Curious Listening in the Streaming Era

Contemporary digital listening platforms have been criticized for encouraging homogenous listening and incentivizing one-note background-friendly sounds. How, then, are independent and grassroots music communities preserving a spirit of active, engaged listening against the logics of these paradigms? This conversation explores how artists, organizers and programmers are cultivating curious listening in the streaming era. We’ll establish some of the problems presented by today’s streaming status quo, but ultimately look at bright spots in digital listening and music sharing today: the community radio stations, listening clubs, streaming alternatives, and digital experiments creating context that brings listeners closer to culture online and IRL.