When Lane Jordan, J Hausmann and Nate Gagnon set about creating Forgotify, their initial goal was to give “neglected songs another way to reach your earholes”.
The trio uses a program that collates all the songs with a “0” popularity rating meaning they have never been played and pushes them through the web app at random. Just press Start Listening and get ready for a crazy ride of European classical music, Indian film music, Turkish folk, German power rock, you name it.
According to Spotify in 2013, 80% of all Spotify songs had been listened to at least once, leaving around 4 million songs without any plays. And as the years go on, more songs will be added to the service and the number of zero-play songs will increase too.
To me, this sounds a lot like rifling through a bargain bin at a record store (although some of those records have probably been played to death but still hold a “0” popularity rating hence their presence in the unwanted pile).
But remember: once a song is played, it will disappear from Forgotify forever. That lack of permanence adds extra quality to your listen-through. And that’s why Forgotify is the perfect tool for sampling inspiration, whether you’re an e-digger or need a direction to take on your next crate-digging journey. You could find something that no one else has ever heard and once you have, it gets lost in a stream of songs forever.
You’ll need Spotify to use the web app but Forgotify may well form a part of your sampling arsenal. Head over to the Forgotify website and start your journey today.