This kind of disgusts me. I'm against data mining, and the author is basically saying "we could be collecting so much data on our customers! Look at how much we could manipulate the way they think!"
I largely listen to music (and especially live music!) to escape the world, turn off my brain for a few hours, and just live. The last thing I want is for it to turn into another overwhelming, time consuming, data mining experience that I have to worry about. Sometimes you just want to listen to a live band, or sit in a park, or have a burger and a beer by the water. Technology shouldn't be an annoyance you can't outrun, we have to leave some room for life. And, by the way, this shit is happening... Apple has been pushing it first with Ping (I think... I may be wrong about the name), and now with that follow feature on apple music... They won't stop pushing it, and others likely will too, and I'm dreading it. On the plus side, it will push me to go see even more local and unknown bands, I guess. It's just very annoying that nothing at all can be an organic escape anymore... Everything has to be measured and mined so it can be exploited. I used to catch an NBA game sometimes, then my team got good and tickets got scarce and very expensive, I went back in December for the first time in years... I was shocked... They're literally running commercials at the damn arena! "This timeout is brought to you by so and so gifts on the third floor! Stop in now for special offers!". There are personal injury lawyer billboards over the urinals... The whole thing feels like a huge cash grab and it takes you away from what should be a relaxing and fun experience. Now, I don't care about basketball, but I do care about music... If that happens to my music shows I'm going to be royally pissed off... All I want is a couple of hours of music so loud that I can't hear my phone go off as my boss texts me at 11pm on a Saturday to tell me I need to log in and fix another emergency that doesn't count as overtime.