Arriving in January 2026 - a World of Music

I've been working on preparations for a new 365 project blog: a post a day for a year, which will appear here from the 1st of January 2026, and now its time to get more people involved if you have a few moments.

I've completed several of these 365 projects before, including my GeoLibrary blog, Geography on/in Film and Fieldnotes from Iceland.

This blog is going to be on the theme of music and its geographical connections in the broadest sense, including how it connects us to specific places or moments in time, captures landscapes and emotions or forms part of our cultural geography. 

Most people have some personal connections to particular musical genres or musicians.  

Few people go through life without music in it... we pick music for giving birth and saying goodbye for the final time; the 'first dance'; 'our song'... travelling music... music to get us to sleep or get us going in the morning.

Music provides comfort, enjoyment even personal moments of ecstasy. It can lead to obsession and collections and also provoke anger. It can be political and radical or anodyne and mainstream and called "elevator music" for its blandness.

The creation and consumption of music has an environmental, economic and social impact on the planet: From Taylor Swift's billion dollar plus ERAS tour, to a folk performer in an upstairs room in a pub.

Every generation has its opinions on the music of the past, and the new music that is emerging and becoming popular. Music or noise? "What's that you're listening to?".

We've also seen other changes to music over the decades.

• Different formats - the decline and rebirth of vinyl (and even the cassette tape)
• The rising price of concert tickets and the replacement of cardboard tickets with stubs to print your own or show me them on a phone screen... complete with animations in the case of AXS.

• The hybridisation of music to create new genres.
• Our consumption of music from the physical product in our hands to streaming and skipping from track to track - not the ritual of playing all of Side One then all of Side Two.

I've created a Google Form which I hope you'll help me with by completing as much of it as you can. It includes some of the areas that I will explore through 2026.

I'll post this request again in November and December to hopefully get a good response and also add it to a few other social media locations.

Thanks in advance if you feel able to help me out. 

Click the link here to open the form. 

I'd usually embed it, but there is an opportunity for you to add images you've got of favourite concerts, tickets, t-shirts, memorabilia or anything else you'd like to share. Dig out those old ticket stubs or programmes, or creative maps of world tour routes.

Check back here from the 1st of January 2026.