Music with lyrics interferes with cognitive tasks (2023)
journalofcognition.org
journalofcognition.org
I mostly listen to metal and all its various subgenres.
There's special music for focus that tries to keep all those to a minimum. 4/4 beats, no fancy rhythms, no changes, basic chords and repeating melodies etc. After a while, even if you're Mozart, you can ignore it just fine, just get the vibe and the driving pulse.
So a whole swathe of music buyers were convinced that this cutting edge music was hip and where the avant garde was happening when in reality it was mostly so he could concentrate on marketing to them. Any music out of that limited remit was rejected because he could listen and think about other things at the same time if the music was minimal and free of lyrics.
Not to mention there's no end to cutthroat very marketing and business oriented music execs selling vocal music.
Unless the direct experience involves him telling you straight out "I only sell ambient because it's the only thing I can listen to when making marketing moves", it's mind-reading.
Not to mention, that even if that was said, it would most likely still be in jest.
Sorry, personal experience doesn't cover everything, nor does it trump collective experience and common sense.
He also wouldn’t have said that because he wouldn’t have wanted to admit it or admit to rejecting anything with vocals. And for example, we sold free jazz (amongst other things) alongside but it was never played in the office because it’s too distracting.
“There's no shortage of ambient electronic music labels, and it's not because CEOs need to use their music to concentrate to their business and marketing” - this general case of the existence of other ambient labels where the owners aren’t selling ambient music so they can focus on marketing doesn’t negate the verisimilitude of my specific case, or of my specific experience which you don’t have access to.
Yet you’re saying I’m not only incorrect so deliberately peddling falsehoods, my years of observation within the music industry and eventual conclusion is wholly wrong, and furthermore, you’re saying this in a thread about a paper which proposes that “music with lyrics interferes with cognitive tasks”, an example of which I am affirming.
Keep on with your hubris if you must though:
Yes, aka, mind-reading. Aka conjecture.
>* and furthermore, you’re saying this in a thread about a paper which proposes that “music with lyrics interferes with cognitive tasks”, an example of which I am affirming.*
Which is irrelevant. Nobody argued that music with lyrics doesn't interfere with cognitive tasks. Or that your label boss didn't prefer ambient while working, because he felt it didn't interfere with his cognitive tasks.
What I disagreed with was the mind-reading part:
"we released almost entirely ambient electronic music and eventually I figured that it was because he was also a business terminator and workaholic alongside, and any music with too much going on like vocals or complexity would have distracted his concentration away from the important task of getting it sold and out of the door. So a whole swathe of music buyers were convinced that this cutting edge music was hip and where the avant garde was happening when in reality it was mostly so he could concentrate on marketing to them. Any music out of that limited remit was rejected because he could listen and think about other things at the same time if the music was minimal and free of lyrics".
The Occam's razor explanation is that there's no big conspiracy: he had a label focusing on instrumental music (like countless others), and he happened to prefer one specific genre (ambient music) while working for focus. Doesn't mean he didn't also liked it artistically, or that he duped people selling it as art, while he only cared for it as focus music.
Maybe you just don't like ambient, and you made up the whole thing (which "he wouldn't admit" anyway), because you couldn't fathom somebody genuinely liking that genre artistically AND also preferring it as focus music, as opposed to merely advocating it as focus music.
Especially as you now added the little detail that he also sold other genres:
"we sold free jazz (amongst other things) alongside but it was never played in the office because it’s too distracting"
So, he sold other styles too. The only factual observation is that we prefered ambient music himself to focus while working. Not that he solely sold ambient because it was the only thing he could listen at at the office.
Sorry, the idea that he sold ambient only because it was all he could listen to while working, and duping buyers that thought it was hip and artistic choice while he only appreciated for focus purposes, still sounds bogus.
And that he sold other styles too, even though he didn't listen to them as focus music, already negates the "any music out of that limited remit was rejected because he could listen and think about other things at the same time if the music was minimal and free of lyrics".
Because of this, I find myself listening to a lot of Jungle and DnB, jazz, fusion, and the occasional 30 minute Phish jam.
Relisten or phish.in if you don't mind taper auds.
If you really want the good stuff, the live phish app is unbeatable. Full sondboad quality, all the LP official releases, Live Baits, every show since 2009, and most (but nowhere near all) of the good 90's shows. Can't recommend enough, it's an endless well of musical exploration and is my default music app
yes i've been waiting for years to be asked this on HN =P
edit: also theres a "just jams" phish channel that cuts out all songs/lyrics lol
Music helps me get into a flow, but it has to be pure vibe and rhythm. Lyrics definitely distract from the task. Family and peers find it odd that I don't really listen to or seek out music with lyrics.
I can enjoy it, just not what stimulates me at this point.
When I was reading books or anything as a teen in the 80's I started listening mostly to instrumental music, such as Jean-Michel Jarre, Tangerine Dream, ZTT 12"es with lots of instrumental content (FGTH/Propaganda/Art Of Noise etc.), Windham Hill albums, etc.
I've always told people to use instrumental music when doing cognitively demanding tasks, especially anything to do with language and words.
But recently there is one big exception!
I can listen to AI-generated instrumental jazz or blues in the background, and it does not distract me after the first few seconds. I think it's because the music doesn't go anywhere. It's just kind of noodling.
As a musician, I feel kind of bad listening to AI music, but it is amazing in this use case.
Lords of Acid for the win! At 12. My speakers go to 12.
Anything less wouldn’t be anything at all, would it?
Music with lyrics directly interferes with any task that has a verbal component, and the worse you are at multitasking, the worse the interference. Despite being terrible at multitasking, I still listen to music with lyrics. Why? Principally because the alternative, hearing all the conversations in my immediate vicinity, is usually both more distracting and less pleasant. But there are also auxiliary benefits, such as an increase in "work stamina" and a passive signal to coworkers to interrupt only if it's important.
Now, I could listen to lo-fi all day, or three-hour soundtracks on Youtube, and sometimes do, but it gets boring pretty fast!
Anyway: obviously true, still worth it because the alternative is worse.
(By the way, other mitigating strategies: listening to music in a language you don't understand, or listening to lyrics so familiar you can screen them out. My top Spotify songs all get played several hundred times a year.)