Post 9- Survey

The central problem that I am looking at addressing in this project is helping people, who like me, often find themselves bored with the music they usually listen to, to find new music. 

Before going all out trying to figure out how to create something to help people overcome this problem, I first needed to confirm that it was actually a problem that affected others and not just a pet peeve of mine. 

I devised a quick survey with the aim of answering this as well as shedding some light on how others go about seeking new music and how they interact with music.

Of the 31 people that responded:

-55% often found themselves stuck in a rut with the music they listen to.

-Most said their preferred way to find new music was through friends' recommendations, with 61% reporting this as a method they use. 

-94% said they considered their taste to be eclectic as opposed to centring around certain genres.

-Most listened to music in one of these ways (ranked in popularity)

1) on a computer through a media player such as iTunes 

2) through an mp3 player or iPod and 

3) through a streaming service such as Spotify.

It seems that, from looking at this, that getting bored with all your music is not something limited to me, that human intuition trumps algorithms when it comes to recommendations, eclecticism is emphatically preferred over single genres and that most of the music people listen to is that which they have chosen to download/buy and import into a media player. 

Also, whilst people have resoundingly given the thumbs up to eclecticism, half of them get bored with their music, is there a way that my system could facilitate the musical exploration that they would purportedly be open to?

Post 5- Eclectism

The flaws that make stats based music recommendation systems so skewed and limited made me start to consider what, if anything, exists to help people genuinely discover new music. On reflection, one of the richest veins of new music I have come across is Gideon Coe's BBC 6music show. Gid's shows are a marked by a playlist of tracks from a complete myriad of genres and time periods (it's not unusual to hear metal, reggae, folk and swing represented in a single show) framed by the friendly, relaxed atmosphere created by the presenter's affability and dry humour.

I'm sure it is no coincidence that I find more new music through listening to this show than anywhere else (from genres and time periods that, left to my own devices, I would never consider exploring) and that the show is delivered in such a mellow, disarming manner. This, I think, makes the audience generally more receptive to the unfamiliar sounds thus allowing for the genuine discovery of new music, as opposed to finding artists that are unreliably branded as 'related' to one you already like.

Perhaps the aim of my project should not be finding the best way to help people find new music they like, perhaps it is to help facilitate a change of attitude to the kind of open-minded, non-judgemental one which Gideon Coe's shows manage to evoke that make it possible to derive pleasure from listening to almost anything.

Give the show a listen here, or tune in to 6 music from 9-12pm on weeknights, it's an especially good show to get you through those work sessions where midnight oil may be burned.