How have ways in discovering music have evolved over time? - Music

dihansse

Gender: Male
Age: 60

I'm just wondering: technology is evolving and the way we "consume" music is also changing.
I'll start with my own experience (being at an age of 52 and Belgian):
I started as being just a listener of radio, at first just public radio stations and then pirate radio stations which also used to have shows where they mainly broadcasted album tracks and at a certain point also hard rock shows where I discovered bands like Van Halen. Another big influence was top pop, a Dutch television show with clips ( ex the clips of Bohemian Rhapsody and Lust For Life where Iggy was just showing off his torso on a kind of boxing rink come were legendary). For younger people I suppose that would be MTV.
Then came my cassette period where I first started taping from the radio (again Lust for Life was one of the first tracks on my tapes), then an uncle of mine was doing mix tapes for me (I remember him making the remark why I was asking to include Child in Time because I could have included 5 other songs instead of that long one).
Then I started to tape complete albums from friends with mainly things like Pink Floyd, The Cure, The Scorpions and Frank Marino. Sometimes I bought albums on cassette.
This means I never really bought LPs. My parents had a record collection (not my type of music) but the only LP I really bought myself was Help! From the Beatles.
So I 'over straight from cassettes to CD's when I started working in 1989 which both meant buying a big back catalogue of older music (from The Beatles to Talking Heads and buying new music (the Pixies and indie and Grunge movement just started).
Another big change was the coming up of the Ipod and ITunes so I first started digitising my hundreds of CDs and then started buying music from Itunes (I never ripped tracks for free because one way or another I found that didn't really help artists).
This changed the way I listened to music because I didn't listen to full albums in one session any more because I listenedto random lists of my collection (although I still make the connection with actual albums).
And the next stage is Apple Music which allowed me to discover more music, although I still put full albums in my playlist.
This generates a number of interesting topics/questions:
- attention span: are we (both the older and younger generation) still able to appreciate a full album?
- is the fact that music is available at a fingertip makes it less exciting to discover (new) music. At the time we really were looking forward to new albums because we had to make an effort to go and buy them.
- What is the surplus value of indepent reviews by magazines or even sites? At the time they were really important and I dicovered many interesting albus in a way I never would have discovered otherwise. Now you can discover them by listening to them because they are "free".
- Are the new media not just pointing you to types of music you already know because we are tempted to stick to sites which just confirm your taste. In the past I discovered lots of new music because magazines and radio stations directed me to music I didn't know
- are artists who want to make their music public more served by the old way via record colpanies or can new ways of distributing music like crowd funding are better and finally what is the best way to serve music lovers like we are all on this site?

I realise this is a vast subject and there is a certain danger that I will be considered as just an old guy who thinks that the old times were better, but I'm still eager to discover new music but realising I'm discovering it in new ways.

Allabaster

The old days were seldom actually better, they only appear so now because we had adapted our habits to suit them. Now those habits do not fit as well, but the new ones we make will bring greater wonders. I applaud your willingness to adapt, so many end up fighting a fruitless battle.

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Gender: Female
Age: 38

I have niche interests and have to put a decent amount of work into finding the things I like. And I usually have to pay money for them to get them. Like on my 2014 list, Oren Ambarchi & Eli Keszler - Alps, you still can't find that online.

So I guess the old ways are alive and well if you like stuff that most people don't really care about.

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

Great post/thread.

Your music history makes me a bit jealous... maybe when I'm 50 (I'm 30), people will be jealous of me seeing Nirvana on MTV... idk. But the fact that you heard the early rock pirate radio shows is pretty cool. Have you seen this: Pirate Radio with Philip Seymour Hoffman?

I guess to catalog my history of music discovery:

1) Joshua Tree and Graceland... lucky for me I feel my family had good music taste. I didn't grow up listening to ABBA and Journey. I mean those artists are "good" in their own right, but I feel my family understood "real" music. Anyway, my family traveled a lot in a 80s Dodge Caravan and we'd listen to those two tapes non-stop.

2) My Dad's 50s/60s music. My dad was ill at a young age, but well enough to drive a car and still be a lawyer for until I was about 8 or 9 years old. He'd drive an old boat of a Lincoln Town Car from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles and often needed a helper to lift his wheel chair out of the car and keep his medication regimen. Strangely, that became that my job. I'd miss school for these trips... as you can imagine we listened to A LOT of music on a 10 hour car drive.

I remember late at night driving with "riders on the storm" by The Doors, and truly being frightened by it. We listened to them a lot. We listened to Abbey Road and Sgt. Peppers a lot as well. I think Beatles were only albums he had on tape... other than that it was best of collections... I think that's the generation he grew up with, it was less important to listen to an album. Anyway, that also meant a lot of 50s rock like Little Richard, etc. He had probably 5 or 6 of these types of collections of Motown and early 60's late 50's rock:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/8...SX522_.jpg

This is how I got into the Beatles/Rolling Stones/Doors, but then late 50's/early 60's rock, Motown, and the Everly Brothers.

From all these tapes I'd make my my own mixed tapes with alternative rock and "oldies". My first CD was Tom Petty's greatest hits (also influence from my family/dad).

3) MTV.

MTV is probably responsible for me continuing my interest into U2, and then therefore further into Alternative rock. I saw music videos when they came out for Come As You Are, Today, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Self Esteem, Heart Shaped Box and even Momma Said Knock You Out (this and Snoop Dog are why I'm probably the only one in my family that truly likes Hip-Hop/Rap music, thanks MTV).

4 Los Angeles Radio Stations: 106.7 (KROQ) and 105.9 (Power)
By about 1997 MTV started to suck... Instead of playing OK Computer (maybe they did and it just didn't get much airplay) it was playing stuff like Oasis and Britney Spears.

So in about 1999 my family moved from Utah to California and that's when I discovered these two radio stations. They kept the true alternative rock and rap/hip-hop music that I loved alive for me. And they helped me discover new music. Bands like the White Stripes and the Strokes. Hip-Hop like OutKast and Black Eyed Peas.

5: itunes and then Spotify
iTunes really didn't help me find music... it helped me appreciate the album though (strangely). It's when I started to really catagorize my music and organize it and order things by discographies and according to release date, etc. I started to listen to discographies from the beginning to end, thanks to iTunes. It was the first time that I had so much music all in one place. I'd rip other people's music too, so instead of

When I first joined this site I had to rely on pirating music to see if I liked it. If I liked it enough, I'd buy it. If I didn't, I didn't buy it. Funny enough, I read an article where they did a study and found people that pirated music bought on average 30% more music than people that didn't... I thought that was ironic since the claim was that pirating was ruining music business.

Now with Spotify, it's almost like going into a record store and having access to EVERYTHING. Part of me loves it and part of me finds it a bit daunting actually. It's like, where do you start. I have premium now and have probably over 19819871541981 days of music in playlists... and that's the stuff I know about. I like it because I can really listen to whatever I want (90% of the time at least).

Digital music both made it possible for me to listen to so much more than I ever would have before, but it admittedly devalued music for me. It wasn't like oooh, I just got one new cd and I'm super excited to listen to it... it's kinda like my rich uncle bought the entire record store and now I lost interest or something.

6 Back to Vinyl

Vinyl is so expensive, I don't find music by buying it... unless I'm at Randy's Records in SLC or Ameoba Music in LA, then I can find something for less than $5 that's used that I'm willing to take a gamble on.

Vinyl has become a way for me to almost create a shrine to my absolute most respected albums. It's albums that have ZERO shitty songs on them. And I hang them on my wall to pay homage to them and worship them on Sundays... just kidding... mostly... Laughing

Questions:
- attention span: I guess I'm old fashioned or something... part of the reason why I'm attracted to this site is the focus really is on albums. I do feel my focus on albums has limited my musical library. I'd rather listen to 20 U2 albums than a new album which only has a couple good songs. I used to think this was to my benefit, but now I'm realizing I'm missing out on some GREAT music because I'm expecting the album to be good. I really need to get a playlist of like the top songs of the 2010's and get into that music that way. Then I might get into the albums... I mean that's how it started for other areas of music I now listen to full albums of.

Then of course there really are those artists that don't make albums... they make hits... and that's ok. Sometimes that one song they make that is so amazing is better than a whole U2 album.

- is the fact that music is available at a fingertip makes it less exciting to discover (new) music. At the time we really were looking forward to new albums because we had to make an effort to go and buy them.

Kinda... I mean I'm still excited to listen to the new Weezer album. I was excited for a Paul Simon album, and listened to it digitally, but yeah, I kinda already answered the flip side of that above.

- What is the surplus value of indepent reviews by magazines or even sites? At the time they were really important and I dicovered many interesting albus in a way I never would have discovered otherwise. Now you can discover them by listening to them because they are "free".

I know there was a big following of punk rock magazines and the such to help find music. I personally never used them... but to appreciate music of the past, I've used this site and others for their opinions on their idea of the best albums etc.

I do think things like wikipedia help you understand what your listening to instead of just going in head first and listening to it. Sometimes it is helpful to have context to a new record you are listening to, and I find wikipedia to be helpful.

- Are the new media not just pointing you to types of music you already know because we are tempted to stick to sites which just confirm your taste. In the past I discovered lots of new music because magazines and radio stations directed me to music I didn't know

This is one aspect I really miss about MTV. I didn't know a lot of that music and it was good music. Now I feel all my sources I turn to for new music is actually terrible music and I have to find good new music on my own. Lots of chaff to sort through.

- are artists who want to make their music public more served by the old way via record colpanies or can new ways of distributing music like crowd funding are better and finally what is the best way to serve music lovers like we are all on this site?

One thing that the record companies don't get enough appreciation for is sorting the chaff from the wheat. As a musician, I have seen many of my musician buddies actually be able to make a living from being a musician due to crowd funding. It's an AMAZING time. It also, though, is mostly funded by friends and family... it's rarely a good way to fund the right people if that makes any sense... that's a bit harsh, but kinda true.

Last edited by RoundTheBend on 04/03/2016 22:38; edited 1 time in total

dihansse

Gender: Male
Age: 60

Hi SethM, this is the kind of reply I was looking for: very interesting and very different from mine.
Maybe I have to be a bit jealous at you: my parent's taste in music was terrible so I had to discover it all by myself (and later via friends).
For one reason or another I don't have access to the first thread you show on pirate radio so that's a pity. I must admit the pirate radio stations you were referring to are I suppose English and maybe radio Luxemburg: mine were Belgian and Dutch but they did broadcast from ships in the North Sea because broadcasting from the mainland was illegal.
Maybe I should once turn to vinyl because I also think it's really appealing to actually hold on to and listen to records in the old fashioned way but upto now I haven't done it.
Magazines: there is a fantastic general magazine which is a bit anarchic and with lots if humor and they really formed a generation of people in Belgium (a Humo reader does have a specific way taking life not too serious): their record reviews used to be great and pointed me to lots of new music http://www.humo.be/cd-reviews/. Of course it's in flemish and the reviews are behind a paying wall now...
Internet: I'm fairly new to this site (I don't know why I didn't discover it earlier) but as for now I'm really discovering new things. My sources usually used to be good old Pitchfork and Popmatters.

There is lots of other interesting stuff in your reply maybe I'll come back to that.

Decurso

Gender: Male
Age: 51
Location: Sao Paulo, SP Brazil

It's changed a lot for me. Radio, music television and music magazines used to be a big part of how I discovered new music. I haven't listened to the radio since 1993, and it's been longer since I watched music television or read a music magazine.

These days I discover a lot of new music through the SXSW artist sampler torrents, which obviously was not possible in years gone by. I also discover a lot of music through live shows, which I always did in the past as well, but it accounts for a much greater percentage of my musical discoveries these days. Wikipedia is another resource that I obviously did not have in years gone by.

Some methods have stayed fairly consistent. Recommendations from friends and books have always been pretty reliable methods. The difference is instead of mix tapes my friends give me USB drives and email me mp3 three files or Youtube links.
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meccalecca
Voice of Reason

Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment

dihansse wrote:

Maybe I should once turn to vinyl because I also think it's really appealing to actually hold on to and listen to records in the old fashioned way but upto now I haven't done it.

My approach at this point is to first listen to new albums on Spotify, Apple Music, NPR First Listen or wherever and then I buy the albums I really really love on vinyl. There's something great about sitting down and putting a record on. I find my attention span growing without the ease of just hitting next or picking a randomized playlist.

Growing up, my early experiences were with my parents LPs (mostly the 60s classics), radio, and MTV. With my brothers being quite a bit older than me, I pretty much absorbed their tastes. And as musicians, their obsessions grew on me more and more. I borrowed their cassettes. They'd make me copies and introduced me to the art of the mixtape. For the most point, I lived off of my family's tastes until around 6th grade. Around then, I started thinking a it more independently and developed love for stuff like Weezer, Green Day, and then Radiohead without my brothers' guidance. My brothers continued to feed me music as their own tastes expanded.

Towards the end of high school came Napster. Suddenly I could download songs without needing to commit money. I also discovered music sites like Pitchfork and Epitonic (which was incredible). That's when I started getting really into stuff like Radiohead and Modest Mouse.

With college came faster internet speeds, limewire, and friends with a wider range of tastes. I was downloading music like crazy, and still buying cds of what I liked. I also began to go to shows far more regularly around the city and was discovering new bands that way.

Years passed. I was writing about music for publications and blogs, so suddenly labels and publicists were mailing and then emailing me records. I was being handed access to pretty much anything I wanted.

I'd eventually switch over to vinyl, and sold the bulk of my cd collection before heading out west.

When Spotify arrived, along with sites like BEA and RYM, I found myself with even more access than before. At some point along the way I had mostly stopped illegally downloading music, so Spotify and previously grooveshark brought pretty much unlimited access. The social network of various music sites like BEA has further expanded my tastes in a way I think would have been next to impossible before the internet age. My attention span has shortened as access has grown, but I cannot complain.
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RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

Thanks Mecca and decursso (sp?).

dihansse

Gender: Male
Age: 60

Indeed we seem to have access to lots more ways in discovering music which means that we hop from one album to another and are maybe less "savouring" music than earlier on when records were literally discovered and were listened to over and over again (cf attention span).

Allabaster

Must we dig for treasure when we are standing in it up to our knees? Are the deeper gems so much more precious?