{
  "id": 2132069,
  "title": "I sorted music for a living. Sometimes ten seconds was enough",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/20/i-sorted-music-for-a-living-sometimes-ten-seconds-was-enough",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-08-20T12:03:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/danil_kh/i-sorted-music-for-a-living-sometimes-ten-seconds-was-enough-1712"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Once upon a time, I worked in the music industry as a curator for a stock music library. My job was far from what most people imagined. I was responsible for finding solo artists and small bands, explaining the library's operations, and selecting tracks based on various criteria. Genre, mood, instruments, and target video content were all important factors. Tagging a track correctly was crucial, as a wrong tag could render it useless. I would listen to tracks for ten seconds, enough to know where they fit, while others required multiple replays. Some tracks were genuinely excellent, and I would occasionally add them to my personal playlist, but this was rare. Eventually, I left that job behind, and what I do now has nothing to do with music. Recently, I found myself frequently skipping tracks while searching for the perfect one to work to. Despite believing that my high standards were the reason, I realized that the job had left me excessively picky. At the library, I was answering a straightforward question: where does this track fit? Alone at my desk, I started asking an unanswerable question: what's the perfect track for right now? This question led to endless small decisions, preventing me from starting. This situation is similar to procrastination, like saying \"I'll start now\" or \"after coffee.\" The difference is that it appears like preparation when it's really avoidance. A study by Gloria Mark and her colleagues at UC Irvine found that information workers interrupt their tasks as frequently as external distractions. In my case, I was handing myself permission to reconsider my choice over and over, calling it taste. The solution was to eliminate the choice entirely. Now, I use the same track to start every work session, one I have no opinion about. This track doesn't ask for anything, so there's no room for evaluation or further decision-making. While the task itself may be miserable, a ritual like this can help. Some people work fine with a new playlist every morning or in silence, but having a default track eliminated one fewer decision between sitting down and starting. I wonder if this approach applies to other work-related preferences. It's not about taste but rather a decision that's dressed up nicely, allowing me to avoid looking at its true purpose. Currently, I work on Nedio, a product that addresses a similar issue of reducing the friction between starting work and getting things done.",
  "summary": "Then I'd sit down to my own work and lose fifteen minutes choosing a track. For about three years I worked for a stock music library, and most of the job wasn't what people assume. I found the artists myself, solo performers and small bands, then explained how the library and licensing worked. The ones who said yes sent me their catalogues. I uploaded the files and started listening. That's where…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}