How streaming influences pop music



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There is someone who knows our musical preferences very well. Jogging a playlist with exactly the music suggests, towards which we prefer to move. He gave us Monday the songs most likely to raise us. There are streaming providers such as Spotify or Apple Music, which offer more and more playlists for all kinds of moods and genres.



Meanwhile, streaming in Germany is the most popular way to listen to music – and the providers respond. But that does not only have economic effects. Streaming can also change the way music is written and heard.

Since mid-2018, audio streaming has been the most important segment of the music market in Germany. In addition to streaming providers, this also has advantages for labels. Through the badysis of their streaming music data, they can see when a listener is going and react to it.

"Music is written differently because streaming is so important," says musicologist Martin Lücke. On the one hand, the beginning of a song has become even more important. Because labels only earn on a stream when listeners listen to a song for more than 30 seconds. "So, as a label, I try to do everything so that the listener does not click far," says Lücke, a music professor at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences, Macromedia Musikwirtschaft.

Musicians are naturally more reserved in such statements. The German DJ Felix Jaehn, whose remix of the song "Cheerleader" of IMO has been a huge success, says that he is free in the musical production of such considerations. "However, I must say that most of my songs go straight to the point and often have a direct relationship with the intro," he adds.

Gap recounts studies supposed to show that singing in pop songs starts already earlier, in order to attract listeners' attention as quickly as possible. There were hits that really only worked after long intros, like "I would do anything for the sake of" Meat Loaf.

Besides the beginning of a pop success, the mood of a song becomes more important. "I'm going home and telling Siri or another intelligent speaker:" Play relaxing music now, "said Peter Tschmuck, a professor at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts. Most consumers are not interested in the identity of a song. The music you hear depends on the mood. "Dinnertime Acoustics", "Deep Focus" or "Movin & # 39; and Groovin & # 39;": Songs that match certain moods or genres are badigned to playlists by editors or algorithms.

The playlists of the new albums, gap and Tschmuck are sure. A popular Spotify playlist calls "Tropical House". It is full of electro dancing and poppy tubes that sound like holiday packages in the South Seas. Felix Jaehn is one of the most popular representatives of the genre. It is "quite safe" that "Tropical House" has favored its success. "I was one of the first artists to be known to Spotify in 2014," he says. "At the moment, I have almost two billion streams on my songs and remixes – just on Spotify – which is crazy and that would certainly not be possible without the genre-specific playlists. , like "Tropical House". "

For labels, it is particularly important to find entries in playlists. "It quickly became clear that reading lists are very important taste creators," Tschmuck said. But what influence do labels have on streaming services?

Of course, he will be contacted by the labels and will be in contact with them, explains Maik Pallasch, head of German music publishers Spotify. "But we can not determine if and what gets into Spotify playlists." A spokesman for Apple Music does not want to comment on a concrete collaboration with labels, but also emphasizes the independence of publishers who populate the playlists. There are now thousands of lists of this type.

In Germany alone, Spotify has 400 custom playlists, updated daily or weekly by six publishers in total. In addition, there are up to ten personal playlists that offer algorithms to listeners for music that suits them. In all, including user-created playlists, there are more than two billion lists, according to information provided by Pallasch.

This could create a kind of momentum. "Some songwriters can have the sound of a particular genre that is popular with streaming providers when composing," says Lücke. "And there will certainly be attempts by labels to find artists that match specific playlists." The universal boss Frank Briegmann contradicts. "We are selecting artists for their talent and potential." At the same time, he admits: "In genres such as EDM or hip-hop, in which the company's share of streaming is particularly important, of course, appropriate playlists are included in the considerations" .

Will pop music become more and more similar at the end? Experts do not want to go that far. This accusation is as old as pop music itself, explains Tschmuck. Felix Jaehn is certain: "Music does not work according to diagrams, formulas or logical thoughts." And also gap seems similar. Although much can be calculated by data badysis, he explains. "But in the end, there is always the unknown factor in pop music – fortunately."
(Lisa Forster, dpa) /


(ANW)



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