Hello, everyone. It's しょごみ.
This time, the theme is “new ways to enjoy music.”
As I also discussed in the Chooning article, most of what we now call “listening to music” takes place in the digital world.
But if the ways we enjoy it settle into a fixed pattern, that takes away some of the fun. This time, I would like to think about how we might enjoy music in the future. Alongside an introduction to one company's initiative, I will write about my own ideas for enjoying music from different angles. I hope you will join me.
CONTENTS
• What does “enjoying music” mean in the first place?
• My own ideas about enjoying music in the future
• Embracing listening in the digital-native era
• Creating something that “goes viral”
What does “enjoying music” mean in the first place?
Enjoying music takes many forms: “listening” is one, and “making” it is another. “Writing” about it, as I do, is one more.
Just as the way we listen has changed over the past few decades, the ways we enjoy music are changing too.
Against that backdrop, the ¥300 variety store 3COINS and music streaming service AWA are running a collaboration called “3COINS MEETS AWA.” I found an interview with AWA's 石本, who came up with the project, and would like to introduce part of it here.
• How the project came about
→ In the era when LPs and CDs were the main formats, cover artwork played a major role. Now that streaming is the norm, it merely flashes past on a screen. That means its role is fading, which seems a shame. Apparently, AWA approached 3COINS with the idea of using that artwork to create a new point of encounter with listeners.
• 岩本’s thoughts on the shift to the streaming era
→ Streaming services are convenient, but might they be a weak means of building an emotional attachment to music and artists?
Music stays in our memories when it is linked to an experience. For that reason, the interviewee says that collaborations like this—and AWA itself—need to create experiences people can become absorbed in, rather than remaining simply a means of delivering music.
My own ideas about enjoying music in the future
With streaming on the rise and all sorts of songs so easy to hear, I feel it has become easier to “window-shop.” That is precisely why I think what branches out from that experience is so important.
Rather than keeping music within the place where it is distributed, you could introduce it in a fashion magazine, for example. Something different appearing in that setting would make people take notice.
Embracing listening in the digital-native era
As listening has shifted from CDs to digital, discovering and obtaining new music has become extremely quick. That is why there are so many artists who are popular on YouTube or enormously popular on online platforms. These days, promotion through social media is also flourishing. This is happening across many industries, not just music. But one thing to remember is that merely using social media does not make something spread. As social media grows, the ability to present and produce yourself becomes important. I think artists will increasingly need to use social media as a tool, rather than treating it as simply a means. People often say something “goes viral.” To me, music is becoming something we share rather than own. As that sharing repeats and different users consume it again and again, a large wave forms. That wave is what I think of as “going viral.”
So how do you create that wave?
Creating something that “goes viral”
How do you make something go viral? I do not think simply releasing music will make it spread. I suspect people do not very often search for music they know absolutely nothing about, find it and listen. That means you need to attract attention through content other than music. It could be a blog or photography. If you are good at drawing, perhaps you could post your art. I believe the most important thing is to catch people's attention. It is precisely because we live in an online society that I feel this way.
Marketing sometimes uses a technique called “chunking.” It means breaking something into smaller pieces or, conversely, grouping small things together and making them more abstract to create an image. It is often used with telephone numbers—the sort of thing you see in commercials for 城本クリニック or DHC. What would happen if we applied it to music? As I wrote above, chunking can move toward either the concrete or the abstract. Bringing music together with parallel fields within the arts, such as fine art or crafts, can make people notice a work from different angles. If you create your own genre in the process, a particular keyword could immediately make people connect it with your music, drawing attention to you. That might even be where something starts to go viral.
This time, I have written about ways to enjoy music, using a company's initiative as one example. Things will surely keep moving, and all kinds of new ways of enjoying it will emerge. Like a cycle of rebirth, an old trend might shine again. I think things are going to become even more interesting. Until next time!
Read the interview here
https://www.3coins.jp/news/awa_interview
