ElectricBlues Radio

ElectricBlues Radio Now at Spotify.com

Stiff Streaming Royalty Fees have finally driven Live365 out of business,
and along with it ElectricBlues Radio.

The next best thing is the ElectricBlues Radio playlist available at Spotify
(see some Spotify quick start tips below).

Nearly 4,000 songs, over 300 hours of music, all based around many of the the same artists featured on ElectricBlues Radio. However, this playlist wasn't constructed with the same personal criteria of song selection as as the original EB Radio. I put this list together by simply adding in ALL songs from all the blues groups I could carry over from EB Radio. I listen to the playlist most days while commuting back and forth to work, and typically make note of 2-3 songs to be cleaned out, so that over time, this Spotify playlist will gradually become more specific, and feel more like the original EB Radio. If you hear a song you feel is a candidate for removal, you can send me a Spotify message by right-clicking ElectricBlues Radio or clicking the three dots (Options) from the Playlist display and selecting Share.

Quick Start Tips for Spotify.com

You will have to use the Spotify web player or download the Spotify App to your computer and/or device (Android or iPhone). I do recommend downloading the app for PC use. Much better response, and there's more features.

There is a free version and and premium version. The free version allows selecting individual songs, and it seems fairly unlimited access to songs when using a PC. You can listen for free on your mobile device as well, but you'll be limited to skipping 6 songs per hour, and no individual song selections. There are a short run of ads every 30 minutes... this arrangement works fine for me. If you want unlimited access on your mobile device, you'll need to sign up for Spotify Premium, $10 a month.

There are a lot of user features in Spotify, I'm still learning my own way around. It's easy to get lost. More than once I started out with the EB Radio playlist, but ended up somewhere else after too many experimental clicks.

There is shuffle feature, The location of the shuffle button depends. If you're using the Spotify Web Player, it's on the right under the play button. Or, if you downloaded the Spotify app (highly recommended), then it's in the lower right.... it looks kinda like a wavy X, find it, use it. Just to the left of the shuffle button is a queue button, which will show a short list of upcoming songs.

I think if you use the download app, the playlist will pick up where you left off last time. You can also add songs, albums and artists to your own music collection (Labeled "Your Music" in the player), or create your own playlist and add songs to that. Cursor over an album cover or song title from a song list and you'll see three dots... click on the dots and you'll see several options. Spotify uses the "three dot" option tag here and there, it's good to be aware of it.

Spotify is currently runing an add that talks about a feature where the system will play random songs based on your tastes. I think it's the Discovery Feature. Sounds like another pretty neat feature, but I haven't gotten around to trying it yet. You can enhance it's awareness of your tastes by giving songs a thumbs up or down (Thumbs up/down only available in the download app, I believe). I'm not sure what happens if you thumbs down a song on the EB Radio Playlist. Don't know if it will stop playing that song from the playlist for you. Would be interesting to know if it does.