I Collect Music Based On How It Makes Me Feel

I was listening to the latest episode of the Lounge Ruminator podcast today, ‘Rage against the Video’, by fellow Micro.blog member Martin Felt. In it, he was pondering the various music programmes on TV that he watched in his younger years, and how now he’s no longer as driven to see the music videos of the songs he’s listening to.

I originally wrote the following as a comment to him over on Micro.blog, but I’ve decided to expand it into a blog post.

I remember watching music TV programmes (Top Of The Pops, The Network Chart Show) when I was a kid and teenager, however my music tastes and purchasing habits have always been informed more by radio, particularly where the DJ/presenter could pick what they wanted to play. (I’ve fond memories of staying up late to listen to John Peel on BBC Radio One in the 80s, and Coldcut’s Solid Steel Radio Show in the 90s.)

In the 2000s, once I got broadband, I changed over to mostly Internet stations, particularly the streams from SomaFM, plus recommendations from Last.fm and Pandora Music (before the former was neutered by CBS Interactive and the latter shut out non-US listeners due to rights management.)

I also supplement with music recommendations from Spotify, and now Apple Music.

I only rarely watch music videos these days. I’m guided more by how the music makes me feel when I hear it. I’ve had quite a few happy accidents over the years, and my huge MP3 collection probably reflects that. 😀

The arrival of broadband Internet and wireless networking really did change my life in the early 2000s. Prior to that, I was very much at the mercy of the radio station management as to when I could hear my favourite shows, or if I’d hear them at all. Some DJs got shifted to the wee small hours, while others left the station they were with or were pushed out. 🙁