Human vs. Machine: The Shifting Charm of Music Discovery

by Jason Epstein

Image via Spingineer

Do you remember when your friend would pull up in his T-Bird, pull out his record collection, you’d throw them on your record player, and just absorb new music all day long? Of course you don’t, unless you’ll soon be collecting Social Security checks. But maybe your father remembers a time like that. And maybe you remember sitting with him in the living room with all of his records scattered across the floor, so he could show you what listening to music used to be like.

As you grew up, your TV and radio informed you of new music. Today, more often than not, it’s the Internet and apps: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. What hasn’t changed is the ability to discover new tunes through word-of-mouth and live concerts. But the experience is processed a fine sieve of email, smartphone notifications, social media, or app-technology to suit your tastes and preferences. We rely on a delicate balance of mathematical algorithms and human music lovers to help us wade through the glut of artists, labels, and media companies, all competing to leverage their exposure.

We have more ways than ever to develop, discover, digest, dissect, distribute (and re-distribute) music. $9.99/month can get you just about everything under the sun, streaming right to a device that’s always on your person. You can track your favorite bands via Songkick. Check out recent set lists on setlist.fm. Identify a song (and a wealth of other info) with Shazam. Share your sounds with the world on SoundCloud. From illegal torrents to digital purchases, free albums to streaming music libraries, it’s an exciting time to discover new music.

But back when vinyl records were the baseline for audio lovers, they had their own world too. Their own music scene. The excitement of grabbing a flyer for a concert, the thrill of the literal word-of-mouth, the joy of leafing through lyrics, admiring album art, and curating their physical collection of 33¹⁄₃ and 45 rpm LPs from their local record stores. And years from now, the evolution of music discovery will bring us to new, exciting paths.

Whether you’re indie, metal, pop, folk or punk, you can reflect on past nostalgia, enjoy present technology, and look forward to future experiences. It’s an exciting time to be a music lover.

But, hasn’t it always been?

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