In the merry spirit of “Spotify Wrapped” season I have chosen to analyze the way music interacts throughout the American society and influences certain beliefs and behaviors. Of course, this also brings a reluctant self-reflection of my own pretentious behaviors that concern my music taste that I may or may not display. [ 🙂 ] Through common phrases that I and others have often overused, I will take a magnified look through music and its societal-like structure.
Legitimation: The rule-setting “You like [insert band]? What are five songs and the drummer’s name?”
This is a common misconception that plagues Americans on social media and in-person. People will often question others wearing a band t-shirt if they can name songs to prove that they are a “true fan.” This unfortunately mostly occurs with men interrogating women, as if they could not fathom that women listen to alternative or rock music and believe that they are only wearing it for the aesthetic. This falls under the category of authenticity but it works alongside legitimation to make avid listeners believe they have to know certain facts about a band or artist to prove that they are a fan by “knowing enough” to classify them as such. This puts unnecessary stress on fans to be able to prove themselves to others for the music that they enjoy. Another misconception is that you have to attend concerts or have a band’s/artist’s merchandise. This is a classist belief because not everyone can afford to do said things. This belief serves to put those who can afford to such activities at a higher level that goes from the economic structure into the music structure. Moreover, another prevalent behavior I have observed on social media there appears to be a certain set of songs that are cemented in the culture of American’s younger generations that people must be aware of. This serves to make people who do not know songs like “Hey Ya” by Outkast in a category of “others” or the more recent online term “uncultured.” As Martin discusses in his “Critical Introduction to the Study of Religion,” these rules are made and “not just the way their are” (103). It is difficult for one to track the definite origins of these society made rules in the culture of music, but as most always they come for a need to maintain an agenda of someone being at the top while others are doomed to be underneath them. These rules serve to keep those who are “true listeners” in their metaphorical thrones. Objectively, I think this is ultimately pointless, but as a functioning human I understand the needs to conform to the rules that exist in the society of music.
Authority: “You spent [insert number] minutes listening” “That’s more than [insert percentage of other listeners in [insert country.” – Your friend, Spotify
In the case of authority one of the highest music gods on the totem pole is “Spotify Wrapped.” The bright-eyed young generation of American social media users especially, fall prey to looking to Spotify for its validation. An example I am reluctant to provide is that I was somewhat excited to discover I listened to “more than 89% of other listeners in the United States” from my wise friend, Spotify. They provide us with our top artists, top songs, and even the percentage of listeners we were in of our top artist’s. When this stands alone its a harmless fun way of summarizing our year through music. However, when it is amongst the illustrious youth of online America, it is doing a lot of work. It is reinforcing our beliefs that we are somehow better than other listeners. It instills us with an intangible sense of pride. As I hate to admit, I did feel a little fulfilled by discovering that I was in the top 1% of Rainbow Kitten Surprise’s listeners. The real question originating from my reflective, hopefully objective self is: Do I hate to admit it? Obviously not. What is especially intriguing to my removed self is that so many people put a substantial amount of weight into the meaning of Spotify Wrapped when it is not all that important. Not in the sense of importance to listeners on a personal level but on the winding levels of the social scene. We look to out the all-knowing god of Spotify to provide us with the sacred “Spotify Wrapped” to tell us we already could have prophesied ourselves. Did I need them to tell me my top song or artist of the year? No. The meme above also heavily addresses Spotify’s problematic faults mainly being the monopoly that Spotify keeps on the music distribution industry. But, we create a cycle of using Spotify, sharing the joyous miracle of Spotify Wrapped, gaining them more followers to increase the overall cult, or group may be a better non-divisive term. Moreover, on topics of divisiveness, a mass following of something most always produces a mass hatred or heavy indifference. This counter culture’s main ideals are that they simply do not care so they ask nicely and not so nicely to please stop sharing your “Spotify Wrapped” online.
Authenticity: The pompous “I knew them before TikTok so I’m a real listener”
Ah, the refreshing art of gatekeeping. The recent rise of the app TikTok has been a hot topic in the rhetoric of music’s society. When the app was first introduced, there was a mass aversion to the usage of the app because of the content being deemed as cringy and an overwhelming need to express that it was once named “Music.aly” as if to say to those who are younger than us that we were here first. (Music.aly: A popular app that as youth, we went through the inevitable phase of posting embarrassing videos.) There is still an existing group of those who still pride themselves in staying away from TikTok. (I may or may not be one of these individuals, but my younger sister loves to remind me that I watch Reels on Instagram which is arguably worse. She has a point) Returning to the original plot of gatekeeping, people often have an undying urge to keep their favorite songs and artists hidden from others so that they feel special. They feel as if they are true music fiend because they had good enough taste to find a certain band ‘before they blew up.’ Tiktok interacts with this behavior in an interesting way. Songs that are often in the indie or alternative genre often go viral on the app and they become trends. Some original listeners become upset because they wanted the band to themselves and the new listeners aren’t real fans because they discovered them from [gasp] Tiktok. This does interesting work because the tables are then turned on them and they are asked the question of: Wouldn’t a real fan of [insert artist] want [the artist] to gain their well-deserved exposure. This is a real life demonstration of the multiple spider men meme that will be listed below for reference purposes. Humans often feel they have an obligation to superiority if they were first for something, often in things that they should not feel it in. In the instance of Tiktok, followers of a band should be happy that people get to experience what they experienced. I shall now reference a song that is underground so readers probably won’t know it: “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” [ 🙂 ]
Honorable Mentions of Memes
Intro to Religious Studies- Makenzie Smith 