I feel this. Software made within capitalism inevitably serves the majority. No team can make all features. So you build features for 80% of your users. Actually, it might be even worse: Build features for the 10% of users generating 80% of your revenue. 90% of users get a worse experience.
I like this sentiment, and I think there’s room for improvement on both sides. To me, meaningful UX improvement would generally look like lower barrier to entry and more flexibility and control. I don’t have to know how a car works to use it. And I don’t have to know how the engine works to change the audio system.
Agreed. Though, I worry that many features as knowledge have fallen out of reach. People who get curious may just as easily get discouraged. We need to bridge the knowledge gap with tools that encourage digging deeper and asking “how can I change that?”
Optimistically, I believe that with the right (builder) knowledge, all building blocks are already out there. And so are the people with the creativity and drive to try the new things that others build.
Did I just make a really long excuse for wanting to build things? Maybe. One thing seems true: we need to spark more curiosity for knowledge. And I think better tools can do that. As they are, computers are just too dang hard to know how to change.
I seem to recall a thread on here talking about some feedback service that anonymized the track… Anyway, the sway of perception also applies to our tools, the emotional experience of using them, that stamp of social approval when we tell our friends about all the features. It’s similar to (same as?) the convenience problem. Commercial interface design has spoiled us with frictionlessness and visual appeal. Just as we might build tools that help us do good things that are inconvenient, might we build tools that help us do good things that are exposed in a way that’s, well, not much to look at?
It’s funny, because after all this I still haven’t even responded to the main topic, and it’s a topic I love. Social features do feel overlooked in the landscape of music tools. I’ve always loved the idea of nurturing more interaction between musicians and listeners. Spotify makes musicians feel distant, listeners are just a sum of plays. We need more ways to build community, not grow audiences. Maybe I’ll come back with some concrete ideas 