Current Status: Goldfish
I’m pretty sure you’ve heard by now that according to ‘science’ our collective ability to focus has declined over time and now our attention spans are shorter than a goldfish. I mean you’ve probably heard people referring to the 5-10 sec vines of yester-year as proof that we want to consume more content in less time.
You may have also noted that this ‘scientific experiment and the findings’ were proven to be a myth. However, let’s assume for the sake of my art that it is true (even though it’s not).
I wanted to (musically) document this idea that I had based on how the average person may listen to music (or anything for that matter) in a world where there are so many options and a fear of missing out.
Confessions of a consumption junkie
I’m a fairly reflective person (or at least I like to think I am).
This project is a reflection of my own behaviours. From a consumption junkie point of view (of videos), I tend to get annoyed by Youtubers who spend over 5 mins on pointless stuff before getting to the topic at hand. I tend to go into the comments and get a timestamp or I click through until I get to what I want. I’m actually grateful that Youtube has added a speed option so now I rarely listen to content on normal.
Yet, as a casual amateur podcaster, I ramble ALOT and hope people enjoy long-winded nature of my drivel (#selfaware)
As a musician and overall music lover, I used to listen to music the whole way through. In particular, back from 2011-2014 (uni years), Songza’s currated playlists led me to discover a few of my favourite producing artists and genres which influenced my style in a way.
That said, I’ve noticed a change in the way I listen to music now.
If I’m being honest, it comes from the transition into serious music production. I spent a large portion of time analyzing music that I didn’t personally enjoy just in the hopes of potentially making money (from attempting soundalikes). I was in a state of constantly comparing and contrasting, and researching how to get better. My obsessive nature was unhealthy as It took the joy out of music. It became less about enjoying art as a whole and more about what can I do to sound like x,y,z.
My music listening process
I would start at the beginning, skip to the middle, skip backwards, move to the end, and go to the next track. Sometimes when I feel like it I do a full run through of the track if I got sidetracked. Now that I’m becoming more confident in my own creativity and not thinking I have to imitate in order to succeed (something I couldn’t successfully do anyways), I’ve returned to a state where I can listen to music for enjoyment sake without trying to compare my art to another.)
So Much Music, So Little Time (therefore, skip)
S.K.I.P is an experimental EP of mine that was meant to recreate how I (and potentially others) listen to music in the era of the (mythical) ‘goldfish’ mentality (especially as a producing artist). I did this with my own music for copyright purposes (and to dismantle my fragile ego from the thought that there are individuals who wouldn’t want to listen to full albums online anymore). I wanted to take a step back and perhaps shallowly dissect how some people consume art (like music) and media on a whole. Basically, I compressed my albums into 5-6 minute tracks where I mainly skip through my songs in random places the way I would on Soundcloud, or Bandcamp for some artists.
My project is available nearly everywhere online as of April 23,2019.
Final Note: I was originally going to call this project G.O.L.D.F.I.S.H but after reading/skimming this wonderful article, I decided to change the name because it perhaps better reflects the point about my declining habit of not listening to songs the whole way through but experiencing them as soundbites.
