After going over auditory masking, the day focused on the musicians behind the music we listen to.

I’m in the small minority, buy I still buy all of my music on iTunes. I don’t use Spotify or any of the other music sharing subscriptions. While I don’t think I have a moral obligation to purchase the music, I like knowing that I’m supporting musicians that I like. I feel good knowing I’m doing my part (and it adds to my argument that even without requiring purchase musicians would still receive some compensation from people who feel the way I do). And my musical needs aren’t as large as other people’s. I don’t just pop on any genre and listen, and I rarely buy entire albums. Typically I purchase single songs, very specific ones I want to have and listen to. That makes spending a dollar or two on iTunes every couple weeks pretty easy without taking a big hit at the bank. The increase of music sharing definitely means its almost impossible for most bands to be financially viable on their music alone. I don’t really feel bad about that. The average musician has never made a lot of money. I figure they never will.

In response to the question of whether or not there is objectively good vs bad music, I’m going to stick to the point I made in the class. If music is organized noise, then good music could maybe be described as more organized than other sounds. It’s broad, but it’s helpful (I think). And just as an individual I think you can pick out good vs bad music, which makes sense because over the past few months since starting this class I’ve realized more and more that I am an idealist , which was one of the first questions asked this semester.