Saving Private Jukebox

As we jive into 2013, we have broader musical horizons than ever before. The wonderful Internet gives us access to more music than we know what to do with, all genres from all corners of the world and from as long as sound recording has been invented. On top of that, we're getting ever closer to the dream of the Celestial Jukebox – any piece of music, any time, anywhere. We can all agree that we're damn lucky in that respect. And we should be careful not to neglect our near-magical powers. 

 I'm referring to the online phenomenon of 'social music', by which listening habits are recorded splurged all over Facebook, Twitter and such sites. Quality is measured in 'likes', trending topics, by what it's cool to be listening to. By removing the private aspect of music taste, these encourage people to follow the crowd, to deny themselves those guilty pleasures and to hop onboard with whatever their friends are listening to.

Don't get me wrong, sharing music with others can be a great bonding experience and amazing fun. It's just that the kind of constant connectivity promoted by having a mobile music streaming service like Spotify linked to Facebook and publishing everything you listen to in a public (cyber)space, seems to be going a bit far. If anything, there's less of a motivation to talk to people about music anymore. You know what you like, you know what they like. It's written on the world's most visited website.

The point of this rant is simple: listen to whatever the hell you want to. Explore music you've never heard before, and never even heard mentioned. Try and make time for a little bit of private listening, just for you and your ears. People who recieve their music taste solely by what others like miss out on the great joys of discovery. There's an effectively endless supply of sound at your fingertips and you should be digging it. In short, don't get stuck in a rut, even if it is in good company.