In my observation especially with children I conducted random sampling after asking a group of children -which artists they know in Cameroon majority, mentioned Ko-c, others mentioned Happy D’Effoulan. For Ko-c they came singing “Ton Caleçon fait quoi chez Moi?” and Happy was “Oh Tchapeu Tchapeu” others were Diamond Platinum x Innos B.
Then I realized it wasn’t out of preference but rather because of what they were exposed to, the snack, bars, and business centers around that quarter had these tracks in a loop, even from a distance you can you hear the song echoing. Now because they were familiar with it they tend to like it!
[ Was is the content of the song and its quality? Or the intentional promotion from these music retailers?] Remember in this writeup I’m stating that repeated listening to a particular song can bring about familiarity hence involuntary likeness.
The way music lovers consume music differs and their taste buds and preferences of the particular music genre they consume. But in my observation, I’ve noticed music is appreciated at optimal, peak levels of familiarity and complexity. The same way we lose interest in music after repeated listening is the way we heighten our love for particular music after repeated listening irrespective of its complexity.
This has to do with exposure, some times when you listen to a particular music piece over and over you unconsciously find yourself singing it, even if it’s music you don’t like. This rests on the concept of familiarity pushing out complexity. Is there something special about “Joe Boy’s “Alcohol” song or because it’s wavy and trending?
Now you see DJs have a very important role in the music exportation chain and subsequent consumption, if you are exposed to a particular song daily for 24 hours over about 1 month the tendency is that song becomes an “earworm” liking for the song increases not because you originally loved the song but because y is familiar to it.
And then at one point, it becomes an epidemic because everyone seems to be vibing to it, you tag along and make the best of it like numbers pull more numbers the human psychology has been tailored to be influenced by this algorithm. However, there are songs you listen to and fall in love with for the first time but more and more the love augments monotonically after replicated listening across all levels of complexity.
This stipulates that familiarity lies central as a pivotal predictor for the liking of music irrespective of genre, timbre, structure, complexity, melody, rhythm, vocals, and other factors and that repeated listening can increase the liking of almost any piece of music if listened to under natural circumstances.
This goes back to back up the agenda of “Support your own” which to me is unending warfare, I’m very much convinced content alone, quality, and professionalism are not enough because we keep alluding to “Lack of home music consumption to poor quality what about the absence of promotion!?
There are songs from upcoming artists that if music retailers, business centers, social joints, and snacks play repeatedly it will become an earworm. Quick example Chilla by DE Faka
Watch here