Old Music Is Killing New Music
Todd Simpson
Jan 26 2022, 01:57 AM
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It’s not just the Boomers or the “Old Schoolers”, it’s evidently pretty much most of the music consuming population. They have largely met in agreement that “The older stuff is better”. Of course, this sounds like boomer talk from the outset. However, it comes also from the voices of the younger generation. They too seem to have realized that yes, the older stuff was, in fact, better.

A recent article by TED GIOIA published on THE ATLANTIC.com goes in to detail on this issue. A simple data point is that “old songs” represent 70 percent of the U.S. music market. What’s worse, the “New Music” market is shrinking year over year.

*Here is a link to the article in question

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2...w-music/621339/
Take a look at this graphic. It compares catalog (old music) versus consumption of new music. It illustrates a simple point. The “old stuff” is doing better than the new stuff. In fact, 200 of th most popular “new” tracks make up less than 5 percent of total streams. That means 95 percent of total streams are “old stuff”. Could it be that only old schoolers are listening to music on streaming? Put simply, NO. Most streaming is servicing a younger population. Things are even more severe in terms of downloaded tracks on itunes. The most downloaded tracks are from bands from the last century including CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL and THE POLICE.

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For the first time in the history of music, new music is having an entirely minimal impact on popular culture as a whole, while older music seems to be stronger than ever. In just one example, the Grammy Awards were recently postponed and nobody seemed to care. In fact the Grammy audience has been shrinking year over year and is smaller than ever. In 2012 40 million people watched the Grammy Awards, in 2021, it was under 9 million.

There are several trends that bear out this information. Consider all of the catalogs of artists from years past that are now selling for hundreds of millions of dollars. Artists from Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen are cashing out. The major labels are doing most of the buying so that they can have viable product to release. Also, the best selling physical format for music is currently VINLY. Yes, that’s right, a format 70 years old, once considered “dead” is now the most popular way for consumers to buy a physical copy of music.

New music is becoming a commodity that functions mostly as background noise. People have a spotify playlist that they use at the gym or for the commute, but mostly they have little idea what the artists names are or what the songs are called. This is much different for “old music” that has a much deeper form of brand recognition, even among young listeners.

It seems the industry has lost it’s ability to find and nurture new talent. It’s more often found via analytics and milked quickly for all it’s worth and allowed to expire. Gone are the days of working with an artist to create something enduring. It’s just about quick numbers and the next big thing as far as new music is concerned. These acts are disposable as there is an endless supply of them. If we do see a revival in the discovery of “new” music, it probably won’t be led by the music industry, but instead will be outsourced, or rather “crowdsourced” to the people doing the listening and making the purchasing decisions.

QUESTION: WHAT DO YOU THINK?


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fkalich
Jan 26 2022, 03:50 AM
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Past decades were decades of optimism, a bright view of the future (so long as we escaped nuclear oblivion). That started to fade I would say, about 1990.

The music reflects the age we live in. Yes I admire the much higher level of technical playing proficiency that we see today among guitarists that inspire what we find on this site. But the spirit of the past is lost, the soul is lost.

It is not that I am old, culture has really taking a nose dive over the past 30 or so years.

If you don't believe it, let me prove it to you. The James Webb Telescope was inserted into L2 orbit yesterday. We will now be able to view the beginnings of the universe. And how much interest is there in it? How many people even know it? 30 years ago, everybody would have known it in the US. When Hubble launched it was the talk of the town.

Today, well when it launched on Christmas day I was that CNN gave it a top head line on their web site. Well good for them at least. Out of curiosity I looked on Fox news. No mention whatever, nowhere on their web site, to them it was not even news.

When it inserted into L2 orbit yesterday, same thing, top headlines for CNN, no mention whatever on Fox news. That did not surprise me.

What surprised me was looking at the alphabet networks this time. MSNBC did not mention it. ABC and CBS news made no mention. NBC news and PBS gave it a small mention far down the page. It is not the just Fox audience, it is the entire country that cares little about a milestone like this, a significant positive step for mankind is of no interest to them. I don't just blame the networks, they give the people what they want.

I looked internationally. Even though this was an international effort and achievement, I could find little or no coverage whatever.

That is our culture today. And it is global. That is the nose dive we have taken as human beings. We don't even care about major achievements is space exploration anymore.

Just saying, we have taken a nose dive culturally and the music reflects it. We live in a pessimistic age. People who are aware of this and know something is seriously wrong look to the past, holding their noses and trying to avoid what is being shoveled at them today.

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klasaine
Jan 26 2022, 04:22 PM
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I was pretty surprised (and disturbed) by the lack of interest and coverage of L2 as well. For anyone that wants to argue that "there's a lot going on right now to distract us", yeah, well there was a lot going on in the late 60s too when the Apollo program was happening and we ALL watched that. Even if you had to stand in front of a dept. store window.

As for the music well, in my opinion, if I'm being honest - it's all pretty much sucked since 1993. This is the only time I've actually just come out and written that down. I try to convince myself that there's new music that's good and that I like but no, it just ain't there. Whatever, there's plenty of stuff from the dawn of recording up through the early 90s that I've yet to discover. *The 'new' music that I do find passable is all just retro inspired stuff, and even that just eventually leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

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This post has been edited by klasaine: Jan 26 2022, 04:37 PM
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AK Rich
Jan 26 2022, 07:24 PM
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You can't compare Apollo to the launch of the Webb Telescope. The launch is ordinary in today's world. Another telescope in orbit? Been there, done that. Sending a man to the moon was extraordinary at the time and far more significant than it is to put another telescope into orbit in this day and age. It was so extraordinary that it was unbelievable to some and still is to this day.
Maybe there wasn't a lot of coverage about the Webb Telescope when it was launched but there has been running up to it and once we start getting images back there will be plenty of interest and coverage again. I think there are a great deal of us that know about it and are interested, especially when we start seeing the images.
Lots of other events similar to this get lots of coverage and interest such as private companies putting satellites and astronauts into space and the new designs of rockets that return to earth and land on a platform. Space tourism. Unmanned probes to explore Mars and talk of colonization etc. These things still generate lots of interest, coverage, and yes, optimism for the future.

As far as music goes, you'll get no argument from me about yesterday's music being better although there are some very talented musicians and songwriters today and even some that people might consider, extraordinary. Overall, it's simply not the same. There is a lot of copying going on and not near as much originality than there used to be.

I, for one, will always be an optimist and I don't agree that we live in a "pessimistic age."

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This post has been edited by AK Rich: Jan 26 2022, 10:49 PM
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Todd Simpson
Jan 27 2022, 04:48 AM
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Well said smile.gif I have to agree that the decline in the quality of our cultural artifacts to some degree mirror the decline in our culture in general. I remain optimistic though. If cassette tapes and viny can make a comeback, almost anything is possible smile.gif



QUOTE (fkalich @ Jan 25 2022, 10:50 PM) *
Past decades were decades of optimism, a bright view of the future (so long as we escaped nuclear oblivion). That started to s was an international effort and achievement, I could find little or no coverage whatever.

That is our culture today. And it is global. That is the nose dive we have taken as human beings. We don't even care about major achievements is space exploration anymore.

Just saying, we have taken a nose dive culturally and the music reflects it. We live in a pessimistic age. People who are aware of this and know something is seriously wrong look to the past, holding their noses and trying to avoid what is being shoveled at them today.



it does seem odd that such a major scientific milestone is being largely ignored. Maybe they will have to discover ancient Kardashians in space or on mars or something before people will care. I hope not though. For now it's mostly about the potential of discovery which doesn't seem to be getting much traction. Perhaps some actual discovery will change it?

You are spot on with your time reference imho. I can't tell you how many folks agree that the 90s seemed to be the turning point in music when mainstream music really started downhill. We have great indie artists thankfully, but popular music and culture in general could use a bit of a shakeup.

QUOTE (klasaine @ Jan 26 2022, 11:22 AM) *
I was pretty surprised (and disturbed) by the lack of interest and coverage of L2 as well. For anyone that wants to argue that "there's a lot going on right now to distract us", yeah, well there was a lot going on in the late 60s too when the Apollo program was happening and we ALL watched that. Even if you had to stand in front of a dept. store window.

As for the music well, in my opinion, if I'm being honest - it's all pretty much sucked since 1993. This is the only time I've actually just come out and written that down. I try to convince myself that there's new music that's good and that I like but no, it just ain't there. Whatever, there's plenty of stuff from the dawn of recording up through the early 90s that I've yet to discover. *The 'new' music that I do find passable is all just retro inspired stuff, and even that just eventually leaves a bad taste in my mouth.



I think you hit on it. It's a lack of originality. So much music is soooo derivative. Same thing for movies. It's as if mainstream media has given up on creating anything even remotely new or newish. Instead, they just keep digging deeper in the recycle bin.



QUOTE (AK Rich @ Jan 26 2022, 02:24 PM) *
You can't compare Apollo to the launch of the Webb Telescope. The launch is ordinary in today's world. Another telescope in
As far as music goes, you'll get no argument from me about yesterday's music being better although there are some very talented musicians and songwriters today and even some that people might consider, extraordinary. Overall, it's simply not the same. There is a lot of copying going on and not near as much originality than there used to be.

I, for one, will always be an optimist and I don't agree that we live in a "pessimistic age."

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