Is Old Music Killing New Music?

[Killingbeans]

Music IS made by actual musicians playing actual instruments.

Guess I really enjoy listening to things that aren't music. Fine by me. I don't regret a moment of it

 

[Phoney]

One thing I hate about new music is that I feel like most of the songs is just designed to generate as much money as possible, by making it as catchy as possible and just paying big bucks for all the radio channels to have them be pushed into peoples faces everywhere. I feel like the old music was created with the musicians own passion and creativity, rather than just caring about the numbers and have a bunch of other people help them decide how they can make the music so that they all can get the fattest paychecks. Yes, there was money being made from old music aswell, but the musicians used to stick to their roots in a higher degree after becoming famous. Now it's like you have this one album that makes you famous, and then someone pays you tons of money so that they can dictate you to milk money from your music.

 

[Killingbeans]

Looking at the past through rose-colored glasses, IMO.

It's funny how people can go at each other's throats when debating whether The Beatles was the first real boy band, but I'd argue that "boy bands" and one hit wonders are as old a concept as recorded music itself.

 

[Yuhasz01]

Well that is a hot and rather wrong take.

2020 to 2021 streaming increase was about 15%.

Do you 50% of an 8" pizza, or 25% of a 16" pizza?

The share went down, but the pie got bigger, and based on the numbers, that tells me the number of streams of new music went up.

Of course, this is also about simple demographic and usage changes. As more older people get into streaming, of course more of the older catalog is going to be streamed compared to new songs. The pie is getting bigger, it does not mean new songs are not being listened to at all.


Or put another way, man who doesn't understand math, statistics or demographics as applied to a market makes a video.


Here is a list of the top streamed songs on Spotify of all time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-streamed_songs_on_Spotify

How many are more than 10 years old? Almost none. Ed Sheeran is making some serious coin, even with the low per stream payment and overhead to all the hands in the pocket.

Spotify is a rather biased (unrepresentative) sample for market analysis; many other streaming services to account for if one seeks some accuracy on the issue and objectivity.

 

[restorer-john]

Indeed. I occasionally listen to the radio in the car. Here in Italy, even with a DJ, song after song is played with no mention of the artist or song title. I guess if I had a fancier stereo, the display would tell me the song being played. Not a great aid to road safety, especially with ageing eyesight!

I feel the same. The run-on from one song to another, with no mention of the song name, the artist etc. The radio DJ was instrumental in intoducing new songs, talking about them and providing actual human curated playlists.

The radio in my car rarely gets used as the content is so compressed, distorted and there is no connection between the broadcast studio and the listener anymore.

 

[JaccoW]

I'm seeing a lot of people waxing nostalgic about their old music. Fine by me, I'm 35 and don't always understand some new songs either, but that doesn't make modern music bad. And any radio recording from the old days will tell you there was a lot of crap around in any time.

But sure, cherry pick your top 10 artists from 3-4 decades and tell me how modern music of the past 5 years sucks.

Music that is easy to listen to and sounds a bit like what we already know sells well. The cooler experimental stuff has always been in the invisible places and lots of modern artists only put out music on places like Soundcloud and Youtube and will never get time on your radio. There are too many subgenres for these newer styles to really become mainstream overnight (and most of the big money is with "safer" styles anyway) but it certainly does influence bigger artists.

I bought a lot of music over Bandcamp last year and most of it by still living musicians and bands that are still putting out new music and improving with each album. Usually a mix of people playing actual instruments, some electronic influences or just haunting singers.

Music IS made by actual musicians playing actual instruments.

Such an American thing to say. Until the rather recent re-discovery in the 2010's when the term EDM was coined I would have said that Americans are confused by music without singing, especially if it is all electronic instruments. Then again I have disagreed with your narrow definitions of what is "good" before.

There are many great music styles that can be performed both using instruments but mostly after having experimented with electronic or sampling first. Hell, just the invention of the ribbon microphone in the 1930's suddenly allowed musicians to actually capture voices and enabled them to experiment with a completely different way to perform music. Crosby, Billie Holiday did things that weren't possible before. Frank Sinatra even designed his entire singing style around the technology! He wasn't skilled in any musical instrument at least.

By your definition those weren't real musicians because they don't use an instrument but used electronics (a microphone) to augment and dynamically change their volume to the people performing real music.

 

[Prana Ferox]

Live music is what pays the bills for small musicians and live music has been in decline for societal reasons well before COVID. An artist had to be pretty damn big before record sales made a big difference after all the fees and cuts etc, and I'd be really surprised if streaming is changing this. You're as likely to make it rich monetizing your YouTube music videos.

This is true whether you're playing 'real instruments' or synths or mixing whatever, it is a performance art and if you're not performing you're not making money.

I do think there is a downward spiral where people think "I can sign a contract and get backup musicians and a producer and marketing and give them all a cut, or I can multitrack it myself in my living room on my MacBook and post on Twitter, and keep all the revenue." It turns out professional producers, studio artists and studios existed for a reason and a lot of the self-made-in-the-living-room stuff sounds awful. Sure, tons of great music has come out of garages on crappy 4-tracks but that's a specific aesthetic, and you can only do so much damage blending a 4-track while with 64-bit computing and a bucket load of Reason plug-ins the skies the limit. That all being said, I think this is a following indicator, the music sounds bad because it's not made to play live.

I also like the Bandcamp model but I don't see how it escapes this. The money isn't there.

Why Rap Sucks In The 21st Century is pretty much all Jay Z's P Diddy's fault (I remembered wrong) but that's a separate rant.

 

[Timcognito]

I think that there is much more music now and so many outlets to hear it due to the internet where radio was king 25 years ago. Record labels made stars out of musicians promoting and giving content to those stations. The share of the market has shifted to am more stratified model making people who are not that adventurous a big percentage. There is more good music now than there ever was. Its just that the baby boomers are nostalgic for their youth and want to feel like they were seventeen and are willing to pay for it.

 

[audio2design]

hat all being said, I think this is a following indicator, the music sounds bad because it's not made to play live.

A lot of the greatest Beatles music was never intended to be played live. That is why it was so good. No restrictions.

 

[audio2design]

Spotify is a rather biased (unrepresentative) sample for market analysis; many other streaming services to account for if one seeks some accuracy on the issue and objectivity.

It's rather similar on most streaming platforms and this thread was specifically about what is streamed on these platforms.

 

[audio2design]

Why has Classical music lived on for hundred of years?

No electrical guitars?

 

[JaccoW]

No electrical guitars?

That can be fixed though. You will need about a dozen cello bows per song though:

 

[Doodski]

Why Rap Sucks In The 21st Century is pretty much all Jay Z's fault but that's a separate rant.

Ice-T makes everything better.

 

[Prana Ferox]

A lot of the greatest Beatles music was never intended to be played live. That is why it was so good. No restrictions.

The Beatles toured aggressively. The entire concept of the British Invasion was that they toured aggressively. The entire early history of the Beatles is about them playing the hell out of live music. If they'd refused to leave Liverpool we'd be all be streaming documentaries about Pet Sounds.

I'd argue the stuff that was 'never intended to be played live' came way later when, at the least, it wasn't needed to pay the bills. Which is the arc a lot of music careers take.

 

[Yuhasz01]

Music today exists in a very different world than the 1960-1985 period of pop music. Both are just different experiences , cultures and demographics. Unfair and useless to compare.

 

[Yuhasz01]

The Beatles toured aggressively. The entire concept of the British Invasion was that they toured aggressively. The entire early history of the Beatles is about them playing the hell out of live music. If they'd refused to leave Liverpool we'd be all be streaming documentaries about Pet Sounds.

I'd argue the stuff that was 'never intended to be played live' came way later when, at the least, it wasn't needed to pay the bills. Which is the arc a lot of music careers take.

Both Rolling Stones and Beatles developed their talent as bar ,or club , live bands. Studio stuff came later when they had money to buy the studio time

 

[audio2design]

I'd argue the stuff that was 'never intended to be played live' came way later when, at the least, it wasn't needed to pay the bills. Which is the arc a lot of music careers take.

Arguably their best and most experimental music was after the touring phase. Correct, they didn't need the money.

That ability to create music without touring is rather dead.

 

[Sal1950]

I occasionally listen to the radio in the car. Here in Italy, even with a DJ, song after song is played with no mention of the artist or song title. I guess if I had a fancier stereo, the display would tell me the song being played.

Amen, I don't make any long trips in the car anymore so it's all radio. I hear this great new song and then - nothing. What a major PITA it then turns out to be. Maybe I can remember a hook line or two I can google and find out the act, maybe not.

Such an American thing to say. Until the rather recent re-discovery in the 2010's when the term EDM was coined I would have said that Americans are confused by music without singing, especially if it is all electronic instruments.

What a very European thing to post, LOL
I really have no idea what that had to do with what I'd said. But since your only 35 I'll give you a pass.

There is more good music now than there ever was. Its just that the baby boomers are nostalgic for their youth and want to feel like they were seventeen and are willing to pay for it.

Another youngster with more to defend than think.
There's more pure garbage on the air/net waves than any time in history, that parts right. But very very little of it of any quality. Make a bunch of noise and holler, "look at me mom, I'm a museiitian. LOL

Ice-T makes everything better.

 

[Doodski]

@Sal1950 Ice-T does make things better. He makes gang bangers and goofs think about stuff.

 

[levimax]

The large internet monopolies and streaming services now take the majority of revenue of a smaller revenue pie leaving relatively little for the artist and even less for production. While probably overboard the other way in the past some bands would spend months in the recording studio working on an album... today it usually is just a few days. Hard for new music to compete.