Funnels

The following was inspired by Ms. Dub's most recent contribution.

In a prior life this reporter held a position of responsibility with a large specialty retailer that prided itself in carrying the widest range of available music, purchased locally by store employees. This worked well until the following trends converged: the volume of recorded musical history expanded beyond the ability of a single store's walls to contain it, and the help tired of having to choose between eating and paying rent. Institutionalized objective funneling became necessary.

This writing could easily turn into a screed about profit motive. Instead, let's concentrate on the word 'funneling.' Pandora is a good starting point.

The basic concept is this: a team of experts ascribes certain characteristics to songs, such as instrumentation, tempo, mood, harmony, tonality, atmospherics, and so on. The subscriber seeds a listening experience with one or more favorite artists and/or songs. The Pandora system then takes over, combing its database for songs with similar traits. One could call this a form of directed serendipity, derived from data created in as objective a way as possible. That's the theory.

The execution is pretty good. As a random-play lover, I find that by creating a few dozen 'radio stations' with single songs I consider to be crucial examples of favorite mini-genres and then asking Pandora to blend them, I can replicate my usual listening experience with a whole lot of stuff I haven't yet heard. Nice.

The sticking point is this: wayyyy more music is being produced than is being added to the Pandora database. Admittedly, this is a necessity: without some funneling, the system risks dilution while choking on gobs of lesser material. The question: who decides what will be added or not? The answer: tastemakers. The followup: Do I buy in?

Tastemakers are necessary. A modern-day luxury is the surfeit of these experts, starting with, crucially, our friends. The sheer volume of music and its ready availability creates legions of micro-cultures and their resident experts. Add to this the ocean of online and old-media editorial opinion, and we all find ourselves playing a game of 'Who Do You Trust?'

The point, if I can ferret one out, is while we cannot avoid funnels, we can choose which ones to employ.

In the final years I worked at the aforementioned desk, the company product database grew by about 30,000 unique audio titles per year. I would estimate that number at perhaps double these days or, say, 5000 new titles per month. How does an intrepid music explorer navigate such a tsunami? Funnels.

My ongoing goal is to find as much good new music as I can realistically absorb. This is probably about 12-15 albums per month. How I get there is pretty consistent. I avail myself of about 500 album reviews per month. Around 15% (75 or so) of these pique enough interest to make me seek the music out on Rhapsody. About 15% of this auditioned music makes the cut. The system works well. The one thing I cannot let myself do is think about those other 4500 titles per month that have not come to my attention. I sleep well at night because I tell myself I used the widest-necked and most reliable set of funnels I could find.

And now...a bit of navel-gazing: Do I see myself as a tastemaker?

In short, no. I am a certifiable hermit. My tastes are diverse yet picky, and I doubt they translate well. Assuming the 15% batting average, if I extol an artist or album here, chances are about 6-in-7 you won't agree.

This blog is my first attempt to bring my music-related opinions outside the closed environment of my prior music industry life. I am still trying to find my voice, to see if I will learn anything from what pours out here. What I have absorbed so far can be nutshelled thus:

My drumbeat is for pro-active music exploration, especially by those in the 40+ demographic who find themselves growing estranged from their lost music love. To you I say: subscribe to an on-demand streaming service, read reviews, check out Amazon's Listmania, go to some Cedar shows, join a music listening club.

Everyone has a golden era, music-wise, and it's easy to believe that they just don't make 'em like that anymore. My rebuttal is simple: I came of age with multi-genre Top 40 and free-form FM, and I'm here to tell you that these are the good old days.

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Next week I'll touch on some highlights from my most recent music exploration. I'll probably go on a bit about The Apples in Stereo (where the hell have I been?), Monsters of Folk (sneering in the face of my usual allergic reaction to Conor Oberst), and Selena Gomez (yes, from the Disney factory; she's made an album that recalls 'Beauty and the Beat').

For now, though, the listen that brought the biggest smile. I simply don't hear enough tunes about getting drunk and eating a whole damn chicken: