There's Never Been A Better Time To Listen To Music ... Right?

Hey Siri! Has new tech made now the best time to listen to music?

There is no argument that new technologies have made now the EASIEST time to listen to music, but does that make it the best? Don’t get me wrong, humming a melody into your phone and being told instantly the song name, the release date, the artist and their entire family history does have its uses, but now that such a great catalogue of music is so readily available, is listening to new music now being taken for granted?

It’s no great secret that digital streaming platforms have completely remixed the face of the music industry over the past few years, and I’d argue for the better. Spotify and Apple music have ignited a whole new era of how new music is discovered and how it is consumed, and as far as I’m concerned, their services just keep getting better.

One aspect of these sites that was really brought to my attention last year was their end of year summaries (the Spotify Wrapped or Apple Music Replay). See, I’m an ‘apple music ‘til I die’ kind of user, so I can’t speak much about Spotify, but I found the Apple Music Replay almost addictive throughout 2021. The ‘top 100’ mix of your most played tracks is updated weekly, and for a good 5 months my Sunday evenings revolved around me analysing this week’s developments in my most listened to artists, to the point where I’d avoid playing certain songs throughout the week so I could craft my ideal end of year playlist. Sad, I know, but it’s just an example of a gratification made available because of new technologies.

DSPs, for me, have also led to a recently discovered admiration for podcasts, specifically the ones made for apple music and their various radio stations. A personal highlight would be The Dotty Show, and apple music radio show, shockingly hosted by Dotty. The show prides itself in unveiling the realms of black music culture to the world, interviewing renowned stars, such as Drake and Wizkid, and promoting up and coming ones. Whilst radio has been a prominent media outlet for years, there’s something about this new digital format that is so appealing to younger audiences. The media consumption of youth today revolves around speed; if it isn’t immediate, they don’t want it. For the same reasons sites such as Netflix are so popular, these streaming platform shows give listeners exactly want they want, exactly when they want it. It gives them the freedom to sieve through thousands of different shows and episodes in seconds, finding the perfect one for them in minutes, hence their growing popularity. Tell me that doesn’t sound appealing? 

Although, DSPs from an artist’s point of view might not be quite so rainbows-and-butterflies. As a consumer, the advantages are endless; £9.99 a month for unlimited music, playlists, interviews, radio and music video seems too good to be true, right? Well, for the artist it is at least. In April 2020, Tom Gray, the Director of PRS, tweeted a table displaying the streaming rates of the most popular platforms. The table showed that Spotify users would have to stream a song 357 times before the artist would make one pound, 185 streams with Apple Music (another reason Apple Music trumps Spotify). Obviously, this was initially a massive blow for the music business, with tracks generating significantly less money, not just for the artist, but for their manager, label, publisher etc. On the flip side of this, consumers will be much more likely to stream a song in this age of modern technology, meaning songs will be streamed much more frequently than they would have been bought, compensating for the reduced rates in hard copy sales. Social media access has also introduced self-promotion amongst artists, meaning a significantly greater audience can be reached and informed on an artist’s new release, which they can easily access using their DSP subscription. So, whilst initially it seemed as though streaming platforms put artists at a loss, their new-found followers will make up for their reduced sale of singles.

Like all developments in media outlets, they are often approached apprehensively by older generations. Whilst many still access their music via streaming services, it’s often begrudgingly. It’s hard to think of a time when downloading new music meant sitting by a radio listening to the charts, taping the songs that tickled your fancy. Having to pay for a vinyl record too almost blows my mind, imagine spending your wages on an album that you ended up despising? Or even more disheartening, potentially not buying a vinyl that may have turned out to be one of your classics? Although the novelty of owning your favourite records on vinyl will never wear off, and there will never be a digital format as satisfying to listen to as a turntable, it is nice to also have access to such a variety of music at the touch of a button. At the same time, that’s what makes me think that we have it too easy these days, zero effort is put into making a playlist of new music or sharing songs with your mates (another really cool DSP feature by the way). Has the magic of sharing music and appreciating the art of these artists been lost in the fog of technological developments?

To answer that question abruptly, no. Whilst it might seem as though accessing music digitally is less authentic and streaming platforms make listening to new music less special, I’d argue that the ease at which music can be discovered has helped build a new generation of music lovers. Not just streaming platforms, sites such as YouTube making music videos so prominent and showing interviews with musicians across the world helps audiences grow an attachment to artists like they never could have before. The digitalisation of not just the music, but the culture surrounding it is what has maintained the popularity of music festivals and concerts amongst the youth of today also, and, in the future, I can only see the ways in which audiences interact with their music becoming more and more immersive.