Why Good Enough Is a Winner
October 5, 2021
Low fidelity is a thing. “Why Lo-Fi Music Draws Listeners In” explains:
“Lo-fi” means “low-fidelity,” a term for music where you can hear imperfections that would typically be considered errors in the recording process. On YouTube channels like ChillHop music or DreamyCow, however, those “mistakes” become an intentional part of the listening experience.
With fancy technology and bandwidth, what’s with lousy audio data? Pulling in is garden variety magnetism or attraction.
Here’s the answer for music:
“It’s because people respond to the beat.”
American Bandstand made this truism a standard. Mr. Clark would ask a teen, “Why do you like the song?”
The teen would say, “I like the beat.”
So triggering a response based on a pattern is a potent magnetic force. The force operates when a “smart” online service provides content which attracts attention. The familiar generates a desire for more like this. The flaws are irrelevant.
My hunch is that this magnetic force for the “beat” — responding to something familiar, patterned, and emotional — operates within effective social media.
Addictive? Yes. Controllable? Not easily.
Stephen E Arnold, October xxl, 2021
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