Reintroducing Subjectivity into Digital Music Organization

The Limits of Current Digital Music Organization 

Today, digital music offers us an endless array of tracks to discover. Thanks to recommendation algorithms, shared playlists, web radios, and vast online catalogs, we have access to an unprecedented diversity of music.

However, in the face of this abundance, how do we really organize our music in personal spaces? Most often, tracks end up in favorite lists, linear playlists, or stacked in rigid folders, structuring the music in a way that lacks flexibility.

As our collections grow, finding a track becomes increasingly difficult. Sometimes we forget the title or artist, and these tracks get lost in rigid organization systems that don’t reflect our personal approach to music. Current tools constrain curators to static playlists, preventing them from creating evolving musical atmospheres or linking tracks based on deeper affinities, such as emotions or personal feelings.

Reintroducing Subjectivity 

In response to rigid and impersonal organization systems, how can we bring more fluidity and sensitivity into the way we categorize and interact with our music? How can we create a more personal connection with each track, beyond simple, rigid categories? For me, the solution lies in reintroducing subjectivity into music organization.

Subjectivity in music is the ability to experience a track in a unique and personal way. To reintegrate subjectivity means allowing each individual to classify and navigate their music based on their own emotions and sensitivities. Each track fits into a personal framework that, as the collection grows, contributes to the creation of a truly unique musical universe.

Contrary to a world that prioritizes immediacy, this subjectivity is gained by slowing down and taking the time to listen. It’s through this attention that we truly immerse ourselves in music and connect with it more intimately.

This requires active listening, where the user asks: In what genre or style does this track fit? What influences do I perceive? What feelings does it evoke? At what point in a set could I include it?

By bringing subjectivity back to the center of music organization, we not only transform how we listen but also how we interact with our library. Music becomes a more vibrant, immersive experience, anchored in a constantly evolving universe shaped by our personal feelings.

Materializing Subjectivity with Sélection B 

How can we structure and give form to these feelings and personal visions in music organization? Sélection B offers a solution by providing a flexible and personalized approach. Here are the different ways in which subjectivity takes shape:

• Genres and styles: Instead of restricting oneself to predefined categories, Sélection B allows users to create their own genres and styles. Each track can thus be classified according to a personal musical vision, reflecting the unique preferences of the listener.

• Origins and influences: A track can be associated with a geographical origin and artistic movements, connecting the music to broader cultural trends. Sélection B also captures geographic and temporal influences: a track can combine Brazilian and/or Jamaican influences while evoking sounds from the 90s or 60s. This flexibility creates a rich narrative where each track is part of a deep musical story, incorporating its geographic, cultural, and temporal roots.

• Sensitive and subjective criteria: Each track can be classified based on criteria like energy (from low to high), intensity (from gentle to powerful), or mood (from dark to bright). These criteria capture the sensitive essence of the track, reflecting the emotions and sensations it evokes.

• Emojis: Adding emojis introduces a new layer of description to each track. In addition to expressing feelings (energy bomb 💣, dreamy track 💫, or festive 🎉...), emojis can describe musical content more precisely: a guitar riff 🎸 or a saxophone solo 🎷. This visual palette enriches classification by capturing the atmosphere and musical elements in an intuitive way. Users can also freely define the meaning of emojis, adding an even more personal and creative dimension to music organization.

Intuitively Exploring Music with Fluidity 

With Sélection B, subjectivity becomes the central engine of music navigation. Once tracks are classified according to deeply personal and sensitive criteria, users can apply filters that reflect their unique way of perceiving music. With an overview of all categories, they can quickly highlight tracks that match their emotions, mindset, or the musical atmosphere they want to create.

Users no longer follow a simple linear list logic but explore their library through subjective links, revealing affinities between tracks that they may not have associated otherwise. Music then becomes a space for fluid exploration, where tracks flow together based on feelings, form, style, or era influences, rather than being locked into rigid categories.

Moreover, Sélection B allows you to find tracks whose titles or artists you've forgotten by filtering through the sensations you remember. By progressively refining the results, you rediscover these lost tracks simply through the feelings or emotions they left with you.

For DJs, this flexibility is essential. By linking tracks through subjective affinities, they can prepare non-linear sets, where each track opens up multiple transition possibilities. This offers great flexibility during live performances, allowing the DJ to follow their intuition and adapt the performance to the energy of the moment while maintaining the coherence of their musical universe.

Enriching the Collective Experience through Subjectivity 

Sélection B is not limited to an individual experience. Once music is organized according to a subjective framework, the app allows users to share this organization with others. This sharing goes beyond traditional playlists. It offers everyone the opportunity to explore unique musical worlds, where each track is connected to personal feelings and associations. It’s no longer just a juxtaposition of tracks, but a true journey through distinct musical sensibilities.

Sélection B also offers a new way to discover music by allowing users to collaborate and combine their classifications. By sharing and merging the subjective frameworks of several curators, it becomes possible to create dynamic, evolving musical atmospheres that shift from one universe to another based on the sensitivities and choices of each user. This process allows for the discovery of new tracks as well as the exploration of other music lovers' sensibilities.

Through this collaboration, Sélection B enriches the musical experience by offering the possibility to build collective classifications, where the feelings and visions of several users intersect to create unique, fluid, and nuanced soundscapes. This transforms curation into a shared act, where each contributor adds their personal touch to co-create richer musical worlds.

A New Space for Subjectivity in Digital Music 

Sélection B opens a new chapter in how we interact with digital music. Faced with the abundance of musical offerings today, it provides a solution by reintroducing subjectivity at the heart of music organization, allowing each user to create a personal universe shaped by their unique feelings, emotions, and influences.

In addition to complementing traditional systems, Sélection B effectively manages large numbers of tracks while maintaining vast and rich collections over time. Thanks to its flexible customization and classification tools, each track fits into an evolving subjective framework, making it easier to explore and organize growing music libraries without losing fluidity or coherence.

Thus, Sélection B not only enriches individual experiences but also offers a space for collaboration and discovery, where everyone’s musical universes can intertwine and mutually enrich each other, transforming digital music into a shared, enduring, and deeply personal space.