Too Much Music: A Failed Experiment In Dedicated Listening

The author’s premise is that technology has changed our relationship to recorded music- too many choices, too little understanding. Letting an algorithm "curate" is no substitute for learning and better understanding the music and its context. But,

• the notion of limiting oneself to a single album for an entire week is not a realistic test of anything. That is not deep listening to me. I would cherish a new release and play it repeatedly if it hooked me, but not to the exclusion of other music. Part of musical enjoyment is contrast (like dynamics) and forcing oneself to listen to only one record for an entire week is more like an enhanced interrogation technique than any sort of informed or "deep" listening.
• Although Generation iPhone has been accused of an 8 second attention span and a view of history that might encompass something as long ago as "last week," the Internet offers a vast amount of information about music; research can be done without going to libraries or archives; the music itself can be freely shared (something I have an issue with as a retired copyright lawyer), but there is greater access to both music and information about music if one cares to dig.
• Are we in a worse place than 40 years ago, when radio and label promo dictated what was rotated? I know I didn’t depend on the marketing to find music I liked; perhaps people are more passive today, and because music is treated as background for other things, are happy to let Big Data make the selections. But, how is that any different than formatted radio and big label promotion?

I think there’s always been a difference between the casual listener and one who takes music seriously (I don’t care what the genre- you can take punk or garage bands seriously).
The "too many choices" problem always existed. Sorting the wheat from the chaff has always been an issue. Finding a gem in forgotten or overlooked music has always been a process of discovery.
I’m still mainly an LP listener. I have a fairly large pile of records and still enjoy the process of seeking out ’new to me’ music. A deep collection allows for a rich listening experience-- I can go from Starker to doom metal in one session and have (almost) enough records to satisfy almost any itch. It isn’t the "collecting" that it is important- it is the wealth of choice, along with the research and understanding of the music, its history and context, how it was made and recorded, why one performance or recording is "better" than another. The technology hasn’t foreclosed any of this-- it has enhanced it. It all depends on how you use it. Will i ever listen to everything I own? I don’t know. Is it a race? That seems to miss the point.

Good post, whart. It DOES feel like a race to me, hearing everything I want before the clock runs out. Not to the point of being distracted from enjoying and/or appreciating as I listen, but to the point of not squandering my precious time on music of marginal value. Of course, one often can't make that determination until the time required to listen has already been spent! A first world problem, for sure ;-).

It is a good read. The author's position is not surprising considering his young age. Since I am a few decades older (57 y.o.), it has been easy for me to disregard any computer audio/streaming/downloading. It also helps that my musical interests reside almost totally in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. My system is in a dedicated, treated room. It is a minimalist 2-ch system. It's not used for background music (other systems in the house serve that purpose for my wife).  Listening is with eyes closed, the focus is on the music. I enjoy my system immensely. It's used 1-2 hours per week. I enjoy it now much more than when I tried to listen to it every day. It's relaxing, the way enjoying music is supposed to be. To each his own, this approach works wonders for me.

Tom