Music and Me: Reflections

As a class we discussed the song choices we had posted on our blogs. The Music & Me lesson not only allowed us all to get a glimpse into each other's personal music archives but also to consider the reasons we chose the songs we did. Despite differing musical tastes now, generally we seemed to chose similar songs under the 'childhood' category by bands such as Busted and S Club 7, and failing that chose tracks heavily influenced by our parents or older siblings (like mine for example). The fact that we all had a mutual appreciation or at the very least knowledge of the songs each other had chosen for childhood told us a lot about the consumption habits of this younger age group; mostly listening to the radio perhaps in the car with parents, in the morning at breakfast etc but above all generally having one main palatable source before we began to develop our own personal tastes. The songs we liked were mainstream and our friends seemed to like them too- I guess you could say there was a bit of 'herd mentality' but it satisfied our deeper need for personal relationships and inclusion in the group (Bluhmler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications Theory) and this is important-especially as a child. 

Evolution of my Radio consumption & influences

Also in the case of supergroups like S Club 7 and the Spice Girls it was the whole brand working in synergy to promote their music that made them so influential to us. Through merchandise. TV shows and films, these bands targeted us via every possible marketing platform and presented an aspirational image that as children we looked up to and our parents were happy to buy into because they promoted 'safe' and 'clean' fun.

Technology too has come a long way since we were younger. We may be heralded as 'digital natives' but deep down we're still 90's kids and yes we remember (occasionally fondly) buying and using cassette tapes! Nowadays 8 and 9 year olds are on the internet and can have access to pretty much any song of their choice via iTunes or YouTube. Perhaps as broadband speeds continue to get faster and younger generations become more electronically able, children will begin to develop their own musical preferences at a younger age…or record companies will find a way to replicate the fandom we remember into the digital age…or maybe it's already happening. Two words: Justin Bieber. Anyway! It is important to understand different audiences and their consumption habits in order to successfully market our artist effectively when we come to the coursework project.

It also became clear through our discussion that as we began secondary school we became more discerning music fans and perhaps swayed more towards a certain genre or band of our own choosing rather than just following the crowd. When asked about the significance of our choices there were a variety of responses, from reminding someone of a particular person, place, feeling, TV show, relatable lyrics or a live performance that had stayed with them in some way. We all agreed how powerful and encompassing music is; the emotion that a particular song can bring out in a person is unrivalled. Over time our tastes may have broadened, we may have gone through phases (lets not mention Haduoken!) but music has always been there throughout and will always continue to be.