I recall a specific moment in the summer when we took a few days off, in Paris... some younger families occupied a couple of rooms close to us. In the evening, they were playing music - quite loud - while preparing for a night out.
I didn’t mind their music at all, I did mind the ads that popped up every 15 minutes. I haven’t used my Spotify account ever since, except for my weekly 'release radar'.
Instead I went back to my old vinyls. It has become a night routine to sit down, pick a record and listen while reading the booklet, a magazine or a paper book. That said, I admit I might be missing out on the latest hype that everyone has forgotten about in three weeks... but I’m building a deeper connection with the work of artists I love.
Ofcourse, I too have assembled a digital library to tap into over the years. It is my default option for listening during working hours and 'on the go'.
As for my favorite albums over time, I know every single song from most. I’ve listened to them countless times, front to back, repeatedly. Even the songs I might not enjoy at first; Sometimes those songs turn into my favourites, it only took some time for me to process it . 'Sometimes it snows in April' by Prince is a perfect exemple for me.
We don’t give music that time anymore. If we don’t enjoy a song immediately, we skip it and the algorithm learns from that data, serving us even 'better' a next time, so that we experience as little friction as possible.
But wait a moment...consider the fact it takes months if not years, to create an album... who are we to judge and skip it after 20 seconds ?
Music is art. Great music is often challenging. It’s mostly not 'easy listening'. It’s not a frictionless soundtrack of our lives, but an expansion of our horizon. When we restrict ourselves to our existing tastes and preferences, we miss out.
This is key, I think: Without information or stories attached to it, music is just some ephemeral set of data in some cloud we rent temporary access to.
So, let's connect the dots: embrace Streaming to discover - like going to a fastfood - and dig deeper on what catches your attention... just like taking time for some fine dining with loved ones !
Pieter
Comments