The way we consume media changed drastically over the past years. It has become instantaneously accessible, easily organized, convenient to carry (even in very large collections), and more diverse than it ever has been before. Yet on an emotional level, digital media seems to have lost some of the appeal analog media used to possess. Not to lament, but gone are the days of rich album art, accompanying lyrics, credits, and information (and NO, those square images that represent an album/Song in iTunes don’t count as legitimate). As we move closer to universally accessible media content in the cloud, what new forms of experience will evolve? Can we retain or re-build a deep personal connection with media in an environment optimized for digital consumption?
With analog and early digital media we had a personal relationship with the “thing”. We owned the vinyl, cassette, CD or video. It was something we had to take care of as it could be damaged or show signs of wear. Handling vinyl or a cassette was a ritual. We could spend hours browsing through a friend’s music collection. While searching for an album in a brick-and-mortar music store you would be influenced by the album art, by materials on display, by other people in the store, and the surrounding ambient visuals and sounds. There was a serendipity to this exploring that used to introduce us to new music we might not have otherwise have found.
The digital experience is entirely different. Playing an MP3 on a Phone demands very little engagement. On-line media libraries are a much more efficient way to find what you are looking for (if you know what you are looking for). The digital media online is not unique, it does not wear, you don’t really own it, and you can consume it thoughtlessly. Rich album art, lyrics and special edition materials have been replaced with meaningless lists or thumbnails. The only thing personal about digital media is how you organize it into a playlist. Ironically, the gains in reliability and usability have removed precisely those things that made music personal. There was a sublime joy in the sense of ownership that these formats provided, but we aren’t missing the scratched discs, warped records, or tapes that unwound themselves.
The increasing sales of vinyl point at something we’re missing in digital media – we believe it is the personal aspect of media. In a world of truly on-demand media–in-the-cloud, how can we encourage the experience and discovery of media in new, personal, and interesting ways?
Our Approach
With media moving to the cloud and being accessible on demand we believe the idea of owning the media will be obsolete. We believe that trying to artificially create a personal relationship by (re-)creating a physical object to personify or embody the medium is the wrong approach. Instead we believe there is an opportunity to leverage the connections and meaning we attach to the media, and that sparking personal memories and associations can create a strong personal identification with a song, a movie or a book.
What if your music system knows where you were when you were listening to a song, and who was with you. What if it can associate pictures of a concert you were at, with the band’s music? What about painting the picture of all the things that you think of while listening to a song? Adding this layer of personal information into the mix emphasizes the “remembering” part of the experience.
The experience of discovering new music and the process of consuming (or rather enjoying) that media, can be made richer by linking it to additional information. Once you learn more about an artist, you are likely to be more interested in his music. Information about the artists influences, previous bands, related bands, record label might give you an idea what to listen to next.
The Idea
Picture a media system that displays not only a song, but also the content related to it. This could be your associations, or the artist’s. This content could be lyrics, images, video, history, art, etc…
It sparks interest and discovery through memories or curiosity and makes your experience richer & more personal. Thinking of a song and all its possible associations provides one with plenty of information that can be hard to access and digest on today’s devices.
Due to it’s limitations in size your current digital media player can show you only the one single specific section that you have been looking for. At this point in time you do not see any (or at best only little) of the surroundings and associated materials. While in a store your peripheral vision might pick up something interesting based upon any number of influencing intangibles, your current screen based systems do not elegantly allow for this.
Rather than a single device, we imagine a series of connected interactive touch displays that work together to create a more dynamic experience. We imagine multiple devices that can be used on their own or as separate facets to this experience.
Advancements in wireless display technology and the decreasing cost of displays will soon make this very feasible. Instead of sorting, scrolling, and filtering through a one-screen system, a multiple screen system could show related content in the periphery.
As you explore one artist, the other screens could present other avenues to explore that are potentially related. These displays might show pictures of one of the road trips where you and your friend listened to this artist.
Another screen could show your friend’s libraries that they brought on that trip, and so on and so-forth. These associations expose you to music other people are listening to, avenues you never got to explore in the past, reviewers opinions, and a song’s impact on culture.
The idea here isn’t the regurgitation of a structured library I created, but the ability to pivot from known-things into new discoveries. The ability to be distracted and to wander, disrupting the original goal of “finding a thing” is a type of spontaneous joy that is fundamental to discovering new content.
Imagine what happens if your friend comes over and you each interact with a display? All of a sudden there are multiple starting points into the media-cloud universe, each of these acting as a new kind of influencer. Now the peripheral displays can show the convergence of the individual’s tastes or act as carrier to exchange interests and new discoveries. Sharing between these devices can be seamless and enjoyable, and can return a touch of the joy we experienced when sifting through record/CD collections on the floor of our rooms growing up.
When the system of displays aren’t being interacted with they could introduce a sense of nostalgia or playfulness. Visualizations could work across all screens or coordinate to represent a literal thing.
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