What does business actually sound like? Well, now I can tell you!
Financial Symphony, which we recorded recently as a string quartet, has just been released. The piece is literally based on UK financial data, expressed through rhythm and dynamics. Every shift in tempo, or change in volume, can be traced back to something that actually happened in the numbers.
You can listen to it on Spotify here.
The music, which was commissioned by Sage as part of their work on AI transparency, is composed by Miriam Quick and Duncan Geere of Loud Numbers.
Here’s how the project came together:
Miriam sent us a helpful pre-shoot ‘note for performers’, which shot straight into my top project briefings of all time, with hilariously brilliant instructions such as:
“One bar represents one financial quarter”
“the long note length was determined by calculating the percentage of each financial quarter taken up by the average invoice payment time.”
And my favourite:
“The length of the opening long note in this figure represents the length of time it takes the average UK small business to pay an invoice.”
I can’t help thinking of Bach and Mozart working to deadline… I guess this is the 21st century equivalent!
The funny thing is, as a piece of music, it really works.
As the ‘sonified‘ financial development data increases in tempo, the time intervals shorten, representing time-saving advances in technological innovation. The constant rhythmic diminution builds the whole thing towards a powerful musical climax:
Why turn data into music?
When there’s a lot of data – and when in our 21st-century lives is there ever not a lot of data? – it’s easy to miss or ignore hidden meanings, because numbers rarely communicate their meaning emotionally – at least, until it’s too late. Any early stage entrepreneur who’s ever lain awake at night thinking about payroll will know what I mean 🙂
But it’s harder to ignore the feelings that music creates. The idea is that when you hear financial patterns changing speed in the form of a melody, you feel the changes in a way a spreadsheet never quite manages to communicate.
That’s what Miriam and Duncan do – translate complex datasets into sound, to make information land emotionally not just intellectually. A simple idea, but really quite profound.
Financial Symphony is based on payment and transaction data from the years 2015 to 2026 – which might explain the gloriously consonant, almost anthemic ending.
But the more sceptical part of my mind can’t help but wonder what 2020 might have sounded like. Or 2008. Or 1987. Or 1929. Or the South Sea Bubble of 1720…
And that’s just finance. I dread to think what ‘sonification’ of current climate data trends might reveal ….
Anyway, enough doomsaying. Here’s the full Financial Symphony video for you to enjoy (mini doc + soundtrack):
When, if ever, should we let go and trust the machine?
I think Sage’s underlying argument is actually a really good one: AI dramatically speeds up what human beings can achieve, but if you can’t see how the machine got to its answer, what value does that ultimately hold?
Knowing when to trust something, challenge something or correct something is important in any relationship between any human, animal or machine. Because without that, you’re operating without a shared truth.
There’s a critical debate going on right now in every sector about AI. But for the creative industries it’s quite existential at almost every level – from creative process right through to commercial viability. So I think the compositional process is a fitting metaphor.
The contrast between Miriam’s human-only strings layer and Duncan’s sampled studio percussion is a good example. The voices integrate together beautifully, but each layer retains its own musical and stylistic integrity too.
The musical rules and constraints are the guardrails that hold the music in a coherent form. Without strong governing boundaries and shared truths, everything collapses in a giant mush.
I suspect the same can be said of Agentic AI, too 🙂
Music by Miriam Quick and Duncan Geere
Performed by Simon Hewitt Jones and Coco Azoitei (violin), Judit Kelemen (viola) and Hannah Lewis (cello)
Sound by Richie Acasuso, Film by Tim Walker (Westbound Films)
Listen to Financial Symphony on Spotify, here.