Interesting take on the music business

[Bob Boyer]

https://time.com/7160812/we-dont-want-new-music-essay/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

I think I would add to that the lack of time to hunt down new music on the interwebs without algorhythms.

 

[Rat44]

It doesn't help that its harder to buy music anymore.
All of the local stores around here don't carry CD's anymore.
I dont buy digital and record stores are few and far between.
And FM radio is a waste of time anymore.
All our rock stations here have the same 200 song playlist.

 

[vince666]

well... I had stopped listening to "current" new music around 1988, at age 15... but, at the same time, I always look for some "new" music...
just, 99% of the times, such new music (or at least new to me) was made before 1988.
After all, if some music is new to me and I had never listened to it before, I do consider it new music even if it was made decades ago.
In the end, if it's new to me then it's new, since it's myself who's listening to it.

as an extreme (but true) example... I've recently discovered an ancient composer from the baroque era (slightly older than J.S. Bach) which I had never listened before... so it was totally new to me and just loved it.

 

[George S.]

Hard to buy new music when there's so much old music I missed and am just now discovering.

 

[vince666]

Hard to buy new music when there's so much old music I missed and am just now discovering.

exactly so!

after all, I'd say the actual problem is about those who, from a certain age and on, happen to always listen to the same few songs/artists and, on the other side, those who try to listen to a lot of different songs/artists and always adding more and more... and this is regardless of when such music was actually made... that's mostly about the actual tastes of any of us.
It's true that, when we were teen, it was obvious to listen (or to also listen) to the current music but getting more adult it's typical that your tastes get more specialized and then, if you are a true passionate, you try to dig into certain music eras in particular.

Personally, since the very end of the 80s, I disliked how the current music was evolving and I can think about very few albums/artists I love from post-1988 era so I prefer to stick to the 1967-1987 time range which is, by far, my own favourite and where yI can find lots of different kinds of music to listen to different stuff for the rest of my life.
In the meanwhile, the teens will enjoy the current stuff as it always happened.

 

[Chris Cables]

If I think about how I used to discover new music it started with in order of influence:

• John Peel - circa 80's-90's. Legendary, highly influential Radio 1 DJ. Probably the single biggest influence on my musical tastes.
• My dad - circa 70's. Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, Hendrix, Santana, to name but a few.
• Friends parties - 70's-90's, there would always be great tunes playing and albums I'd want to borrow and tape.
• Gigs. 80's-90's. Going to gigs by known bands usually meant you would discover new bands via the support act and then hanging around between the support act and main gig while they would play music. Getting stoned and/or pished during this interlude meant it probably sounded better than it actually was
• BBC 6 Music. 90's-present. When I'm not tuned in to Bassdrive.com I'm listening to some of the new music shows on 6 music. They play some utter crap on this station, but often they will play a track which I just have to follow up. John Peel's son is also a DJ there. Usually I miss the intro or follow-up comments; '...and that track 'insert track title here' was a new release by 'insert band name here' etc, so Shazam comes to the rescue usually. They alos have a handy track-listing on their website too.
• Shazam. Shazam is now the single best 'thing' and method I use to discover new music. I might hear a few bars of a track I like playing on the radio, in someone else's car, blasting out of someone's headphones as they walk/job/limp past me. 'Have to know who made that track! Crank up Shazam!' I love Shazam.
  
  When I look at the last 10 tracks I Shazam'd I realise that 7 are completely new to me while 3 are tracks that I didn't hear by bands I already knew about. I'll either go in search of the digital download or find out if it's on vinyl and buy it.

I think the landscape and industry in general is always changing and evolving, but hasn't it always?
One thing I have noticed is how less bands there are in comparison to solo artists. There are hardly any 'rock n roll' type bands around now save for the lamentable Coldplay and a few others. You never hear of drummers throwing TV's out of hotel windows or the bass player driving a RollsRoyce into a swimming pool, or the singer getting nabbed at the airport for having a sneaky spliff tucked into his sock. I think I got that the wrong way around, but you know what I'm getting at right? There's just no rock 'n rollness about music these days.
Maybe the return of Oasis will mean they will start being bad boys again. I doubt it though.

 

[laatsch55]

[QUOTE="algorhythms.[/QUOTE]

I heard what ya did there!!!

 

[Bob Boyer]

@ Lee - <grin>

And on another note (damn, I'm just full of 'em tonight...) I will say that Lindsay and I were talking about the great Muzak being programmed in her office tower in Dallas (for real, apparently) this evening and she mentioned she downloads an average of four new albums per week. So there is hope, if only in my little part of the world.

 

[Bob Boyer]

This article just popped up on my feed this morning. Maybe an even better analysis of where we are with respect to the increasing lack of importance of music today:

https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/16/...-mood-machine?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

 

[J!m]

My opinion is that the modern diluted recycled/regurgitated music is cause for the rise in cost of old records with actual musical talent on them.

Old jazz records (the only vinyl I am interested in) have gotten quite expensive- even the re-issues are crazy, and I think it's because people who like music are not interested in "modern" music.

There are exceptions of course, but for the "common man" this seems to be the case.

 

[Miracle Mile]

This article just popped up on my feed this morning. Maybe an even better analysis of where we are with respect to the increasing lack of importance of music today:

https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/16/...-mood-machine?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Excellent article. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bob Boyer]

You're welcome. As a content creator in a previous life and someone in the business (but not for much longer), I thought it summed up the situation pretty well.

 

[Vintage 700b]

You're welcome. As a content creator in a previous life and someone in the business (but not for much longer), I thought it summed up the situation pretty well.

Much appreciated Bob.
We have seen so many changes in the past 50 years, and streaming services and how the artists and the listeners are affected.
I personally never got into the Napster, and i-Tunes era, but it is hard to deny the accessibility of Spotify and the other streaming services that put an almost unimaginable library of music at our fingertips. The concept of "Playlists" being provided, as opposed to listening to actual artists is one that I still don't buy into often. I will use that for "background" music, as mentioned in the article, but in 6 decades of purchasing vinyl, and CD format (from specific artists) I don't casually have "background" music playing. I still use the streaming services but I sit and listen to a specific artist. I LISTEN....to the music, and the engineering behind the performance as well as the entire recording arrangement. I may just be an old guy, old school but I really appreciate the time, and effort that goes into a recorded performance. That's why we build our systems to emulate that recording just as the artists, and engineers intended it.
Thanks again