My earliest tangible memory of music is rewinding a cassette with a pencil because one of my siblings wanted to listen to a different tape. Rides to and from school often involved arguments over which radio station to listen to, with each one of us taking turns to maintain peace. Later, we began playing CDs during car rides and often had singalongs, complete with hilariously incorrect lyrics. Each CD was dedicated to an album, a collection by a favourite artist or band or a movie soundtrack we bought from the DVD shop in our mohallah. Eventually, I learnt how to burn CDs and create mixtapes to share with friends and family.

This era ended abruptly when the car’s CD system was stolen – but thankfully the car was left behind. Around the same time, some of us began owning MP3 players loaded with pirated songs, which we listened to on wired headphones – often sharing one earbud with someone else. Gradually, we transitioned to playing music by connecting our phones to the car’s AUX input, which sometimes led to the discovery of new genres or even cultural shocks, like hearing Urdu rap before it became mainstream.

Now, when we travel, we listen to our own music on Bluetooth earbuds and streaming apps like Spotify.

Sometimes, we don’t realise when our parents start talking and naturally, they keep asking us to take out our tootiyan. In summary, Gen Z has seen a rapid shift in technology and music discovery.

Just as we have moved from sharing soundscapes to retreating into our headphones, there is a growing sense that music listening has shifted from being a shared experience to an individual one, largely influenced by algorithms. However, this is not necessarily true. Last year I conducted a study* with Pakistani music enthusiasts to understand how they listen to and discover music. Music discovery occurs through various channels: singing competitions, social media, local and international TV shows and movies, personalised algorithms on streaming platforms, and, of course, recommendations from friends and family. We also discover local artists through multinational platforms like Coke Studio and Nescafé Basement. This diversity highlights the need to contextualise motivations and barriers beyond platforms like Spotify and YouTube, especially in Pakistan.

Music discovery remains influenced by cultural experiences but is now driven by digital personal relationships. All participants in my study highlighted the importance of recommendations from friends and family, which now account for 40 to 70% of their music discovery. In the past, music discovery was often passive, shaped by listening to what cousins or siblings played during car rides, the ghazals their parents enjoyed at home or the songs heard at weddings and other events. However, it could also be an active process, as some participants visited small neighbourhood vendors to get pirated songs on their USBs and CDs. While buyers typically requested specific songs, vendors sometimes added new or trending tracks at their discretion. Today, this practice has evolved into a more digital and collaborative form, with people sharing songs through links on Instagram and WhatsApp and creating playlists on Spotify and YouTube.

Kentaro Toyama’s theory of technology as an amplifier suggests that technology enhances human behaviour shaped by social and cultural contexts. In Pakistan’s communal society, where resource sharing is common and privacy is viewed differently, families often share digital resources like laptops, phones, speakers and streaming accounts, reflecting the collective nature of music consumption.

Social media enhances collectivism in music discovery; it also fosters music exhaustion through overexposure and the fleeting nature of viral content.

While all participants discovered artists through social media, they also noted that many songs are created to achieve virality. However, these songs often fail to leave a lasting impression and can result in dissatisfaction because they are intentionally created to just sound good for 30 seconds to suit short-form videos. Additionally, the overexposure of certain artists on social media reduces their motivation to explore new music because of the lack of novelty. Nevertheless, too much novelty can be a bad thing.

Gen Z faces decision fatigue in music discovery due to an overwhelming abundance of artists and unlimited access through digital platforms. There has been an exponential rise in musicians from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, driven in part by the emergence of bedroom producers – self-taught artists who use affordable digital tools and software to create music without the need for traditional studios. Anyone can now record a song on their phone and upload it online, and we have access to all of them through social media and on-demand streaming platforms. Therefore, we can listen to any musician from anywhere at any time.

The shift from limited music sources to unlimited access could explain our increasing reliance on friends and family for recommendations. We used to be limited to what was available on CDs, cassettes, radio stations and personal computers. Now everyone primarily uses their mobile phones with almost constant internet access to listen to songs on their headphones. The sheer number of choices can be overwhelming and add cognitive load when we are already facing information overload. As one participant said, “Ab, I am not loyal (to an artist), toh mere liye har kisi ka music dhundna thora mushkil hai. Kaunsa kya chal raha hai?” This could also explain why we continue to rely on our community for recommendations because it is an easier way to cut through the noise.

Unsurprisingly, music discovery lags behind consumption when there are too many choices.

In my study, there was a median of just two new songs discovered monthly compared to 120 to 800 songs listened to. Additionally, music consumption drops for certain participants during religious months such as Ramzan and Muharram. It has generally been documented that, unlike books, podcasts, or movies, listeners enjoy repeating songs, finding joy in familiarity. A common reason is the nostalgia that songs evoke. As one participant said, “ …music is one of the uniting forces between that atmosphere and you, because you cannot really go back to that, right?“

The easy access to music means Gen Z listens to music while doing pretty much anything, which makes music consumption a passive activity. According to my study, listening to music while cooking or cleaning makes each activity more enjoyable. It helps to stay awake during long commutes and these songs are also something to look forward to after work or school. Music acts as background noise, which can fill potentially awkward silences during dinner with friends. It helped some of the participants focus while studying or working. Similarly, we listen to music during workouts. It’s really to the point where music accompanies any self care routine, including showering. Unlike analogue methods, where you consciously choose and insert cassettes or CDs, we now have an endless bowl of music. Particularly because we can loop songs and playlists. In addition, streaming platforms recommend similar songs or artists based on the user’s listening history. Once we add other AI features, such as Spotify’s Smart Shuffle, we achieve semi-active music discovery. Therefore, even the same person can shift through passive, semi-passive, semi active, and active modes of music discovery depending on their mood.

In summary, while Gen Z has experienced a rapid increase in access to music, the ways we discover and consume it remain deeply influenced by human relationships and sociocultural contexts. Even algorithms rely on existing data, shaping our listening habits based on what we, or people similar to us, enjoy. Social media and streaming platforms play a dual role: they can enhance these relationships by fostering discovery or undermine them by promoting monopolies of artists, often those signed to major labels. While the abundance of songs and artists can feel overwhelming, well-designed digital tools can simplify the selection process and enhance the listening experience.

*The research for the study was conducted in conjunction with Purdue University and included interviews with five participants across several age groups, direct engagement with musicians and data extracted from Hamnawa analytics, a proprietary database that tracks 400+ Pakistani musicians across multiple platforms and has 21k+ data points.

Laila Dodhy writes and curates playlists for the Pakistani music magazine Hamnawa and works as a graduate research assistant at Purdue University. Instagram: @somewhatmajnoon