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meccalecca
Voice of Reason
Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment
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- #1
- Posted: 11/17/2014 17:08
- Post subject: "Listening online might totally neuter music's power&qu
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This article I just read made some interesting points:
http://mic.com/articles/104250/what-the...e-of-music
| Quote: | Expert scientists have begun to explore the possibility that listening online might totally neuter music's power over listeners.
Their conclusion? It does. Powerfully. |
This is the part that resonated with me, and I think many of us can relate to:
| Quote: | "True love or appreciation for a piece of music ... comes with depth of knowledge of that music," she said. She cited three important factors in creating a genuine experience with a piece of music — "repeated exposure, iterations and intent" — which can be short-circuited in a "taste and go" environment. To her mind, though, the benefits of streaming in terms of access and broad music appreciation far outweigh the potential negative effects of streaming habits on our emotional experience.
"Those sorts of heightened emotional responses of pleasure and enjoyment and satisfaction come in a way that is counter to rapid, quick streaming and constant exposure to a lot of different things," Crum said.
Skipping and listening inattentively, then, can get in the way of building those connections: "[It] wouldn't be experienced initially, and would bypassed very quickly in a sort of 'taste and go' streaming environment." |
I can personally relate to this a lot. Since the changes in access to music brought on by Napster and eventually Spotify, I have a tendency to want to listen to as much different music as possible. It's kind of like a wine tasting. Sampling everything is great. It's not hard to capture a certain essence of a record in a listen, but in no way is it the same as back in my childhood when I'd live with a single album for weeks at a time, growing familiar with every nook and cranny of that record.
This is not to say it's impossible to listen obsessively to a record in this environment. Certain albums have sunk their teeth into me so hard that I've found it hard to listen to much else for stretches of time. But even then, there's that voice in my head telling me I've got an endless queue of records I've still never heard.
Due to the changing environment, I believe style can often win out over substance. What do I mean by that? Well, I think everyone's familiar with the type of album that seems to get better and better with each listen. Those albums are often the most subtle and nuanced. In an environment in which we're always looking for something new, it's hard for that type of album to really reveal itself like it used to. Blunt, jarring, sonically innovative albums will often likely get the greater attention, because they reward more quickly.
I'd love to hear some of your thoughts about this.
_________________
http://jonnyleather.com
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sp4cetiger
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- #2
- Posted: 11/17/2014 17:27
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I've had many of the same thoughts myself. It will be interesting to see what the lasting impact of this generation will be. Contrary to past trends, it may be that the "undiscovered" gems of this era are wallowing in obscurity because they come off as too conventional on a first listen.
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meruizh
Gender: Male
Age: 32
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- #3
- Posted: 11/17/2014 17:39
- Post subject:
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Although it's a fact the whole music experience has changed drastically over the last few years, in my personal way of listening to music I always tend to play each album at least 4-6 times before I go on to get other albums. I rarely play playlist with single songs where the skip bottom is your most used resource.
The way I experience music, it's not about playing the most records I can, but instead the search for the "click" factor in an album. This moment when everything just feels special. It could be a certain kind of mood, or recall certain kind of feelings.
The industry can change, but the way I experience music will remain the same.
_________________
"Hurry Up, We're Dreaming"
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meccalecca
Voice of Reason
Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment
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- #4
- Posted: 11/17/2014 17:41
- Post subject:
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| sp4cetiger wrote: | | Contrary to past trends, it may be that the "undiscovered" gems of this era are wallowing in obscurity because they come off as too conventional on a first listen. |
haha yes. That could very well be the case. As the influence of a site like RYM becomes more substantial, it's interesting to think that the "reviews" that many will be depending on for recs could be by 13 year olds who've barely skimmed through a record.
_________________
http://jonnyleather.com
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meccalecca
Voice of Reason
Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment
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- #5
- Posted: 11/17/2014 17:45
- Post subject:
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| meruizh wrote: | | The industry can change, but the way I experience music will remain the same. |
You give me hope.
That "click" is such an incredible moment, and it doesn't often happen during a first listen. I often look at listening to an album like peeling away layers. With each listen you should find yourself more deeply immersed into the album.
I know there's many other folks who prefer to listen only once, because they see multiple listens as a hindrance against their ability to listen to as much as possible.
_________________
http://jonnyleather.com
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Happymeal
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- #6
- Posted: 11/17/2014 17:47
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Are there studies (either not linked or linked through the article) that support this particular statement directly? I'd much prefer to read the studies over the article (due to not enjoying articles in general). This isn't meant to discredit the article; I just don't find the format to be appealing.
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meccalecca
Voice of Reason
Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment
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- #7
- Posted: 11/17/2014 18:28
- Post subject:
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| Happymeal wrote: | | Are there studies (either not linked or linked through the article) that support this particular statement directly? I'd much prefer to read the studies over the article (due to not enjoying articles in general). This isn't meant to discredit the article; I just don't find the format to be appealing. |
This link includes a study of the short attention spans of spotify users (frequency of which a listener doesn't make it to the end of a song.)
http://musicmachinery.com/2014/05/02/the-skip/
And this gets a bit into the effects of compression on the listening experience:
http://www.soundandvision.com/content/d...ly-matters
_________________
http://jonnyleather.com
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CA Dreamin
Gender: Male
Location: LA
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- #8
- Posted: 11/17/2014 18:33
- Post subject:
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Someone finally started a forum that wasn't BS. Thank you meccalecca for sharing this article. I learned a few things, but what stood out to me was that MP3 compression strips 91% of music data; and that vinyl records would have an estimated bit rate of 1000. I knew CDs had 256 and Spotify had 96 (which is horrible.). I also knew standard quality YouTube videos have 128, HQ ones have 256. But anyway, I never really considered how lower quality audio directly causes lack of listener response.
Perhaps it doesn't matter, because there's nothing we album listeners can do. We're screwed. The article is pretty clear that the industry is moving away from us. The highest emotional response that comes from music is a full album in vinyl format. But now it's come to streaming individual songs over the internet at a fraction of the quality, which we only have a 50% chance of actually finishing. And if we like it, we can illegally download it.
I hate to say it, but I think the conclusion here is that in 10-20 years, we will all be dinosaurs. We listen to music at good quality; and we listen to the same artists for more than 10 consecutive minutes. Bravo.
_________________
on such a winter's day
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alelsupreme
Awful.
Gender: Male
Age: 27
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- #9
- Posted: 11/17/2014 18:38
- Post subject:
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Without streaming I would never have got into music, I should worship Spotify's makers tbh.
_________________
| Romanelli wrote: | | We're all fucked, lads. |
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creator
Age: 36
Location: chicago
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- #10
- Posted: 11/17/2014 19:06
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I feel that despite the quantity or frequency of albums we acquire, the great ones will still resonate. I'm going to remember listening to Down Colorful Hill during the hours leading to my 24th birthday just as much as I remember downloading every Sugar Ray song from Napster and Limewire for weeks when I was younger.
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