By Kira Lu ’20, Feature Editor

Music is one of modern media’s most powerful and influential tools. It can be used to express ideas and opinions to a broader reach of audiences and creates more platforms for a myriad of voices to be heard. Many use it as a necessity in their daily lives; in fact, the top Google suggestions for “does listening to music…” are “help you study,” “make you smarter,” “help you read,” “help you sleep,” and “help you focus.” In addition to all of these benefits, the recent streaming service Spotify has now become extremely popular. Spotify has a unique feature which allows users to follow their friends as well as their friends’ playlists as well, allowing music taste that was once private to now be public to anyone who follows you. This evolution of a music streaming service developing into a social media interface can be dangerous, as it allows another aspect of our lives that was previously personal to now be invaded by social media.

In an era where our lives are increasingly available to public scrutiny, using Spotify as a type of social media opens another facet of life to the judgement, or appraisal, of others. In a recent poll conducted on social media, people generally had a more negative response towards Spotify’s social-media like features: thirty-nine percent voted that they liked spotify’s social media features, while the other sixty-one percent voted that they did not. Arsha Misra ‘20, who voted no, said: “It’s annoying that people need to know what music I’m listening to along with the entirety of the rest of my life. It’s nice to share playlists but if I’m having a phase where I want to listen to complete trash then I don’t really want that to be publicized.” Another student who voted no, Sam Jackman ‘20, said he didn’t like the social media features on Spotify because “ I just want to listen to music. I don’t think it needs to do any more than that.” The social media aspect of Spotify is deemed unnecessary by some, and can complicate even the simple task of listening to music. On the other hand, Aashna Parameshwar ‘20, who voted yes in the survey, said, “It’s interesting to see what type of music your friends are listening to and talk to them about it at school!” While it is easy to judge others by their music tastes, it is also easy to connect with friends and peers over an artist or a song. It can be so easy to make new friends from similar music tastes and find more songs to love. The intricate nature in which music is built into our society makes Spotify social media an interesting resource.

Overall, the impact of social media on the music industry is divisive–while it can be fun and interesting in addition to creating a platform for sharing interests, it is also the gateway to the unnecessary involvement of others in our private lives. Although the social media aspect of music can be debated, the music itself is now a fundamental part of our daily lives and continues to have an impact on each of us, regardless of our opinion on social media.