Between the Internet and my iPod, I’m beginning to feel a bit guilty about the music I’m not listening to. I used to be so dependent on the radio to turn me on to new bands and artists; to expose me to the new tracks everyone would be singing at the parties over the weekend, but let’s face it, the radio is falling behind now.
It’s pretty scary to me. As a student interested in public media and music, radio seems like the perfect field for me to work in–ten or twenty years ago. Today, working in radio hasn’t even crossed my mind. It is slowly going defunct right before my own eyes. I’ve also come to realize that I am partially responsible for this; we all are. The downfall of the radio is a direct result of the popularization of personalized media. Instead of getting in our cars and changing through the stations to find a song that is appealing to us, we simply hook up our MP3 players or throw in our favorite mix-CD and listen to what we have already determined that we enjoy.
Of course, on the small scale of life, this is great. It simplifies our search, it pleases our interests, and it makes doing so much easier. On the larger life scale, there are some new concerns to address. All of this new technology has the capability to separate us into a bubble of our own personal (already-acquired) musical tastes, somewhat permanently, but if used correctly, these technologies have the potential for so much more. There are already a few great programs, such as the iTunes store and Pandora music player, that trace your interests to what else would be relative to you and make suggestions for filling your library. This, is wonderful (I am a huge fan of finding new music this way) but nonetheless, it is still restrictive. These suggestions are based on music you have already acquired or expressed interest in, thus, the new suggestions are similar, and therefore are not all that new at all.
I am already starting to see this deconstruction of access to music in the world surrounding me. Word-of-mouth amongst friends seems to be the most popular, most reliable source for current music, and that shouldn’t be with all of the great tools we have acquired through the Internet. Still, my major concern remains with radio. My own lack of dependency on the airwaves concerns me, yet I will get in my car today, turn up the volume on my stereo, and only listen to the 21-disc that I created with my laptop’s music library. I am restricting myself to my own interests, and thus not truly allowing my interests to expand anymore. Perhaps it’s just the newest Catch-22.
What do you think about all of this? Are you still listening to the radio as much as you used to?
Post by Jillian Polak - Meet Me
A young aspiring writer who enjoys all kinds of music, and additionally loves meeting bands and musicians.
