My theory as to why new music is slipping is that the aggregate virtuosity of being able to play instruments has tanked. What I hear in new music is a bunch of people playing basic ass predictable music and trying hard to window dress it with computer based effects. It all sounds the same in a very real way to me. Not even my favorite act, but "the Band" is a great example of the opposite. Those guys could play. Is there any band now where you are rocked by the prowess of their playing, the synergy, and creativity? That is what is missing.
If you like The Band you might like The Greyhounds, out of Austin, tearing it up since 2004 so not new new, but still in their prime, one of my favourites of the 21st century, see them every time I can! Greyhounds "No Other Woman"
Did anyone else notice that the picture of the "record store" in the OP's linked article appears to be a sneaker store that also has a rack of records?
New music is not selling very well and older music is. Hmmm, tricky one this. Maybe, just maybe, the majority of new music really sucks and older music is better?
Or that younger people are just staying on TikTok/Instagram while older generations are streaming more on Apple/Spotify/Tidal?
My college age daughter and I have this discussion regularly. She scolds me for not listening to more new music. I tell her I only have so much room in my brain for only so much music and it's full. For me to get into something new, I'll need to drop something and I don't hear much that would lead me to do so. For example she just got me to go with her to see the band Dry Cleaning play in Nashville and they were great and I've since listened to their album and really enjoyed it however, it won't make the cut. I'm full.
And yet, most of the videos with billions of views on YouTube are not The Beatles. Maybe the Beatles just suck? YouTube - Most Viewed Music Videos of All Time
Or maybe newer music is accessed from all over the place and have a much more individualized and niche subsets of audience due to how diverse the internet is, while older music is already established canon and easily accesible by way of being namechecked by everyone already? Or screw it, things are getting too nuanced here all modern music just sucks
I think it is a number of things: - With social media, gaming, etc., people aren't as focused on new music as much as previous generations. I was pretty obsessed as a teen, but there was pretty much music, music videos and sports as the main cultural attractions/hobbies for teenagers just before the Internet and high speed access. There were video games but they weren't like the video game culture today. - The easy access to older music has people gravitating to really good classic older music on streaming services. Why would I spend time on a new Harry Styles album when I can listen to Pink Floyd, Prince, the Police, etc.? - The music industry focus switch from artist development to cheap production and pop and hip-hop based on "beats" is something that paid off in the short term and even was deemed fresh for a while. However, the quality of artists as players, singers, performers and songwriters is really diminished, at least at the mainstream level.
If I could find new music that: 1. Offers something new that I haven't heard before, in an accessible, and well-crafted manner and 2. Is equal or better than the decades of similar music available to me... I would certainly listen. I expect some of that is out there, but life's just too short to sift through layers of dreck to find an elusive nugget. Especially when I've barely scratched the surface of great 20th century music.
Well, Black Midi blew my ****ing face off last night at the Paradise, so...yes, there must be at least one. Sorry, they're really short on oblique mythological nostalgia for the antebellum South, though.
I think people should try reading the article first - "old music" is defined as music which is more than 18 months old - before they start indulging in old geezer fantasies that kids today are passing over Harry Styles for the Allman Brothers or whatever.
If you can't beat em join em! Life is too short for anything but the same stale thing I wasted it on. I love you Big Brother (and the Holding Company)
People listen to the music they grew up with. This forum is the same. Music is one of many forms of entertainment for most. Some people are obsessed with music. We are always searching. New old anything we might like. That’s my crowd. Lots of great new music. Popular opinion is only one part of it for me. Patty Griffins , Tape, is really cool. Starcrawler, All Them Witches, Boris (W) album is cool. King Woman I love. Uniform and Deafheaven are great live. Lourdes new one is cool. Kama s i Washington is on a roll. I don’t know, creativity goes on. Music is one long conversation. I wanna hear as much as I can while I’m around.
I try not to make blanket judgements about new music because I've come to realize how utterly personal musical tastes are. For example, I love music that is easily accessible, organic, has lots of hooks and, above all, swings. That brand of music is very hard to find right now. And when I do find some, its typically so derivative of music I already know that I don't find a lot to enjoy (although I'll gladly see new artists making that music live, as the joy of seeing young musicians tear it up is one I always savor). If, OTOH, I enjoyed beats, soundscapes, confessional folk music and childlike pop, I'd be gobbling up new stuff. It's all about your personal perspective.
lol “What the streaming platforms are pushing” are called algorithms. They analyze what you’ve been listening to and suggest musically similar artists. As for it being “the new payola,” well, let’s see what those vicious, deep-pocketed corporate overlords want me to listen to this week. Here’s the artists on the Listen Now tab of my preferred streaming service, which is where they put these things: Beach Bunny Papernut Cambridge The Wedding Present Telefis Porridge Radio Angel Olsen Wunderhorse Laura Veirs Close Lobsters ‘Heavenly The Pooh Sticks Supergrass Grifters Versus The Ladybug Transistor East River Pipe Fastbacks Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments The Popguns Papas Fritas Seam Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever Fievel Is Glaque Honeyglaze Franco Micalizzi Gabriella Cohen Redd Kross Armando Trovajoli The Beths The Style Council The Primitives Blur Sultans of Ping FC Lloyd Cole and the Commotions Sammy Comet Gain The Clean Trembling Blue Stars Portastatic The Weather Station Maia Friedman Skullcrusher Widowspeak Kalbells Twain Horsegirl Courtney Barnett Bachelor Snail Mail Young Guv Tobin Sprout The Spinanes Momma Velocity Girl Ultra Vivid Scene Silkworm Dinosaur Jr Yo La Tengo Belle and Sebastian Sonic Youth The Sundays PJ Harvey Cat Power Stereolab My Bloody Valentine Elliott Smith Nina Nastasia Elf Power Blue Orchids Mush Wet Leg Yard Act and Elton John Secret Stars The Bodines Naima Bock Guided By Voices Ennio Morricone Jerry Fielding Carlo Pes Amedeo Tommasi Fred Bongusto Roberto Pregadio Angelo F. Lavagnino Nora Orlandi Piero Piccolini Man, it seems like those vicious, deep-pocketed corporate overlords want me to listen to…current indie artists, 80s and 90s indie artists, and a lot of Italian soundtrack composers. Sooo…pretty much what I’m usually listening to on streaming, then. Cool!
When Drake’s last album dropped, songs from it were added to almost every playlist on Spotify including country, alternative, etc… Do you think that was an algorithm malfunction? If you don’t think certain artists aren’t being given preferences in those algorithms, you are very naive.
