"A mic on the street that Shazams 24/7"

September 30, 2024 11:56 AM

Bop Spotter "This is culture surveillance. No one notices, no one consents. But it's not about catching criminals. It's about catching vibes. A constant feed of what’s popping off in real-time."
posted by jessamyn (16 comments total)

Bullying people who blast audio too loudly is not a crime.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:00 PM on September 30 [4 favorites]

I love this. It sounds like it's in a bar or somewhere else that's active 24/7.
posted by chavenet at 12:12 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]

This is what the web is for
posted by klangklangston at 12:22 PM on September 30 [3 favorites]

I think this is neat.

Perhaps this is a sign of the times where we can no longer believe what we see or hear, I also wonder if it is real. It would be easier to create a site that randomly plays portions of songs from a pre-defined playlist at random intervals with generic street noise overlayed on top. But I'm just going to believe this is real because it would be neat, if true.
posted by scottatdrake at 12:24 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]

based on the other stuff Riley has made, this seems like a thing they could accomplish. Also I just watched the battery level jump!
posted by jessamyn at 12:39 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]

9am on a Monday morning might be a touch early in the day for "Me So Horny."
posted by ikahime at 12:46 PM on September 30

Total Shazams ever detected: 257. That's an average of 123.4 songs per day.

1-2-3 o'clock, (point) 4 o'clock rock.
posted by The Bellman at 12:48 PM on September 30 [2 favorites]

Not one Swift song played in 2 days. I need to move there.
posted by hairless ape at 12:49 PM on September 30

I want a whole network of these. Like Radio Garden but for random street corners. It would be so interesting to compare the soundtracks of neighborhoods.
posted by EvaDestruction at 12:58 PM on September 30

This is so cool. I get regular Shot Spotter-based text alerts on my phone, and I can't tell you how much it would improve my mood to get counterbalancing andom text alerts from a Bop Spotter, letting me know that it's 8:52 and "Rapper's Delight" is playing right now, somewhere.
posted by cupcakeninja at 1:11 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]

This is cool, thanks for posting it!
posted by tiny frying pan at 1:26 PM on September 30

9 a.m. is so early for "Me So Horny."
posted by poseur at 1:59 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]

This is really neat.

Every so often someone goes by with the volume cranked up but somehow not the bass and it's really wonderful, even if they're not playing anything by Journey. Motorcycles in particular seem to have soundsystems which don't suck if you're anywhere other than the drivers' seat.

It's kind of sad that the fidelity of loud music is so relentlessly terrible that anything which comes through clear is appreciated.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 2:02 PM on September 30

I love this. This is basically what I do manually when I hear music outside in my neighborhood.
posted by limeonaire at 2:14 PM on September 30

This is a wild mix:

No Hago Coro
God Bless The U.S.A.
Memories by Maroon 5 (not the good one)
The Man by Conci's Unconscious Daydream. --> It has 246 views of YouTube. This has to be a mistake or Mr Conci knows where the speaker is, and the system has already been hacked.

Not one Swift song played in 2 days. I need to move there.
Ha. You spoke too soon.
posted by The_Vegetables at 2:28 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]

Heh, I saw the title of this post and assumed some music industry arsehole had set something up to capture (and, I presumed, punish in some way) unauthorised broadcasts of songs. I'm very glad to be wrong and this project is one I can wholeheartedly approve of in every possible way.
posted by dg at 4:09 PM on September 30