Music

My name‿ is Julia. Music‿ accompanies my whole day,│ an(d) what has changed‿ is not the quantity of‿ it but my relationship to it:│ I no longer‿ own‿ anything,│ and‿ I subscribe to everything.

Streaming has produced‿ a proliferation‿ of‿ availability and‿ a collapse‿ in the economics‿ of being‿ a musician. My brother plays‿ in‿ a ban(d) with thirty^thir-dy thousan(d) monthly listeners‿ and‿ earns less from them than he did from selling two hundred CDs‿ in 2009,│ because the royalty per stream‿ is so small that‿ only volume repays‿ it. Live performance‿ is now│ where the money is,│ which‿ explains the ticket prices‿ an(d) the fac(t) that the atmosphere‿ at‿ a concert‿ is‿ often better^be-der than the recording. Attribution has shifted from the song to the event.

As‿ a listener,│ my feelings‿ are mixed. Algorithmic playlists‿ are convenient‿ and‿ introduce me to genres‿ I would never have found,│ an(d) they also homogenise taste,│ because they feed me what‿ I have‿ already liked. If the melody has‿ atrophied‿ in the charts,│ which‿ I suspect,│ that‿ is partly a consequence‿ of designing for the firs(t) ten seconds‿ an(d) curating for the skip button. My father made me learn the piano for six years,│ which‿ I resented,│ and‿ I am grateful now. Nostalgia aside,│ I would rather have‿ a commercial system that pays the artis(t) than‿ a free one that does not.