The case for (defining) a ‘Rich Listening Experience’

The problems and limitations that music streaming services impinge on listeners have been getting a lot of attention recently (list of links at the end of the post).

Several distinct issues have been pointed out but when looking at them in the aggregate we can make a simple assertion:

Music streaming services in general provide listeners with a poor listening experience (PLE).

The growing criticism indicates there is a latent need for something better. We could call it a rich listening experience (RLE).

A true RLE, when eventually made available, could be extremely valuable for listeners. Transformative even.

It could address many of the problems being observed and provide higher levels of enjoyment for listeners.

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We are used to articles pointing out to specific problems of streaming, and their unique causes and consequences.

The PLE/RLE distinction/evolution could be a useful topic. It brings to the forefront all the disparate topics that affect listeners that are often in the background and dispersed among other topics.

What distinguishes PLE from an RLE? This seems a very crucial starting topic.

What is the best framework to describe any listening experience in the context of music streaming? A standard nomenclature of its components would be helpful.

Personally, I think we see many glimpses of RLE, but they are too spread out.

Spotify provides a very RLE in the restricted cases that suits its strategic imperatives. So much of the discussion of the problems with streaming is essentially defined by Spotify’s ‘strategic frontier’, so to speak.

Roon provides a fabulously RLE but requires a Qobuz subscription (or TIDAL) and a dedicated PC running as a server.

Resso is as interesting experiment, showing that music streaming with a deep social networking backbone can work outside of the Chinese market. (Much of the success of TikTok itself as a music-adjacent platform could be attributed to the quality of experience it provides).

The convergence of YouTube, YouTube Music and YouTube shorts is an intriguing possibility too.

Maybe PLE/RLE is a difficult subject to describe or prescribe. A true RLE may only show its value after people use it. Very few people thought the iPod was a big deal upon launch.

The iPod had the benefit of literally being presented as a single object. RLE involves software in many platforms, hundreds of hardware brands and models, millions of connected users and adaptation to every context imaginable. (Has anybody already used Spotify in space?)

How universal is the need for RLE? Is this a niche for audiophiles and collectors? I am not sure. Reversing the question is interesting: who would not benefit from RLE? People who “don’t like music”?

That suggests that many customer profiles are the target market for RLE: active listeners and passive listeners. All those that constantly switch between the two modes. Casual and obsessive music fans. Newbies and advanced fans for any genre. Regular listeners, all kinds of creators and music pros. Fans of hi-fi and those not. Young and not-young people.

Another topic for inquiry: how uniquely important is the PLE/RLE topic to music in comparison with other kinds of media and content? I suspect the answer is “very”. People still watch one movie at a time, but music listening requires choosing some dozen songs out of several million. You can (and should) eventually reread a book but listening the same song thousands of times is usual.

If we have a clear understanding of RLE as a particularly crucial topic for music streaming, this could be helpful in many ways. The selection of priorities for music streaming development could be dramatically improved.

In any case, the listening experience should be a clear and well-understood priority, not a casualty of other strategic priorities.

 

 

Appendix: collected links

The Guardian/Alexis Petridis: Has streaming made it harder to discover new music? (26/09/2022)

The Guardian/Liz Pelly: ‘There’s endless choice, but you’re not listening’: fans quitting Spotify to save their love of music (27/09/2022)

Wired/Rebecca Giblin and Cory Doctorow: Streamers Use Playlists to Control the Music Industry(04/10/2022)

The Guardian/James Tapper: No tune, no words, no dancing: why white noise is the music industry’s newest hit (02/10/2022)

MIDiA Research/Mark Mulligan: Time to jump off the algorithm highway (30/09/2022)

The Motive Unknown Digest: More music, more distractions on the same platform - what's happening to our relationship with music (03/10/2022)

Older articles:

MIDiA Research/Mark Mulligan: Fake artists are what happens when fandom dies (07/04/2022)

Kyle Chayka: Essay: The digital death of collecting (18/09/2021)

The New Yorker/Kyle Chayka: Why Twitter’s New Interface Makes Us Mad (19/08/2021)

The Honest Broker/Ted Gioia: The Fake Artists Problem Is Much Worse Than You Realize (09/04/2022)

The Honest Broker/Ted Gioia: Spotify Shares Now Selling at Less Than the IPO Price 4 Years Ago (01/05/2022)

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A Context for the Lack of Context - ‘The Guardian’ on Music Streaming