The Best Articles in Music
The most useful articles and videos in Music from around the web, curated by thought leaders and our community.
Refind focuses on timeless pieces and updates the list whenever new, must-read articles or videos are discovered.
Top 5 Music Articles
At a glance: these are the articles that have been most read, shared, and saved in Music by Refind users in 2024 so far.
Videos
Watch a video to get a quick overview.
The $1.2 Billion Vinyl Industry's Rise, Fall and Rebirth, Explained
Vinyl record sales hit $1.2 billion in 2022, outselling CDs for the first time since 1987. In today’s digital music era, streaming apps like Spotify and Appl...
Rick Rubin: The 60 Minutes Interview
As an NYU college student, Rick Rubin launched Def Jam Recordings some 40 years ago and has been a hitmaker ever since. Anderson Cooper interviews the music ...
Music Producer Ghostwriter on AI-Generated Music
Songwriter and producer Ghostwriter sits down with Bloomberg’s Brad Stone at the Bloomberg Screentime event in Los Angeles for a first ever interview to disc...
U2 – Song for Someone from ‘SURRENDER: 40 Songs, One Story' by Bono
Watch now to see how Larry Mullen’s school board invitation turned into the biggest rock band in the world. Illustrated and narrated by Bono. Pre-Order ‘SU...
The Top Ten Best Hit Songs of 2023
Wait, was this year good actually? Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription! https://nebula.tv/todd-in-the-shadows Watch The Ballad of Joh...
Trending
These links are currently making the rounds in Music on Refind.
Did Social Media Kill the Pop Song?
A new study found that song lyrics are now angrier, more repetitive, and vain. Consensus wavers, but what remains incontestable is social media’s impact on the music we hear most.
The love that dare not speak its name
Implausible as it might sound, classical music did still have a relatively prominent place in everyday British life in the 1970s
When Do We Stop Finding New Music? A Statistical Analysis
When does our taste in music stagnate?
The Evolution of Mozart’s Music (From 5 to 35 Years Old)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s first surviving musical composition was created at age five and in this video visualization, you
Spotify: AI Playlists, playlists made with artificial intelligence
Discover how Spotify uses AI to create customised playlists with just one click. Explore the new AI Playlist feature now!
Short Articles
Short on time? Check out these useful short articles in Music—all under 10 minutes.
This is why music is good for your mental health
Does listening to and playing classical music benefit the brain? Research shows there is a strong connection between music and mental health.
Flow: We really are unconscious when we're 'in the zone'
By analyzing the brain waves of improvising jazz musicians, researchers now understand how the brain achieves a creative flow state. The findings have practical implications for anyone – not just…
You should look at this chart about music genres
How Spotify's expanding catalog reflects 2023's musical frontier
The Price of Pop Fandom
In a series of infographics and interviews, we break down the out-of-control ticket prices that make concert-going an increasingly unaffordable experience.
Long Articles
These are some of the most-read long-form articles in Music.
The Theorist Who Sees Math in Art, Music and Writing
The links between math, music and art have been explored for thousands of years. Sarah Hart is now turning a mathematical eye to literature.
Taylor Swift Is TIME's 2023 Person of the Year
This was the year Taylor Swift perfected her craft—not just with her music, but in her position as the master storyteller of the modern era.
The Extraordinary Ways Rhythm Shapes Our Lives
Rhythm plays an important role in how we perceive — and connect with — the world.
Thought Leaders
We monitor hundreds of thought leaders, influencers, and newsletters in Music, including:
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How does Refind curate?
It’s a mix of human and algorithmic curation, following a number of steps:
- We monitor 10k+ sources and 1k+ thought leaders on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
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- Our algorithm uses these internal signals to refine the selection.
- In addition, we have expert curators who manually curate niche topics.
The result: lists of the best and most useful articles on hundreds of topics.
How does Refind detect «timeless» pieces?
We focus on pieces with long shelf-lives—not news. We determine «timelessness» via a number of metrics, for example, the consumption pattern of links over time.
How many sources does Refind monitor?
We monitor 10k+ content sources on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
Who are the thought leaders in Music?
We follow dozens of thought leaders in Music, including NPR Music, Song Exploder, NME, Vulture, WIRED.
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