Personal Music Comsumption

I consume music in many different scenarios and at many different times during a typical day including getting ready for school, on the bus, in the car etc.. This is usually through my iPod. I rarely take the time out of a day to do nothing but listen to music, unless listening to a vinyl record, which I find a very personal experience, although often I will be consciously listening to new music whilst doing things that don't require a lot of thought, such as while on-the-go and while cooking. The large majority of my music listening I do alone, although a large amount of the music I listen to I will recommend to a suitable friend or will have been recommended to me. In this sense, music consumption is a very inclusive part of my life socially, including occasionally going to gigs or concerts with friends or family.

The music I listen to is something I cherish as a firm part of my identity, and so I listen to a lot of different genres (such as jazz, indie rock, funk, soul, 60's pop etc.) to get as good an idea as I can as to what this part of my identity is.  Another reason that I listen to a range of genres is that I feel that different genres can help evoke a incredibly large range of moods and emotions which sometimes I may feel need gratifying. I often feel semi-personal relationships with certain songs and the specific emotions the song may bring out in me, often due to the lyrics. In other words, I take music consumption very seriously in really listening to the music instead of it being a social catalyst or anything else, as it often is in places such as clubs.

The majority of my music consumption is through my iPod - I will download the music from my laptop and put it onto my iPod for consumption in the ways I've described above.

Often I will consume music in a quasi-professional role, in that it gives me ideas and inspiration for my own music, as well as getting inspiration from the artists, who are often very eccentric and exceptional people.

Influential Tracks

This was one of the first songs I listened to, in the car with my family, and I remember not knowing who the artist was. It is still one of my favourite songs, as I can remember listening to it a lot with people I don't see a lot now as well as during important parts of my life.

This was the first song I listened to on my record player when I was 13, and was a start to me (consciously) listening to much older music. I found I could connect personally to the some of the themes from older music by artists such as Bob Dylan much more than I could do with the popular music that was around at the time.

I saw Peace at Reading Festival 2014, and specifically remembered this song as I felt I could relate very strongly to the lyrics of the song - it reminded me a lot of my brother who had just left to live in California. The whole live experience of the performance really made the listen a very emotive experience, especially as I was sharing it with close friends.