Albums or playlists? Courses or resources?

I thought I'd finished for the night here as I played through some tunes and had one last browse on Twitter. Then an article 'After the Album: How Playlists are Re-Defining Listening' shared on Twitter by Martin Couzins caught my eye. It talks about how the way we listen to music has shifted from albums to playlists.

It's true though isn't it? On the variety of devices, gadgets and services at our fingertips now we build customised playlists of music to suit all manner of different situations, environments, people and occasions. I've still got last years funky BBQ playlist lined up for when the British Summer Time finally decides to make an appearance this year. I've got 'Training Choons' playlists that I have used in various different workshops through the years - a whole mixture of genres, artists and styles from a variety of album sources. Then there's other playlists. Tunes to party to, tunes to go on holiday to and tunes to chill with.

But historically it was albums. A series of tunes, in a particular order. Someone else's order. In a duration they chose and in a one to last track sequential liner journey The needle on the record never did find it's shuffle. The Walkman's of the time were quite frankly a pain to fast forward through and find just the right spot  - (*other personal stereo brands are no longer available either). These limitations weren't always a bad thing though. Sometimes it's nice to hear an artists work in the way they intended it to be. Some albums just don't shuffle well anyway. Either way there has been a a definite shift in how we listen to music.

The interesting part for me, is when you start linking this change in music consumption to the change in knowledge consumption we have seen. The way people learn has undeniably shifted too. So perhaps there's some useful thinking here for our own organisations. Perhaps in some cases it is about the album, the course, delivered in a particular way with a particular agenda. But maybe, there is some space here to provide learning resources from a variety of sources. Our learners would surely be grateful of the ability to build their own playlists of relevant content.

Do you think?

Albums or playlists?

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Replies

  • Neither for me tbh. There's a lot of people on 'shuffle' at the moment, including me. I love the fact that without warning something may come up that I wouldnt have thought about 'playing' otherwise. Sometimes its good to deviate from the norm, everybody needs a mood lifter and memory jogger of those good times or for something new.

    Ive learnt so much from being on 'shuffle' (but I still cannot keep up with Twitter....) which has taken me out of my comfort zone and catapulted my life elsewhere. Am I really still 'just HR'? I never thought Id be chatting with architects about building designs that encourage innovation from an HR perspective for example, or facilities management people about the domestics of their day to day operations which fill the spaces between and oil the wheels of industry.

    • Hi Jason. Everyday I'm shuffling - I'm sure there's a song there somewhere!

      Totally agree with you. Sometimes it's not a playlist, nor an album. Just a random dive into stuff that as you say you wouldn't have thought about playing. Twitter is most certainly a great place to shuffle!

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