Author:
Michael James Walsh
(MENAFN- The Conversation) music streaming can alter what was once a private activity into something more seemingly public.
Around 2016, streaming became the dominant way people engaged with recordings of music. Users engage in a constant process of renting music, by perpetually paying to use these services or by providing access to user data. Streaming services operate simultaneously in two types of markets : the circulation of music for users; and the exploitation of users' data and attention.
With this sharing, music streaming has altered the social experience of listening to music. Now, anyone with an account could potentially be listening in and seeing what music we choose to spend our time with.
So how does“Spotify snooping” and streaming music more generally change the way we listen to music?
The ubiquity of music
To understand the changing nature of music listening, I interviewed 49 users of streaming services about how they listen to music.
One key finding is these services render music more ubiquitous across everyday life.
As one interviewee explains, streaming:
Music streaming has become the soundtrack to our lives. Matthew Michael/Unsplash Music streaming technologies seek to shape how users engage with music through algorithmic features, such as platform-curated playlists. Users are required to navigate features that decide, filter and select what to expose listeners to.
As one participant's describes:
Read more: Stream weavers: the musicians' dilemma in Spotify's pay-to-play plan
Who's listening in?
Because streaming services also act as social media platforms, your listening habits can potentially be viewed by outsiders, the users I spoke to talked of a need to navigate music streaming carefully.
One interviewee spoke of the“social pressure” to curate what he is listening to:
Other people recoil at being rendered into a series of data points .
How do our listening habits change when anyone else could be listening in? Melanie Pongratz/Unsplash As one participant suggests:
This knowledge of how streaming services trace and allow others to follow users comes to frame the experience of using the service itself.
Another interviewee described once privately listening to songs on their iPod:
Read more: Audio cassettes: despite being 'a bit rubbish', sales have doubled during the pandemic – here's why
Fading passions
While streaming undoubtedly commands a significant way we now engage with music, some interviewees also indicate it has changed their relationship with music:
Physical formats like vinyl can feel more tangible and so more special. Joss Broward/Unsplash These experiences could also partly explain the resurgence in physical formats such as vinyl and even cassette .
Streaming technologies not only change how we access music recordings but also are associated with changes in the social experience of listening to music.
Streaming allows people to incorporate music ubiquitously and musically inflect everyday life in increasingly varied ways. But it can also transform private acts of listening into public ones to be viewed with risk if not managed carefully.
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