Me As A Consumer Of Music

Listening to music is always a significant part of my day - especially in the morning. I play it out loud when I'm getting ready to leave the house and I listen to it through my earphones when I'm walking to and back from school (unless I'm accompanied by another person). I usually listen to music when I'm working (doing my homework/painting/cleaning my room etc.) or if I ever want to unwind in the evening.

I am a Spotify user - I pay for the premium version, as it grants me access to a lot of songs in high audio quality (and I can listen to them offline as well, which saves any downloading hassle) – to be completely honest if it wasn’t for the student discount, I probably wouldn’t pay for premium; because I use Spotify (premium or not), I usually don't buy physical copies of albums, unless it's an album of an artist I really want to support.

When it comes to genres, I will listen to virtually anything, as long as I like the way it sounds (I have been enjoying more 'chill' music lately though) - I try not to limit myself to one specific genre. I do not think I actually have an all time favourite artist, but I have been a long term fan of Lindsey Stirling (she's a violinist and the kind of artist I always support through buying her albums) - she has been impressing me with the dedication and passion for her work since around 2012; plus I love violin as an instrument and she just makes it work for me even more than it does on its own. I have also been enjoying Hozier's music a lot lately - his voice is just really smooth and somewhat hypnotic and the type of music he makes is perfect for working and/or relaxing (and also long walks in the evening).

I would have to say it was my friends (and pop culture) who influenced my taste in music the most. The stuff my parents listen to has never really been my cup of tea (and they used to mostly listen to the radio when I was growing up anyway, so there weren't any specific genres I was exposed to) and I have always valued my friends' advice when it comes to songs: as I said, I am open to most genres, so I usually just simply just accept recommendations (and 99% of the time I can really enjoy them). I have definitely gone through certain ‘music phase’s and as I've been getting older, I have learned to appreciate the aforementioned 'chill' music much more - I have undergone quite a transformation when it comes to genre preference over the past couple of years (from mostly one genre preference to ‘will literally listen to anything’ approach)

One of the only genres I won't listen to are probably country (just... no, it it simply not my thing), very 'aggressive' metal/'screamo' (as the name says, it is a bit too much screaming for my liking) and I also do not listen to much rap: might be because I haven't grown up English and I just can't understand the lyrics enough to fully appreciate them. Additionally, I rarely listen to the most popular ('top 40', so to speak) music in my free time (unless it's for exercise) – I can enjoy it when it plays on the radio, but I just don’t enjoy it enough to listen to it on my own.