With the rise of music streaming and the integration of smartphones, it is now easier than ever to research songs. To do this you need some sort of application that will allow you to download a song and listen to it on repeat for days with no ads, interruptions or anything else. One such app is MUSIC PSYCHOLOGY by The Boredoms of rubicon gaming designs. It makes use of various brain science technologies like neuroscience, electroencephalography, musical acuity and hemispheric synchronization in order to examine brains when they are listening to different types of music. The developers say that this will allow them to “gain new ways for people’s minds when they are exposed in relation to music.
1. At what age did you first hear of this app?
I’ve actually known about it for several years. When I first heard of WIRED Magazine, the founder Tom Davenport talked about some of the applications for music psychology and that he was going to be doing in the future.
2. How does this work? Why has it taken you so long to develop it?
It’s not a very interesting answer but we started experimenting with music psychology in 2009, mostly by playing around with different types of brains, people and music and came up with a product pretty quickly because we wanted to prove our ideas (and I can guarantee that they are interesting). The application took a long time to evolve but we still believe in its potential.
3. Have you tried the app out on your friends? How did it go?
We haven’t played around with the app in a very professional way, we haven’t done any controlled experiments. It’s more like a hobby at the moment but you can try it yourself by downloading MUSIC PSYCHOLOGY from Google Play .
4. Why does music really help people understand and process information?
Music is very powerful for people because it helps them to form associations between various characteristics of sounds and information/data, often without knowing why they are doing this. This is because music has a much wider range of frequencies than other stimuli and that it can create an emotional resonance in the brain. This emotional resonance allows people to associate different characteristics with sounds and we, as designers, can take advantage of this.
5. Are there any studies done on how this app works? How do you know if it works?
Yes, we have conducted several research projects using the app and our surveys still show a positive response from users who use it regularly.
6. Any plans to expand this app?
Yes, we plan on expanding it in the future.
7. What are some thoughts on our current pop music?
We mostly focus on EDM right now. We love Jamie XX, Clark and Gesaffelstein and believe that this type of music is going to be very popular in the future. We think that pop music will go more into this direction but not necessarily as a negative thing as many people think because it’s very popular with young audiences across the globe right now.
8. Do you think that this app is a milestone in the music industry?
Yes, we think that this app can be a milestone because it expands the potential of what music can do for people. It gives them new ways to interact with music and think about it at the same time.
9. Anything else you would like to say?
We believe in our work and want to prove that it can make a positive difference in people’s lives when they are exposed to good music. Try out our app!
10. Why did you decide to take an interest in music psychology?
I love exploring how people learn about different types of phenomena and I’ve always been fascinated by how different stimuli effect people in different ways. Music is also a powerful stimulus and I think that people do not consider how powerful it is compared to other stimuli.
11. What is the best song you have ever listened to?
It’s a difficult question but I will pick The Boredoms’ Super Roots 5 project as one of my favorites. It was very inspiring for me when I first heard about it and I still listen to it regularly, so I would probably say this.
12. What do you think the future holds for music psychology?
I think that the future holds good things. We are still in the early stage but I think that things will just keep getting better. Recording technology has evolved a lot in recent years and we need to use it to record people’s brains when they listen to different kinds of music and use this data as a foundation for further research.
13. Anything you want to add?
Thanks a lot! This was very fun and thought-provoking so I would like to thank everyone who has read my article, watched our presentation and it’s been an honor for us.
