How Smart Speakers Increase The Artist and Fan Divide

"Alexa (Siri, Google) play __________." With tens of millions of song requests being processed daily, what fills that blank matters. "Play That Funky Music" will net you the Wild Cherry hit. Hear that song once and you know the title. But while "Counting Blue Cars" may have been a big…

Owning Music Is Important – Vinyl Can Help

With the rise of the digital age, music has ceased to become something we own as much as something we rent. One format, once thought of as obsolete, is shifting this new balance, however. Here we look at why ownership of music is still important, and how vinyl is making…

When Do We Become Uninterested In Discovering New Music?

While music discovery has, in many ways, become easier than ever, a new study suggests that there’s a limited period of time in the average consumer’s life when they’re actually finding new music, and at a certain age ‘musical paralysis’ sets in and the discovery ceases. ________________________ Guest post by…

The Music Experience Quadrant

In this piece, Alex Tiuniaev unveils a new method of examining how we listen to music using something called the Music Experience Quadrant, which places music on a spectrum between emotional vs. rational, and abstract vs. visual. ______________________________ Guest post by Alex Tiuniaev About four years ago, I wrote an…

How Has Playlist Culture Affected Our Listening Choices? An Experiment

In an age where playlist culture reigns supreme in our consumption of music, one curious music blogger from NYC took some time to investigate what today’s music consumers are listening to, on what platform, and most of all how they’re discovering it. ___________________________ Guest post by Noor Kalouti of Soundfly’s…

Cassette Sales Still On The Rise

When streaming began to dominate music consumption, many industry insiders believed all physical forms of media would soon die out, but it appears that vinyl wasn’t the only format to prove these people wrong, and that cassette tapes have see something of a renaissance of late. _______________________ Guest post by…

Analysis Of Every Billboard Top 5 Song In 2018 – The Structure And Composition Of A Hit

Our friends at Soundfly have done an exhaustive breakdown of the musical structure and composition behind every song from the year that cracked the Billboard Top 5, revealing more than a few Drakes. _______________________________ Guest post by Dean Olivet of Soundfly’s Flypaper “My Mount Rushmore is me with four different…

Why We Need More (Quality) Music Journalism

In this piece James Shotwell argues that, as music industry becomes increasingly crowded with artists, the need for more music journalists grows, and that social media’s ability to fill this void is sorely lacking in the quality department. ___________________________ Guest post by James Shotwell of Haulix Music journalism matters more…

What Do People Listen To While Driving?

The confines of a car have long been a favorite spot for enjoying music, helped by the rise of streaming and the enduring popularity of radio. Here we look into what it is that car goers listen to and why. _______________________________ Guest post by Giles Kirkland Many people feel that…

Do Touch That Dial: In-Car Listening Finally Shifting

While much has changed in the music industry over the past ten years, our listening habits while on the move have, until now, remained much the same. Historically AM/FM listening has dominated in the car but, while this is still somewhat true, traditional radio’s grip on drivers seems to be…