Back in the 80’s and maybe even 90’s, I would listen intently almost every week to the Billboard Top 40 Hits on the radio with headphones on, ready to hit record on my mix cassette tape for those favorite songs when they were played. It was the only way to curate a highly personal playlist no matter how long it took.
Even in the early 2000’s, you would have to buy the entire CD and then with the help of a multi-disc player you could more quickly rotate through your best-loved songs lessening the opportunity cost of your time. Now, you can curate a highly personal playlist in a matter of minutes with a music streaming service subscription for around $11 / month, as opposed to the more time-consuming, outdated and expensive alternatives.
The conventional definition of opportunity cost is “the potential benefits that a business, an investor, or an individual consumer misses out on when choosing one alternative over another. It refers to the hidden cost associated with not taking an alternative course of action.” Opportunity Cost: Definition, Calculation Formula, and Examples (investopedia.com)
If you are still listening to your favorite music on vinyl, 8-track tapes, cassette tapes, CDs, the radio, Sirius-XM, at a restaurant or store and then hitting the Shazam app, you are missing out on an amazing opportunity the mighty algorithm can do for you.
Studies have found that by the time we turn 33, most of us have stopped listening to new music. We are more likely to listen to popular songs released in our early teens than venture out to find new music. Why We Stop Discovering New Music Around Age 30 (businessinsider.com) Even with all our digital devices we don’t, but yet we do with the endless video streaming opportunities and the unrelenting social media algorithm sucking an average of over 2 hours of our time daily! Why Do We Stop Exploring New Music as We Get Older? – Neuroscience News
In the last post, I included the TV rating for the HBO video replayed on YouTube I referenced. Incidentally, movies and TV shows still provide Parental Advisory ratings yet music lyrics (artists are not required to by law) and most Internet sourced content including YouTube do not reference or include any type of rating.
Back in the mixed tape era, a song’s sound was primary, and lyrics were secondary. Other than to listen very carefully over and over again, there wasn’t a good way to exactly know the lyrics and neither did your parents. Unlike today, where you just Google them. Those lyrics now seem so subtle and innocuous even admirable compared to the current Billboard Hot 100™ and how out of touch I am when writing this finding Hiss – Megan Thee Stallion at #1.
Subscribe to Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music or YouTube Music, make playlists of every music genre you love, play them on repeat and then, let the algorithm take over once the playlist has ended. If you don’t like a song, skip to the next. Here’s how to Let the Algorithm Take Control? – Roland Articles
Go listen to the music that makes you smile and turn it up, allowing the algorithm to take you on a journey of undiscovered songs. Be technology smart. How To Discover New Music and Free Yourself from Musical Paralysis | Sound of Life | Powered by KEF