Playlistifying Music
There is a bond created that goes unnoticed in sharing and creating music, whether it’s the act of sharing a song or making a mixtape, music is intricately part of our daily routine. Sharing songs we love comes with a level of personal that goes unsaid, but what if those moments were no longer purely driven by us? Creating a playlist is not new, and it’s been around since the invention of the cassette tape––but with increasing demand and technology, music is now becoming a tool for artists and platforms to influence listeners. Influencing audiences is not a new practice; music representatives are constantly on the lookout for new ways to promote and boost sales, but technology has given these practices a new life form via social media and algorithm manipulation. The question still remains: What leads us to create a playlist to begin with?
A Spotify playlist is not innovative; music curation took its birthing form in the 1960s with the increased popularity of mixtapes made available through cassette tape. However, the social interaction made possible through the use of streaming platforms is a new phenomenon, making streaming a new tool for media collectives to navigate. Algorithms are the latest wave in technology, and with the help of AI, streaming is becoming more automated than ever before. With more than just bots, artificial intelligence used by applications like Spotify has created intricate systems where AI interferes with the human mind.
Curated playlists have become common, created by both individuals and algorithms. Spotify would be the biggest propeller of curated playlists as “with algorithmic playlists, this curation process is further automated and personalized for individual streaming listeners, including Spotify’s “Discover Weekly,” “Daily Mix,” and “Your Summer Rewind.” Spotify has begun gathering information on the songs and artists its users listen to, then creates a curated song list that embodies a certain mood or sentiment.
Daylist differs from the average “Daily Mix” or “Discover Weekly” due to its use of algorithms that have learned to identify the listening habits of users and categorize them into hyper-specific titles. These titles are supposed to represent the emotion that users are meant to experience, “once the world of music has been mapped, the task then becomes to figure out where each individual listener fits on this map, and their individual movements through music space.” Music space is now an experience that users no longer hold control over; what was once a personal method of communication is now being turned into an experiential surprise generated by metadata. However, there are underlying effects to these playlists that go unnoticed.
Our unconscious listening patterns are being analyzed and categorized by mass media companies, begging the question: How does this affect us? “Music has power over our feelings. No other species has evolved in such a way to ascribe meaning and create emotional responses to music as humans,” said Laurel Trainor, professor of psychology, neuroscience, and behavior and director of the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind. Music has been used to connect for as long as music has been around; however, how are we being controlled by these algorithms? Does the continuation of depressive moods or alienating emotions that are propagated by automated playlists really need to exist? How are platforms like Spotify taking advantage of their users? How is our mental health being subconsciously impacted by the processing of these hyper-specific playlists, and to what extent is our data being used against us.
