels of anxiety and lower risk of suicide are associated with religious devotion, and Koenig explained that religious involvement also lowers risk of cardiovascular disease.
“If you have a sense of purpose and meaning and you feel that you’re in control, because God is in control, all of that lowers your stress level,” Koenig said. “It makes perfect, logical, rational sense that you would then be at lower risk for high blood pressure, stroke or a heart attack.”
The Harvard School of Public Health has found similar results with larger research samples, specifically in women. While there’s no foolproof explanation for this gender disparity, Koenig offered insight on the phenomenon.
“I think religion is a little bit easier for women to engage in because they’re more social, and they’re more in touch with their emotions,” he said. “It’s harder for men. There’s a general tendency for them to not be as social or in touch with their emotions.”
While gender seems to play a part in the relationship between religion and health, Koenig said the research indicates there is another factor at play — locus of control.
An individual with an internal locus of control believes their health is heavily influenced by their behavior and decisions, whereas an external locus of control places an individual’s health outcomes in the hands of fate or God. Surprisingly, Koenig has found that greater religious involvement is related to an internal locus of control.
“People who have strong faith actually have a greater sense of control, but it’s an indirect control through their dependence and belief in God,” he said. “They believe they can do things to influence God’s actions — like prayer — and in giving up control, there is actually an increase in control. It’s extraordinary how it all psychologically works.”
Finally, Koenig’s research indicates that the extent of psychological and physical relief from anguish depends on how long a person has been practicing religion.
“The people who benefit the most are those who are younger, because they have their entire lifetime to reap the benefits of that religious faith,” Koenig said. “Religious involvement protects you from drug and alcohol abuse, cigarette smoking, and stress levels — all of which keeps you healthier.”
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Uptick in clothes thrifting
by George Waters-
Thrifting clothes is becoming more popular by the day. According to a report by ThredUp, the second-hand market is projected to boom 127% by 2026 from where it was only two years ago.
In the business world, that type of growth is generally beyond even the most optimistic of expectations, but why are so many people flocking to this market?
The best way to look at this is from the beginning, and reusing clothes and materials has been a facet of society for generations. As the authors of this Tryst article cover, thrifting in the U.S. is commonly linked to the Salvation Army’s inception in the early 1900s.
In reality, its roots go back even further as immigrants found ways to make what money they could selling used clothes and items on the streets. Before that, families would pass down clothes from one kid to the next as they were handmade.
As time went on, and thrifting became more of a social phenomenon and less of a familial one, its popularity dipped before rising back up in recent decades.
This can be attributed to a number of factors. Thrift shops have always been valued because of how cost-effective they are for the consumer, but a concern for the environment has likely sparked a new wave of conscientious customers.
Gen Z is especially contributing to this sentiment and is commonly attributed to the market’s rapid growth. Fashion guides using thrift hauls are extremely successful over social media.
There are some concerns, as this NY Times article points out, about how second-hand markets are growing however. The rise in fast fashion is flooding stores with cheap, poorly made clothes that consumers are less likely to buy but still take up precious time for employees to catalog.
Additionally, the surge in consumers has the potential to deplete the quality stock and create a rise in pricing, driving away the individuals with little cash flow that these institutions were originally designed for.
Either way, the second-hand market is making its push to become the first choice in the eyes of consumers.
How the pandemic changed restaurant industry
by Alana Kirsch-
The Covid-19 pandemic was brutal for small businesses in America with restaurants, getting particularly hit hard. But if you’re looking for a silver lining, many of these changes provided options that brought alternative forms of revenue, opened a door for new customers, and changed the trajectory of the industry itself.
Prior to 2019, a restaurant was a place to gather and share a meal. New safety regulations led the restaurant industry to re-evaluate its service model. Operators’ priority became their customers’ safety and restaurants worked quickly to implement new offerings that would keep them in business.
While in-person dining services were paused restaurants focused on alternative forms of revenue. Sixty-seven percent of restaurants implemented curbside pick-up with another 27% implementing third-party delivery.
People were able to order food from their favorite restaurants while reducing the risk of exposure. Many places even provided customers with a contactless delivery option, requesting the deliverer to leave the food at the door.
New changes continued to be implemented even after the option for in-person dining services was re-opened. Physical menus were replaced with QR Codes. This allowed customers to scan a code on their mobile devices which would direct them to an online version of an establishment’s menu. Contactless menus were an easy and accessible solution for most people.
Cashless payments became the new normal. Many establishments adopted tablets to avoid giving customers physical checks. This allowed for the rise of contactless payment all together. Most restaurant establishments have continued using the new practices they implemented during the pandemic.
Automation was not the only solution. Mandatory physical changes lead to deeper reconstructions within the system. Restaurants have been known for long hours, low wages, and few benefits. This too was changed by the pandemic.
Social distancing called for restaurants to reduce their in-person dining availability. This allowed restaurant owners and operators to focus on the quality of their employees instead of the quantity.
With fewer and better employees to pay wages and benefits grew. The independent restaurant coalition reports since February of 2020 84% of restaurants have raised wages and 34% have added paid sick leave to benefits for their employees.
An essential characteristic of working in any restaurant is the ability to adapt. This was especially true during the pandemic. Although these changes are a departure from the pre-pandemic world they lead to many necessary changes for employees and customers.
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