I\u2019m from T\u0101maki Makaurau, Aotearoa (New Zealand) but I live in Berlin, Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I work for Ableton, a company that designs music software and hardware for producers and performers. I\u2019m responsible for music and artist partnerships, which essentially is about finding and sharing inspiring real life examples of what\u2019s possible with our products with music fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My listening is all over the show. From radio to mixtapes to albums to Dinosaur Train songs on repeat (thanks to my son). Right at this moment, I\u2019m listening to \u201cA Guide to Classical Works in Murakami Novels\u201d on NTS Radio. Yesterday, on a walk, I was listening to the new album from Jim Legxacy. At the gym the other day, I listened to the same three tracks from the new Jung Kook album for 40 minutes because apparently I\u2019m a psychopath when I work out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think this question might be the meaning of my life. I know you\u2019re asking me practically how; places and websites, but for me discovery is a real state of mind I have to foster. I went through a long \u201clistening block\u201d a few years back where I didn\u2019t feel open to hearing anything new. This is maybe one of the side effects of working in music and being a music fan, you can get pretty fatigued about staying \u201con it\u201d. Now, I make space in my mind to be open, to follow my curiosity naturally and let music find me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So on the more practical side, new music finds me in lots of different ways. My top two places of discovery: radio (NTS<\/a>, The Lot<\/a>, Radio New Zealand<\/a>) and people (my partner, a couple music mad friends, other curation colleagues). I think radio makes the top two because it\u2019s essentially just more recommendations from people, just outside my direct network. I also read a lot of Wikipedia \u201cliner notes\u201d on albums and releases, and really dig into the samples, writers and producers. Genius notes can also be really great for discovery, I often find myself going down an interpolation wormhole. Same thing on Youtube, if I let the algorithmic wave take me where it wants to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I listen to a lot of music online. I\u2019m currently using Tidal after cancelling my Spotify subscription for the 10th time. I\u2019m still trying to settle on a streaming service that doesn\u2019t make me feel a lack of solidarity with musicians, but is also functional. I stream a lot on Bandcamp, either my own collection or the collections of people I follow. I still buy music, in particular stuff I really like and listen to a lot on streaming, I\u2019ll quite often buy the LP of it (and get gifted the digital alongside). This is a nice balance for me, to still have a physical collection alongside a big collection of playlists across streaming services and youtube. Physical music always feels like such a nice ritual, when you wake up on a Sunday, make coffee and pull out an album; it\u2019s a much more fun and intimate experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “for me, music discovery is a real state of mind I have to foster. I make space in my mind to be open, to follow my curiosity naturally and let music find me.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n I would say I listen to most of my music when I\u2019m on the go, so through my ear buds. If I\u2019m at home, we\u2019ll listen to stuff on our bluetooth speaker or put a record on. I also listen a lot at work, but that can be a different type of listening. When I listen to music for work, it\u2019s not necessarily about what I personally like or don\u2019t like, but about the production and execution in relation to what we\u2019re working on. Most of the time that\u2019s through over ear headphones or through monitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pre-release music is normally sent to me, either as a download, a stream or an Ableton file. Soundcloud is still big for these kinds of previews. People still send a lot of CDs, which I can\u2019t really listen to anymore but I\u2019m always grateful for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As someone who went from listening to tapes to CDs to mini-disc to MP3 player to iPod to the infinite world of smartphone + streaming, I have to say organising music is a pain in the ass. I also don\u2019t necessarily want unlimited access, I find constraint comforting, and sometimes the endless playlists and scrolling of streaming services can leave me paralysed for choice. In some ways I found it easier to discover when the choices weren\u2019t so infinite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also anyone who receives a lot of promo tracks will tell you it\u2019s the worst thing ever when they\u2019re not labelled or tagged properly. Quite often I will throw these in a big folder then listen on my phone while I\u2019m walking and I\u2019ll look at the track and there\u2019s just a track name, no artist or label, and I have to reverse engineer where\/who I got it from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Personally, I just don\u2019t. I\u2019ve stopped trying to be organised. Stuff that sticks just sticks, and I try not to spend time organising it anymore. I\u2019ve also embraced forgetting and re-remembering music. There\u2019s often a pressure to know everything about music all the time when you work in music, and it can take the joy out of it, so I\u2019ve let the control go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My partner and I have a shared playlist called \u201cHouse Music\u201d that\u2019s 24 hours long and is a huge dump of music we like. That\u2019s often a jump off point – put that on shuffle and see where it takes us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Professionally, I keep folders of sets and files that I\u2019m interested in for partnerships, and I keep it to a minimum by doing my discovery in a different format (playlists across platforms), and then bringing it into \u201chardcopy\u201d files (mp3, AIFF or Ableton sets) when we\u2019re talking curation.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat formats do you usually listen to? LP, CD, Cassette, Digital, Streaming Services? Why?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Where do you do most of your music listening?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How do you find and listen to pre-release music?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What are your frustrations with listening to music digitally? Any benefits?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How do you keep track of everything you are listening to?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n