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Who is listening to Berlin's music?

The Local Germany
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Who is listening to Berlin's music?
Photo: DPA

A study by music-streaming service Spotify has revealed the global reach of Berlin-born music, with genres originating in the capital finding a loyal audience in some unlikely places.

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Spotify and music intelligence platform The Echo Nest traced where certain genres of music first originated and then analyzed the listeners of those genres to see where the number of people listening to them was disproportionately high.

The study, published on the company’s Insights blog, found that 29 cities worldwide more commonly listened to Berlin genres than those created in London or Paris.

Berlin music genres included deep euro house, minimal techno, tech house and German pop.

However, 47 more cities commonly listened to London tunes and 38 more cities preferred Parisian sounds.

Berlin music lagged behind London and Paris in the number of cities it reached as well as in geographical spread, according to the study. Most of the cities listening to Berlin’s beats were within Germany.

“In particular, music from Berlin tended to stay close to home,” said Ajay Kalia, product owner of Taste Profiles at Spotify. “Genres from London and Paris strayed further."

But Berlin music was able to make a splash across the Atlantic in the United States and Latin America.

Buenos Aires music-lovers, for example, have eagerly embraced German hip hop, German pop and minimal techno, to name a few.

Amid the stomping of cowboy boots and swishing of horsetails in Fort Worth, Texas, one may very well hear echoes of Neue Deutsche Härte music, also known as “dance metal.”

The city of Puebla in Mexico, meanwhile, neighbours one of the largest Volkswagen factories outside Germany and has an affinity for German pop and pop rock.

German hip hop also found an audience in Indianapolis, while Omaha enjoyed German indie and dance metal.

A previous analysis by The Echo Nest showed that Berlin took fourth place in the table of cities with the largest number of distinct music genres.

By Emma Anderson

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