Depends on the task. Depends on the music. No lyrics jazz + Tea = Fire

• Lord of the Rings Symphony (on loop, currently)
• Hans Zimmer collection

I'm totally on the same boat as you. Since most of my "creative" work is done late in the night, I prefer chillout, vocal trance kind of music.

I started collecting my favourite songs, organized by moods, in a monthly playlist release on Spotify.

Here's the last one, for example

I honestly can't imagine working without music, at least for the most part of it.

I can't work with music turned on, too much distraction. But I found repeating some nature sounds would help me. Noizio app is my choice when working.

Definitely for me. Since House is the music that works the best for me, I'm always on soundcloud listening to mixtapes of the djs/producers I follow.

I compile a monthly playlist with the ones I like the most, and use them a lot to work.

Here's an example, the December'16 one: Dic16 on Soundcloud

I would find it difficult to work without listening to music. Does it make me more productive? I don't know, but I feel more engaged when I do.

I listen to a lot of neurofunk drum & bass, e.g., Noisia, Current Value, Mefjus, Hybris, Phace, etc. Here's a link to my Spotify playlist.

If you're a fan of this style and want to discover new music, I highly suggestion listening to Noisia Radio. Here's a link to the Dutch trios weekly Friday show on SoundCloud.

Music is critical for my productivity, whether I'm in a noisy or quiet environment. There are a few genres that seem to work well in general.

As the level of deep focus required increases the music becomes more abstract and "noisy". Here's a Spotify playlist I've assembled for this purpose.

Punk / Garage gets me working fast when focus isn't a problem. Here's another gratuitous Spotify list.

A little late to the section but lately I have been crazy productive with heavy Techno. It gets you into a zone and makes you work hard, at least for me. Here's a playlist: https://play.spotify.com/user/wiefitti Choose 'T'

I work in a slightly noisy office so music is a must for me too. But I've slowly gotten to where I can't handle vocals or anything too distracting. So it's ambient/electronic/neoclassical/post-rock/experimental in general for me.

Put together this Spotify playlist recently: https://open.spotify.com/user/1211777784/playlist/2QSgqb4t2SuwnJlqVKobnf

I've collected a lot of low-fi ambient stuff from Bandcamp that's not on Spotify too tho.

I think it depends. If I'm hearing music for the first time most likely not. Orchestra/instrumental music generally helps me be productive or songs that I have on a repeat playlist so I can drone out the lyrics. Very few lyrical songs make that playlist though since most of the time it's distracting.

No way on podcasts those are too distracting. I use spotify and have several different repeat playlists (dark, acoustic, instrumental) but most of the time cinematic songs help me do work (Regina Spektor's song from Kubo for instance).

The Ori and the blind forest Soundtrack.

Music for designing. Brown noise for writing and coding.

I discovered the Brain Food playlist by Spotify is good for work listening: https://open.spotify.com/user/spotify/playlist/67nMZWgcUxNa5uaiyLDR2x

How Music Affects Your Productivity by Gregory Ciotti is a fantastic article on all this. It's changed how much I use music when

“When a task is clearly defined and repetitive in nature, research suggests that music is consistently helpful.”

But he goes on to explain that it can be more distracting when you are working on creative tasks. In this situation familiar music works best as it doesn't surprise us as much and interrupt flow.

“Whether deliberately created or naturally occurring, a soft background noise is what you should aim for.”

Lately I try to listen to podcasts while I'm working on something, but many times I feel like I'm loosing important information :))))

But yes, with no music there's sadness and almost zero productivity. Soundcloud fan here. Feel free to follow: my SC account

Well it depends on task. If i need to get a bunch of small tasks done i just do some ambient music on a really low volume. Something like this https://soundcloud.com/moshitaka/moshimix71-rob-cesar

If i need to concentrate for couple of hours on a huge task i have this one song that i just loop for 2-3 hours https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKn2JgD2d_U

I'm a big fan of podcasts, but i just can't work or workout while listening to them, because i then get concentrated on the podcast and not the actual work.

I think I work more efficiently with music, although I think I get a bit distracted finding the particular music that I want to listen to. I recently created a playlist generator which has really helped me tune into the exact type of music I want to listen to at the moment. Recently I've been listening to chilled out R&B,Post Dubstep & IDM and Rap

I'm not too fussed. I do work better when there's some loud music going but I can function perfectly fine in a no-talk office too.

I am listening now some opera. Night is the perfect time to do things.

I work in a noisy, open office so some kind of music is a must. The Minecraft soundtrack helps me work, actually!

When thinking time is over and it's time to execute, I just loop Bustin' and crank on shit for hours at a time, personally. Feels good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tdyU_gW6WE

When I know exactly what I want to do and I need to work through a lot of stuff, I love listening to my playlist.

But when I have to do deeper thinking. I can't have any music on at all.