By Benjamin Jackson

Copyright scotsman

Have you noticed your listening habits starting to change as the weather gets cooler?You’re not alone; a change to our circadian rhythm and social lives can psychologically lead to a change in our music taste.So why does this happen, and are streaming services supplementing our change in musical direction leading into Winter?

Today (September 22) marks the Autumn Equinox: the official start of ‘astronomical autumn’ and the day the sun crosses the celestial equator and days start to become shorter.

It also happens to be a period in our lives when music shifts from the upbeat, poppy, summery songs that we all fell in love with during the height of the UK summer festival season towards the more introspective, ‘darker’ songs on shuffle.

Try as many of us attempt to circumvent the changing of our listening habits with the changing of the seasons, it’s a subconscious swap that many of us experience without realising it.

So gone are the likes of Charli XCX or Sabrina Carpenter, and instead, we’re diving into Bon Iver or The Decemberists – but why, when many of us are vehement in our listening tastes, does it change?

It’s part psychology (of course it is), but also streaming services do seem to adopt this ‘trope’ of colder climate equalling more mournful songs.

So is it us, or are we being prompted to start listening to more melancholic anthems as the season changes?

It’s in our heads – the psychological change in music tastes in Autumn

The link between our moods, the seasons and our musical preferences has been explored by psychologists and data scientists before, with the shift towards “reflexive and complex” music often tied to our psychological response to the changing environment.

Psychologist Terry Pettijohn’s study, ‘Music for the Seasons: Seasonal Music Preferences in College Students,’ cites a change in our circadian rhythms being affected by the changing of the season, leading to a more contemplative, even sombre mood.

Our choices in music then become a form of emotional regulation, with listeners gravitating towards genres that reflect this internal state: folk, jazz, classical music and many more.

Another study, published in Scientific Reports in March 2019, analysed over 765 million online plays from one million individuals across 51 countries. Those findings revealed that musical intensity (tempo, loudness, danceability) was “positively associated with daily temperatures,” but as the days grew shorter and colder, there was a measurable decline in the streaming of high-energy, upbeat tracks – particularly in our neck of the woods.

Think about the soundtrack to your summer: it’s likely filled with energetic, rhythmic, and dance-oriented genres like hip-hop, pop, and electronica. These songs are perfect for long days, outdoor activities, and social gatherings.

But with the colder temperatures and that social aspect withering as the leaves fall, we instead might seek out songs with slower tempos, intricate melodies, and lyrical depth. This is the time for artists who specialise in storytelling, emotion, and atmosphere.

It’s also in our hands: the business of season listening and streaming services

Though maybe streaming services and their suggestions, as the seasons change, also influence our listening habits.

While the exact inner workings of how algorithms determine what music is suggested to us are closely guarded, we know that they can be highly responsive to our behaviour, including seasonal trends.

Streaming platforms use their algorithms to curate playlists that align with a user’s changing mood. For example, a user’s Discover Weekly or Daily Mix might subtly begin to feature more acoustic, ambient, or instrumental tracks as autumn approaches, even without the user consciously searching for them.

This form of algorithmic curation sees the system anticipate and shape our listening experience based on a combination of personal data and global trends.

Spotify’s own research notes that listening sessions get longer in the colder months, as people are more likely to listen communally through smart speakers or connected TVs instead of leaving the house to go to a club or a bar.

This behaviour shifts from on-the-go, mobile listening to a more passive, home-based experience – suitable for the colder months of the year.

Music labels and artists have also been known to work with streaming services to strategically promote new releases based on this data.

The timing of a release is a critical business decision. A melancholic ballad or an introspective folk album might be given a more prominent feature on the platform’s front page in October, whereas a high-energy dance track would have been pushed in July.

This is a two-way street: listeners’ changing habits influence the algorithms, and the algorithms, in turn, reinforce and accelerate those habits by promoting music that fits the seasonal mould, creating a powerful feedback loop that drives both consumer behaviour and industry strategy.