Every Noise at Once with Glenn McDonald

The Power of Music Thinking

Well it's this time of the year. And I am not talking about the countdown until Christmas and the holiday. I am also not talking about ‘the word of the year’, or any other review compiled and curated by air quote “specialists”. I am talking about you, or better about your data, or even more close about your musical behaviour, taste and most played songs. Yes, it is the time when all Spotify users get their personal wrap-up of the year.

But this episode is not about the making of the wrap-up. This episode is about musical genre types, technology and research with musical behaviour.

My guest today is Glenn McDonald, Data Alchemist of Spotify and founder, programmer and producer of the Every Noise at Once website, which holds and updates examples from all genre types Spotify is tracking.

We talk about personal music algorithms, genre categorisation, subsets of listening, what you can learn from listening data, and how listening behaviour shapes communities that can be the start of a new genre.

Glenn shares with us how he compiled playlists on his Spotify account and a memorable sonic experience when he heard the band Low for the first time live ‘opening up a door’ to a transformational moment.

Shownotes:

• Website Every Noise at Once: everynoise.com
• Glenn McDonald personal site: furia.com
• Twitter: @glenn_mcdonald

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