As a musician, sound recording student, and a social being with ears, I listen to a lot of music. Not only is music everywhere, a la radio and television, but I study and practice it daily. With so much of my life dedicated to analyzing music, I couldn't help but wonder if my listening habits have been affected. Do I consume music differently because I study it? This week, I searched for an answer.
My initial thoughts
I mean, a pre-med student certainly has a trained eye for good research, a psychologist can identify behaviors that most would dismiss. Following this logic, shouldn't professionals in the music industry have some unique ear for music? Well, maybe not.
The obvious argument against this logic is that music is a drastically-different field of study. You certainly don't need a degree in music to be successful, it really comes down to time, skill, and hard work (and many argue luck).
Music is widely consumed and is easily accessible.
Many music consumers have some musical background, whether that be having learned an instrument, been exposed to the radio, or grown up in a culture that puts emphasis and meaning behind music.
While musicians and other music professionals may be analyzing music constantly, the average listener may also be well-informed. There may not be a difference at all between the groups!
How I listen to music and why I posed the question in the first place
As someone who wants to both be skilled at her craft and also appeal to listeners to establish a strong career, understanding how people listen could be helpful. Understanding what different people listen for in their music may direct my focus of study: what do listeners care about, and how can I appeal to it? What can I learn about myself and my habits in the process?
How I listen to music
As a musician who sings, plays piano, and pretends to know guitar, my ears perk up when I hear a particularly difficult technique in a song. Quite honestly, I think about the technique for a long time, wonder how much time and energy it took them to master it, and essentially drool over how talented the musicians are.
As a songwriter, I look up the lyrics to most, if not all, the songs I hear. I analyze an artists' style and try and learn from them. One of my favorite songwriters is alternative rock artist Tori Amos, and I spend way too much time sifting through her lyrics. Lyrics matter to me, so I look them up whenever I can.
As a sound recording student, I love to search up the making of songs to learn about cool production techniques. My love for trip hop solidified when I learned about Geoff Barrow's unique production of Portishead's "Dummy". I became fascinated with electronica when I found artist and audio engineer Imogen Heap's videos on the making of her album "Sparks".
Ever since I became a music student, I've started researching the producers and engineers behind the work I'm listening to, listening for interesting recording techniques.
I began listening for elements beyond lyrics and musicianship as I developed a wider vocabulary in production/music industry and developed a more critical ear.
So the answer to "do I consume music differently than the average consumer" definitely feels to be "yes". Then again, I don't really know.
I asked social media general questions on how they consume music.
I created a survey on Survey Monkey to acquire some very basic data. I asked a series of questions to see how industry professionals and/or students on track to becoming industry professionals listen to music, and compared their answers to the average consumer.
Discrepancies and Disclaimers
While 40 responses were quite helpful, these are very unbalanced and incomplete results.
Survey Monkey's free features limited the results to 40 random responses. This is why there are twice as many responses from average consumers as there are industry professionals/students.
I want clarify that I've condensed industry professionals and/or students because I anticipated most responses from this group would be my peers majoring in sound recording and music industry. I acknowledge that the two are not synonymous. Unfortunately, I lacked the resources. On the other hand, I have the benefit of knowing and trusting the education my peers are receiving, and that they're developing skills of a professional in some capacity.
Also, since this was my first time creating such a study, the questions are quite limited and could address the argument better. If I'd had the foresight, I would have asked more questions.
With it all said and done, the point of this survey is not meant to prove or disprove that industry professionals listen to music differently, but simply guide the discussion. That being said, there are some interesting results.
Diving into the survey results
Here were some interesting results and my reactions to them. The infographic is highly interactive, so feel free to look at the data in more detail.
Question one: On average, how many hours a day do you typically listen to music?
There was hardly a difference between the groups, which surprised me. I assumed industry professionals/students listened more.
This may be a result of poor questioning, since I didn't specify if working on music counted as listening to music. When I auditioned the question, I naturally lumped the two together because I simply can't do my job without listening in some capacity.
Question two: What kind of attention do you typically pay to the music playing (on average)?
While industry professionals/students tend to listen more actively, the results weren't too different from the average consumer.
Question three: How often do you look up more about the song, whether it be lyrics, the story behind its making, or the artist?
3.7 percent of average consumers said they never do while 0 percent of industry professionals/students never do
7.69 percent of industry professionals/students always do while 0 percent of average consumers always do
This particular trend was interesting. This demonstrated a clear difference between the consumers, and frankly, took me by surprise.
Question four: How often do you find yourself analyzing the production or musical techniques?
A hefty 30.77 percent of industry professionals/students responded always and 0 percent responded with never, unlike the average consumer, of which 22.22 percent said never.
Only 7.41 percent of the average consumers surveyed responded with always.
Here, we saw a similar trend as in question three; industry professionals/students tend to research further into their music.
Question five: Does speaker quality matter to you?
Speaker quality mattered in some capacity to industry professionals/students, since 0 percent responded with never.
Consumers also cared greatly about speaker quality, since only 11.11 percent responded with never.
Industry professionals put more effort into speaker quality. 30.77 percent of them responding always, compared to the 18.52 percent of average consumers.
These results make a lot of sense. Most of the industry professionals/students surveyed either create their own music or are studying sound recording, and speaker quality is incredibly important when doing both of those things. In addition to students prioritizing good speakers for work-purposes, it's not far-fetched to assume they're listening recreationally out of the same good speakers.
Question six: What elements of a song do you tend to listen for? What stands out to you?
The responses were not that different. Feeling, skilled writing, good arranging, vocals and uniqueness mattered to both.
Responses from music industry professionals/students were focused more on the technical side. Production, structure, sounds and vocals were the most submitted words.
Responses from the average consumer focused more on instruments and meaning. Lyrics, beat, bass, rhythm, and meaning were most common.
So, what? My takeaways.
There's clearly a difference in the way these two groups consume music. Yes, the survey is limited and incomplete, but it's a start.
Industry professionals and students may listen to just as much music and pay just as much attention as consumers, but the data suggests that they take more interest in their music. They actively look up more about the music they consume. I wonder if this has more to do with our love for music rather than our education. We're in this business or training for it because we love music, and it goes deeper than listening.
While these groups listen through different filters, they ultimately balance each other out. Industry professionals are impressed by production quality, while consumers are impressed by meaning and instruments. This could come down to what these groups have been trained to hear, suggesting education does make a difference in how music is critiqued.
Now, I have an idea of what the average consumer and average music industry professional may be looking for.
I wanted this data to understand how I could tailor my music to appeal to both groups. Perhaps a good song will incorporate the values of both by being technically and aesthetically pleasing, whatever that means to the individual.
Music is subjective, so does this survey really help me produce my music? Not really. It's
a subtle nudge in a direction that could really lead me anywhere. That's the beauty of a discussion. Perhaps the answer is to listen to music, find what I like and make it my own. The best approach my be to make the best product I possibly can, fit my aesthetic, put meaning and thought behind my art, and release in good faith.
Next time you listen to music, think about what you like about the song. Ask yourself if you know anything about the artist or the team behind it. There's a lot of wonderful information that keeps music nerds like me on Google for hours, so try looking up your favorite song.
Here are some websites that I like to visit:
Genius has great insights on lyrics.
Wikipedia has a lot of information on songs and artists and contain links to many outside sources for further research.
AllMusic contains details on artists and their releases and include discographies, album reviews, album lists, and even album moods.
Let me know what you listen for in the comments, and share your thoughts on my results.
Happy listening!
