#music-discovery

#music-discovery

How do we discover new music? It used to be mostly through friends, record stores, and radio. Now, friends, some radio stations, and music platforms still play a role. Spotify's annual wrap-up is an ideal time to see what new music has reached our ears. The European Union is funding a project to audit algorithmic music discovery because it believes there may be bias and a lack of transparency in this process.

It is 20 years since Guitar Hero was launched in North America, and with it, the tools for the everyday gamer to become a rock star. Not literally of course, but try telling that to someone who has nailed Free Bird's four-minute guitar solo in front of a packed living-room audience. Developed by Harmonix, published by RedOctane and inspired by Konami's GuitarFreaks, Guitar Hero gave players a guitar-shaped controller with which to match coloured notes scrolling down the screen in time with a song.

Fans are continuing to change the tune of how they consume music. It was recently reported that MTV was going to stop broadcasting five channels, including MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live in the United Kingdom, and that the channels would go dark the end of this year. (Its flagship channel, MTV HD, will continue to air reality series.)

The themes are heavy the threats from disease and crop failures, not to mention powerful rulers but the polyphonic style is bright and joyful.

AM radio has long been a trusted source of emergency information, providing real-time updates when other communications platforms fail. Recent disasters like the Los Angeles wildfires and hurricanes in the southeast underscore AM radio's unique role in delivering evacuation orders, emergency alerts and recovery information under the most challenging conditions.

I chose two albums by this band Yanti Bersaudara, an Indonesian band from the '70s. I think they maybe did some albums in the late '60s as well. But this is one of my favorites.

When I grew up, MTV was ground central for youth culture, for better and for worse. I won't pretend it was perfect... but it did have something that these current-day platforms don't.