On the origin of music by means of natural selection

The results could also help explain why popular musical trends continuously evolve and why traditional musical forms can persist for thousands of years. The scientists set out to test a theory that cultural changes in language, art and music evolve through Darwinian natural selection, in a similar way to how living things evolve. They simulated this cultural evolution by harnessing the power of a 7,000 strong internet audience in an experiment that was designed to answer several questions. Can music exist without being the product of a conscious, creative act? If so, what would that music sound like? Does everyone's ideal tune sound the same? Armand Leroi, co-author of the research and Professor of Evolutionary Developmental Biology from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London, said: "Everyone 'knows' that music is made by traditions of musical geniuses. Bach handed the torch to Beethoven who gave it to Brahms; Lennon and McCartney gave it to the Gallaghers who gave it to Chris Martin. But is that really what drives musical evolution? We wondered whether consumer choice is the real force behind the relentless march of pop. Every time someone downloads one track rather than another they are exercising a choice, and a million choices is a million creative acts.