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In a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a Harvard University team found that when your friends start liking the same indie bands as you, you’re more likely to stop liking those bands.
Researchers examined 200 college students’ Facebook pages over a four-year period and discovered that students who shared similar tastes in music bonded, instead of those students passing on tastes to each other. So while two hip dudes might strike up a conversation after noticing each other’s well-worn Fleet Foxes t-shirt, it’s much rarer that they’d actually adopt each other’s tastes.
Kevin Lewis, lead study researcher and a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at Harvard, explains the science of why you’re a hipster: “The meaning of an indie/alternative taste rests not just in the taste itself—but also in being the only one among one’s friendship circle that expresses it,” he says. “If I like The Decemberists, and suddenly my friends start liking them too, suddenly I’m no longer socially distinctive. So this taste loses much of its appeal and I will run off in search of some new band to express my ‘hip’ identity.”
Well, it’s a shame that your silly, trendchasing friends are stealing your favorite bands away from you, but don’t worry: You can always find new, even moreobscure acts that your buddies won’t catch wind of for at least a couple months. Here are 3 innovative services you can use to find your new favorite band, courtesy of Eliot Van Buskirk, editor in chief of Evolver.fm, a site that covers digital music apps.
Pitchify
Use Pitchify to receive instant access to the best and buzziest new albums. The site aggregates every new release that receives a score of 8 or more (out of 10) from Pitchfork and Drowned in Sound—two of the most tastemaking blogs on the net—and automatically queues them up to stream in Spotify. (You’ll need to sign up for a free Spotify account first.) “Most of us can’t sit around and patrol Pitchfork all day looking for music, so this takes all of about 10 seconds to start listening to an amazing new album,” says Van Buskirk.
We Are Hunted
We Are Hunted is a free online music chart that tracks the biggest emerging songs that people are buzzing about on social media, blogs, message boards, and P2P networks. “It’s very much oriented toward new music,” Van Buskirk says, “and it’s so simple that a two-year-old can use it.” He’s right: Whereas aggregating sites like The Hype Machine are tailored for people who know how to scour the net for music, We Are Hunted utilizes a scrolling wall with big, bright band photos and easy-to-stream mp3s.
Discovr
Discovr for iOS ($2) operates like Pandora on the idea that if you dig a certain band, you’ll probably dig bands that sound just like them. Search for an artist, and Discovr will “map” that artist, establishing a web-like constellation of similar bands that you can immediately hear with the slide of a finger. “There are millions of bands on this app, and it’s a really neat way to browse around finding them all,” says Van Buskirk.
Take one part Tumblr, two parts inspiration, and you get The Cortex
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Leave a Comment:
I know how to be hip now... only like things no-one else likes.
Hehe - yeah, that's pretty much it.
How bout not giving a crap what other people like? Now, to me, that is truly hip. But these days, hipsters just go after whatever is obscure, odd or "difficult." Sad, really... Indie isn't what it used to be.
Or, like it before everyone else discovered it.
Skinny jeans.... LOL Oh man....
I remember when indie rock was things like R.E.M. Now they're gone, and no one else in my high school even knows who they are. Bummer.
To quote Yogi Berra--'Nobody goes there any more. It's too crowded.'
A Star-Bellied Sneech by any other name....
I have that on vinyl.
Jello was right...and still is.
NO-O-O-O-O-O!!!! You can't use "hip"!!! We used it in the 50's-60's....you guys have to get your own word!!!
(LOL!)
Right on, man! Don't use "groovy" either -- we got it first.
Peace, brother.
If it makes you feel better, no one says "hip," just hipster--and that's used in a sneering, derogatory way!
Only if you give back that 'LOL'.
The reason someone stops liking certain bands is not because "the taste loses its appeal and one needs to find another new band to express one's hip identity." The rise of a band in popularity places more pressure on that band to sustain that success, which results in the retread of a perceived "formula" of a certain song or album. The new material is transparently soulless and uninspired, and true music enthusiasts will be turned off by it. Bandwagoneers keep buying the band's "brand" in an effort to maintain their own grip on something proven and safe. One example of this is Sugar Ray. Their first album, "Lemonade and Brownies" was alternative metal with a couple of goofy softer numbers like "Danzig Needs a Hug." Their second album "Floored" was the same way, and the joke track this time around was "Fly," which unexpectedly became a huge hit. Everything that followed sounded exactly like "Fly." Sugar Ray gave up their harder sound and fans who had enjoyed their first two albums turned their back on them while the VH1 mellow crowd embraced them with open arms. Articles about music should include something about the content of the music, and should try less to cobble half-baked theories into a cohesive argument. Could you write a recipe without ever listing the ingredients?
"Danzing needs a hug" Muahahahahahahahhahah. That is awesome! I need to listen to that song.
Aaron very well said. I stop liking bands because the "raw-ness" of their albums after they reach a certain success tends be emotionless and a rip off of the one song that people loved.
Speaking as a former hipster doosh in my younger days, the summary is:
"When you are young, you are biologically compelled to being a bigger hipster doosh than your friends".
I didn't know hipsters were even news......
This article is really just advertising for the websites they list. And caring about "hipness" is for people who aren't comfortable in their own skin. I have a whole family of distinctly hip people, and their tortured and cruelly selfish existence is painful to watch. Every decision, from what car they drive, to what they eat, or wear or listen to, or with whom they associate all has to pass through the "hip" filter. What a relief not to be encumbered with their burden. I can enjoy listening to LMFAO and then switch to old Fleetwood Mac hits, and then maybe cue up a bit of the Stones whilst quaffing a Cabana drink and Not Recycling My Used Ziploc Bags and clomping around in high heels and makeup..... Oh, its good to be free.... I think I'll go to firing range this weekend for some target practice wearing tight jeans and f-me boots. Then I'll go eat some Not Vegan Food and enjoy not having to get tattoos or care if you notice me. And after that maybe I'll have the neighbors over to shoot the breeze and Not Care how they vote or if that shirt is made slave-labor free organic hemp or second generation vintage or if they've seen the latest obscure foreign independently produced art film.....
So then, a hipster is a kind of *sshole?
So is a person, who doesn't get on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Cityville, etc., HIP?
If you write handwritten letters with stationery, video clips on VHS, and play board games.
See, you were on those other things before they were popular, and gave up on them because now they are too mainstream!