Could someone please explain why 'de' is needed in this sentence?

Question

'J'écoute de la musique'
Merci

Accepted Answer

Yes ,indeed but that makes it specific, to listen to music would always be écouter de la musique.

Answer

You can also say "j'écoute la musique" but it means "I am listening to the music", talking about a specific piece of music. Using "de la music", i.e., using the partitive article, it makes it unspecific: "I am listening to (some) music".

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

Answer

I think this is because of the verb ´écouter' . 
You have to use the partitive "de la" as you can only listen to some music at any one time. 
You would say - "J'aime la musique "  as it is a general statement about liking music in general. 
Hope this helps !

Answer

But I believe you could, for example, say: "Tu as déjà écouté la musique de ce CD que je t'ai prêté?"
-- Chris (not a native speaker).