The recent Spotify layoffs were unfortunate, like all layoffs are. One of those laid off was Glenn McDonald, originally of The Echo Nest and creator of Every Noise at Once. One of the extra unfortunate byproducts of that downsizing is that Every Noise at Once no longer functions.

For the unfamiliar, Every Noise at Once was a massive mapping of every genre that appeared in Spotify as a giant word cloud that you could easily sample. Want to know what "Lithuanian EDM" sounds like? "Czech Electronic"? "Doomcore"? "Lezginka"? "Post-Grunge"? It's all there as a giant word cloud jumping off point to hear something new. There were many additional projects that involve a lot of data wrangling - so much that it boggles the mind (see "Every Record Label at Once, 2023 Around the World, The Approaching Worms of Christmas). Many of these still work but some relied on internal scripts that McDonald ran while he was employed. After his termination, that is no longer an option.

One major feature that was offered was "New Releases by Genre." By itself that's a powerful tool but there was an additional level of filtering by region. For years, I referenced the Nashville New Hip-Hop Releases, an absolutely crucial list of information that is nearly impossible to find anywhere else. It's gone now. Reading through McDonald's blog about the project, it won't be coming back either. Spotify's API does not offer the data in such a way that this information even could be retrieved. A real bummer.

The upside is that good things come from fresh starts. McDonald's blog has loads of interesting and meaningful insights about the work he did and what he's looking to do moving forward.. neither of which would have happened had the site not been turned off. It operated for ten years.. not a bad run. RIP Every Noise at Once.