Music appreciation in the age of robot DJs
From opera houses to radios to records to Spotify, the experience of listening to music is constantly evolving. That evolution has picked up speed, however, thanks to mobile technology and computerized selection algorithms.
So what does music appreciation mean in an age where every song is at your fingertips, and a robot can curate your playlist?
New York Times music critic Ben Ratliff tackles that in his new book, "Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways to Listen in an Age of Musical Plenty." Ratliff joined MPR News host Kerri Miller to talk about the joy of discovering new songs, and how technology has changed how people listen.
Recent advancements mean that "the listener now has great power that the listener did not have before," Ratliff said. "So what are we going to do with it?"
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Hopefully, technology will widen people's exposure to music — not narrow it, he said. But that may not be the reality.
The rise of streaming services like Pandora and Spotify allows users to "find nearly anything you want to find," Ratliff said, "But streaming services also, I think, encourage you to listen a bit narrowly. They try to locate your sweet spot, your comfort zone, and they will reaffirm your comfort zone forever."
So how do you break out of your musical comfort zone? Ratliff's book encourages people to listen actively for different traits — like repetition or speed — and he traces them across styles and genres.
Genres, Ratliff pointed out, can be a pitfall for music fans. Labels in a record store — or more likely, in iTunes — can oversimplify.
"Genre is mostly for selling — it's to make the transmission of music commercially more efficient," Ratliff said. "It reduces."
Ratliff ignores genre road signs on his mad trip through music in "Every Song Ever," jumping from DJ Screw to Shostakovich and back again. That's the kind of variety you may not find with a digital service.
"I do believe music is a creative act, and that's what makes me worry a little bit about algorithms deciding for you what to listen to and what kind of listener you are," Ratliff said. "You are always going to be more complicated than a robot will make you out to be."
For the full discussion with music critic Ben Ratliff on "Every Song Ever," use the audio player above.