New practical function of music

September 30, 2016 Soumya Radhakrishnan

I came across this article on Medium that talks about the evolution of our relationship with music. I was able to resonate with many aspects mentioned including how music always had context and function. While the traditional functions of music such as spiritual, social, and identity building still exist, there is also, another useful function that music is serving us at the moment due to its ubiquitous nature and that is, the activity we are engaged in.

The introduction of the iPod started transforming music consumption into a private experience which allowed people to try out new music genres without worrying about their social image. We are living the age of “I love this music, but at the right moment,” we see the creation of a generation of eclectics that use music in very practical ways, a generation where the mood related to an activity is more important than genre. Need to study? Downtempo or classical. Going to the gym? EDM or hip-hop. Time for cooking? Indie folk or jazz. Going to a party? Techno or trap. In other words, the experience is not in the music itself, but in what we do while-while listening to it. No, it is not music that creates the experience. Music is the background that helps to set the mood. The activity which people are engaging in is what connects people (with themselves or others).

From a personal standpoint, I will have to agree with this new function of music. I choose my playlists mindfully, and that includes both music and podcasts. For example, if I am working out in the gym, I usually listen to new songs, podcasts, and audiobooks as I can pay attention to what I am hearing amidst a monotonous yet significant activity. If I am writing, blogging, or working, I listen to music and podcasts that are already familiar to me. In this case, I don't want to pay too much attention to what I am hearing so I can focus on my work.

Here's how some music businesses have leveraged this idea.

What does this mean for the future of music?

Whether this new perspective is something wrong or right for music is not up to me (or especially to this article) to say. What is important here is that this revolution cannot be stopped. It is a continuous process of gradual transformation where the individual is in charge. We should analyze it from an evolutionary standpoint where the listener is the conversion agent in a radical change in the human consumption relations. Technology can change people’s behavior, but only if it is the right time for it, in the right context. When technology changes people, it is often not in the ways one might expect. Technology changed the way we listen to music and as a result, we changed the way we feel about it. We should start considering that people are no longer loving music, but that they just like it. Or are even just using it. But what is more important is that only when we understand these changes, will the music industry be able to create services, products and business models that are in tune with this new listener.