Menu Close
The Conversation
Shutterstock

Is it possible to ‘objectively’ judge music? We asked 5 experts

Sam Whiting, University of South Australia, Catherine Strong, RMIT University, Charlotte Markowitsch, RMIT University, Laura Glitsos, Edith Cowan University, Timothy McKenry, Australian Catholic University

Authors

Disclosure statement

Sam Whiting receives funding from Creative Australia and the Australasian Performing Right Association.

Catherine Strong receives funding from the ARC and the VMDO.

Charlotte Markowitsch, Laura Glitsos, and Timothy McKenry do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Partners

RMIT University provides funding as a strategic partner of The Conversation AU.

Australian Catholic University, University of South Australia, and Edith Cowan University provide funding as members of The Conversation AU.

View all partners

Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current big hit, but you can only hear nails on a chalkboard.

Every time a major artist releases their new album, the critics are there to tell you exactly how the artist got it right – or how they got it wrong. And the fans are there to tell the critic how they got it right or wrong, in turn.

So if we all have our own opinions on music, is it ever possible to judge it objectively? Or are we all subject to our subjective disagreements forever?

We asked five music experts to let us know what they thought. Here’s what they had to say.

Read more: Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department and the art of melodrama

Is it possible to ‘obectively’ judge music? Three out of five experts said ‘yes’

Read more: Why do we stop exploring new music as we get older?

Want to write?

Write an article and join a growing community of more than 182,900 academics and researchers from 4,948 institutions.

Register now