In Northern Chile, most families have the radio on in the home at least 12 hours a day. The radio plays on public transportation busses, private cars, taxis, restaurants, and in service businesses like copy shops and food stores. Older residents report that music has been ever-present this way as long as they can remember. When a song they dislike begins to play they may change the radio station, but they quickly find something more to their taste.
Younger people, however, are pickier. They like many genres and bands that are not played on the radio. They usually dislike Cumbia music (local to the Andes) and Reggaeton (a global form of club music that mixes dance and reggae rhythms), which are the primary songs featured on the radio. For that reason, many younger people prefer to play music with their mobile phone and computer. In fact, this is one of the only ways to select music as the only other place to get music is from vendors at the local market which sell illegally copied cds (called "piratas"-pirates).
Younger people, however, are pickier. They like many genres and bands that are not played on the radio. They usually dislike Cumbia music (local to the Andes) and Reggaeton (a global form of club music that mixes dance and reggae rhythms), which are the primary songs featured on the radio. For that reason, many younger people prefer to play music with their mobile phone and computer. In fact, this is one of the only ways to select music as the only other place to get music is from vendors at the local market which sell illegally copied cds (called "piratas"-pirates).
These radios are becoming less prevalent in homes in Alto Hospicio
as computers and smartphones are more often the devices used to play music.
as computers and smartphones are more often the devices used to play music.
Using these devices, they usually simply search for a song on Youtube. They turn up the speakers as high as possible and and enjoy this self selected music. They rarely pay attention to the video, because to them it is simply a byproduct of the important part--music. Though a few young people report having Soundcloud accounts, on my survey of 100 residents in the city, only 1 mentioned any music-related social media activity other than using Youtube. Not only do these people use Youtube to listen to music, they also post the links on their Facebook page in order to share the songs with their friends, but also send audio files recorded on their phones through Whatsapp and even use Youtube to capture songs in order to set them as the background music to their Tumblr blogs. In essence, what the radio once was--an omnipresent passive form of listening to music has been transformed into an active, yet still omnipresent, form of music listening using Youtube in combination with different devices and social media forms.
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