Soundtracking Every Moment: Music as Data

Prey, R. (Speaker)

Activity: Talk and presentation › Professional or public presentation › Popular

Description

I was interviewed about my research as part of the digital festival “The Disappearance of Music” organized by Berlin's Haus der Kulturen der Welt.

Period	14-Nov-2020
Event title	The Disappearance of Music: Soundtracking Every Moment: Music as Data
Event type	Exhibition
Location	Berlin, Germany, Berlin
Degree of Recognition	International

Documents & Links

https://www.hkw.de/en/programm/projekte/2020/das_verschwinden_der_musik/programm_verschwinden_der_musik/video_soundtracking_every_moment_music_as_data.php
How has the platform economy changed the music world? How does the data business affect not just how music is listened to, but how it sounds? Music streaming is everywhere. Organized in playlists like soundtracks to our lives, it has replaced the act of listening to physical albums. Genre no longer matters; our music is organized by mood and activity. Listening to music is now time spent generating data. The business model of ad-financed streaming services requires a media format that generates personalized activity and mood logs for consumers that is as non-stop and real time as possible. This is why they suggest predefined “mood” lists or “songs to sing in the shower,” which promote passive listening behavior and a homogeneous musical aesthetic. The playlist economy creates neo-muzak while music is industrially functionalized as an environment, for stimulation and self-regulation. But what happens to music that’s not playlist compatible? What data does the playlist produce and how does it translate listening to music into usable information? If playlists are already going on tour today, will bands and musicians in the future be replaced by artificial composition algorithms that deliver the desired hits and timbres?