The ubiquity of incredible technology, communication systems, and databases makes possible some surprising things, and San Francisco’s Bop Spotter is one of them. It is a continuously updated website posted by Riley Walz, displaying the music heard during the course of the day on its street.

The page automatically updates when it hears a new song, showing the time, date, song title, and performer. A description explains that Walz has mounted a “crappy Android phone” high on a utility pole in the Mission district. It is running the Shazam music identification service that is fed information from a microphone that points at the street below.
The phone has a solar panel to keep the battery charged, and its state of charge is one of the visible metrics posted on the website. Walz explains that “Bop Spotter” is a play on the name of the gunshot detection system used in some cities, which is called “Shot Spotter.”

The Bop Spotter site. RILEY WALZ

“This is cultural surveillance,” the site explains. “No one notices, no one consents. But it’s not about catching criminals. It’s about catching vibes.”

Click the site's on-screen Play button and you can even hear what Bop Spotter is hearing.

Certainly, identifying the music that motivates passers-by to bop along is more cheerful than the task of listening for potential murders, so the crappy Android phone may have had the last laugh. It has endless power and listens to music for a living.

Related:Happy New Year and Goodbye to Clutter?