Back in August I wrote how Google Play Music All Access, the music streaming service with the longest name in the world, in just a week had changed the way I listen to and discover music.
I did some math, and since August I discovered 13 new artists, for a grand total of 41 new albums, plus a number of artists that haven’t made it to my library.
I did find quite a lot of good bands, but also a number of mediocre ones. Let’s say they are 50% good, 30% mediocre, 20% bad.
Predictably, I can’ remember the title of most of the albums, and almost none of the songs. It’s just too much new stuff all at once. This is interesting because to my standards, I lowered the quality of my music-listening. I used to be almost obsessive on titles, names of the bands and all the details. Now it’s just a huge blob of unnamed music. Sure, if I listen to a song, I instinctively know what is the next, but I don’t know its title.
All of this has cost me exactly €31.96, which is a rather low amount (I still have the promotional price of €7.99 per month). Even at the full €9.99 per month, I’d literally spend more on coffee (around €28 per month). I know there are similar, and sometimes older services that give you free streaming, like Spotify, but I listen to music mostly while commuting, so I must have it cached locally on my phone (“where I travel, cell phones barely stay on”). Moreover, having an ad play in between tracks cannot be tolerated…
By spending a regular amount on music each month, I feel the urge to make use of it as much as I can. I know, I have problems. The point is, having a subscription drives me to have a physiological need to listen to as much new music as I can. On the other hand, I don’t like listening to a new album only once, because I believe that to fully appreciate it, I have to listen to it at least five times in a row. The fifth time is when I start to clearly remember what’s next in the track list (not the title, but the melody), and I could even try to sing along.
If you sum those two factors, you see where this is going. I end up listening to an endless flow of new albums in a repeat loop. Typically, I find a new band that looks promising, and start listening to their entire discography, starting from the newest album and going back in time. Sometimes, when my head spins for too much new music, I go back to my classics for a few days. Then the cycle repeats.
You see, it’s a hard job.