A tale of my somewhat romantic relationship with a streaming service
It Began with Roxanne...
My relationship with music began when I was quite young. I can clearly remember resting my head against the window of my Dad's car as he blasted The Police and Duran Duran on my way home, feeling like I was in a music video. At my uncle's music studio, I remember him playing me different tunes and explaining music theory in great detail (mind you I was 8, and everything was going way over my head). When I began dancing competitively, we would sit in the studio and count out the music we danced to, in order to better understand the musicality. While it was amazing to be exposed to so many different forms of music growing up, I never got to form my own relationship with music. It was all pre-determined by dance coaches and family members. I was never the one to find something new myself. Skip all the way to my freshman year at the University of Michigan, and more and more of my friends were showing me their favorite songs via a platform I did not have experience with: Spotify. Little did I know that this single company would completely transform my personal relationship music.
When a consumer like me is exposed to a new product or brand like Spotify, our first reaction is to compare it to our existing schema. In this instance, my existing schema was Apple Music. My family had used iTunes for as long as I remember, so Apple Music seemed to be the way to go. But using Apple Music never allowed me to really explore the breadth and variety of music that's out there. My script for a music streaming service was one that involved simply adding the songs I heard in dance or with friends/family and simply listening to those on repeat. A script is a schema representing an event. So, my expectation for encounters with a music streaming service was very bare-bones. But seeing my friends use Spotify, I could see that it was so much more than that. It was finding playlists based on moods, being able to follow your friends and artists to find new songs, and advanced intuitive search that made Apple Music look archaic at the time. This new script was so much more exciting to me. But it wasn't just this new experience for me. I was experiencing emotional contagion. Those who would show me their use of Spotify were clearly happy with the service and experienced enjoyment in both finding and sharing songs using this platform. I could feel their feelings of excitement reflecting onto me, and I couldn't help but get excited at the thought of making the switch from Apple Music to Spotify.
I badly wanted to have my own opinions and values when it came to the music I listened to.
For example, I would hear songs over and over again at my dance studio. These songs usually weren't my cup of tea, or were simply the kind you hear from the Top 40 (not that there's anything wrong with Top 40, but there's definitely more to music that those chart-toppers). Friends of mine would show me incredible songs like Lil Thing by Knox Fortune that I would never hear in a ballet class, but made me want to dance way more than a piano cover of Bad Romance by Lady Gaga! Or Let Go by The Undercover Dream Lovers that requires several times of closely listening to really decipher the meaning behind the lyrics. This desire to improve my understanding of the complexities of music can only be described as self improvement motivation. I understand that you may be thinking, "can't you develop your own opinions on music via Apple Music?". Yes, you absolutely can. But keep in mind that Apple Music's interface only allowed a fraction of the features that made Spotify so appealing back in 2018. And my personal feeling was that Apple didn't allow me to explore music the way Spotify does. And I knew that while using Apple Music, I was limited in my exploration of the diversity of music. If you want to learn more about how Spotify lead the pack of music streaming services, check out this article:
Not only did Spotify allow me to explore music much deeper, but the friend feature allowed music to become a form of relationship building. Sharing songs is definitely one of my love languages. When someone sends me a song, they have actively thought of me when listening to it. Something about that just makes my heart swell. The experiential value is potent, for this platform isn't just about me, it's about sharing and bonding with my peers over something less surface-level. Obsessing over a song with a close friend is one of the best feelings ever. Blasting a song at full volume and shouting the lyrics at the top of your lungs is cathartic, magical, and intimate. Another thing I love to do every so often is check out my friends' listening activity on Spotify. It may seem odd, but you can tell a lot about how a peer is doing based on what they are listening to. You can see if they're deep in study-mode when listening to Lo-Fi Beats or if they're feeling a little down when listening to Sad Bops. Amidst a global pandemic, this can be the closest you get to truly being there with them.
There is so much power in music, and as I've become a Spotify user I see its power more and more.
Furthermore, as a dancer, music is one of the biggest ways in which I express myself. Songs like Saw You In a Dream by Japanese House never fail to move me and dancing to it helps me let out pent up feelings that have been dragging me down. The feeling I get when the audience hushes as my movement changes along with the music will never not give me goosebumps. And watching how other dancers interpret a song as they freestyle is one of the most beautiful things to witness.
Now, I have been a Spotify user since the summer of 2018 and have never felt so emotionally attached to a company and their product. Due to my affect towards the Spotify brand, it's pretty easy to assume I love it. The visceral response that I experience every time I create a new playlist or find a new song that makes me want to dance can only be described as ecstatic. Have you ever found a brand that makes you feel this way? I can't exactly describe why, but finally developing my own relationship with music feels so freeing. To me, seeing how my music taste has changed over the years correlates to my own personal growth. I can confidently say that Spotify has even enhanced my self-connection due to this. The post-purchase value I have garnered from switching to Spotify is very clear to me as I can continue to better my understanding of the world of music and build relationships through it.
I may or may not be a little crazy when it comes to my love of Spotify. You might've read this and decided you need to switch immediately, or thought "wow this girl has read wayyyy too much into how a music platform changed her life". Either way, I hope you see how a single company can completely change a consumer's relationship with something as simple as music. By including certain features that encourage types of behavior, Spotify has continued to lead the pack as the best music streaming service out there. Spotify has made me view music as a form of self expression, not just the music my coaches forced me to dance to.
Before you go, why not check out some of the songs that make me smile? You can find them here or check out my Spotify profile to learn a little more about me. And let me know, what songs speak to you the most? What role does music play in your life? Are you a Spotify groupie or Apple Music junkie? Are there any brands you have a love for? Ones you will remain loyal to throughout your life? It's an interesting concept to feel love for a brand, but a feeling I think we'll all experience at one point in our life.
Links:
Spotify Article: https://producthabits.com/how-spotify-built-a-20-billion-business-by-changing-how-people-listen-to-music/
Spotify Profile: https://open.spotify.com/user/0kkl4246on2grtrrgih101oem?si=nuKVRjf1TGG2k14HQTlHpg Spotify
Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5Uuid6KQEy8MonCo3FlIlj?si=7NCWcz9KSAWpvraGgyCTiw
Saw You In A Dream: https://open.spotify.com/track/0U3u0HdRQjD8mAMYBak4Ok?si=NZu39SebQ52hNl8gg0N46g
Let Go: https://open.spotify.com/track/6O6ZLs5VuJ6wOSiIBVLbzQ?si=fgImdQ71TsG-mwgBB4q-vg
Lil Thing: https://open.spotify.com/track/3q6ygCZID0OKj6MUxInB48?si=RRxOgBYpQZqknfGlQCNIhg
Roxanne: https://open.spotify.com/track/3EYOJ48Et32uATr9ZmLnAo?si=2yVh_OvzQES9ol0xIN6Iag
Citations:
How Spotify Built a $20 Billion Business by Changing How People Listen to Music. (2018, June 4). Retrieved September 26, 2020, from Product Habits website: https://producthabits.com/how-spotify-built-a-20-billion-business-by-changing-how-people-listen-to-music/
Babin, B. J. (2018). Cb 8: consumer behavior. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning