Is Old Music Killing New Music?

Maybe the takeaway is that most new music just sucks? It's been the case for at least a decade. Multiple genres overrun by celebrities (vs talent) and endless re-hashing of the same ideas, samples and arrangements.

Every year there is only a handful of artists that stand out.

EDIT: A little experiment taking random past years:

- 1969: Elvis, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Fletwood Mac, Johnny Cash, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cream, Mutantes, The Byrds, Frank Sinatra, Steppenwolf, The Velvet Underground, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, The Who, Elton John, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Nick Drake, The Doors, Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Janis Joplin, The Rolling Stones, The Allman Brothers Band, BB King, The Jackson 5

- 1989: Rush, Lou Reed, Skid Row, New Order, Elvis Costello, Madonna, Ramones, Sepultura, Pixies, Tom Petty, Aretha Franklin, Green Day, The Cure, Queen, Paul McCartney, Nirvana, Prince, Faith No More, Bee Gees, RHCP, The Rolling Stones, Soundgarden, Aerosmith, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Billy Joel, KISS, Satriani, Clapton, plus dozens of others

- 2021: Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, The Weeknd, BTS, Harry Styles, Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo, Ed Sheeran, Doja Cat, Arlo Parks, Justin Bieber, Adele, Lorde, illuminati hotties, Silk Sonic

Taken from yearly compilation sites. Not only the 2021 list of highlights is shorter, but half of these artists are going to be forgotten in five years because their songs are just not memorable enough.

Re: Is Old Music Killing New Music?

#8

Post by ricardobeat » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 9:52 PM UTC

ethagknight wrote: post #4

This article was posted sometime last week, apparently got picked up by the Atlantic. Interesting read, interesting prior discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29999110

The top voted comment there suggests that "young people have moved to streaming" but unless I read it wrong, the report's 'total consumption' figures do include streaming. In their metric ~3k streams == one album sale (based on artist revenue).

A more correct observation could be that old people have moved to streaming and are now responsible for a much larger share?

Re: Is Old Music Killing New Music?

#9

Post by digisign » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 10:27 PM UTC

ricardobeat wrote: post #7

Maybe the takeaway is that most new music just sucks? It's been the case for at least a decade. Multiple genres overrun by celebrities (vs talent) and endless re-hashing of the same ideas, samples and arrangements. Every year there is only a handful of artists that stand out. EDIT: A little experiment taking random past years: - 1969: Elvis, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Fletwood Mac, Johnny Cash, Creedence…

Indeed, accountants and the internet provided the one-two punch.

I recognize the historical bias of "new music sucks." However I remember iconic hit songs dropping every single week in the 80s, from multiple genres. Now I hear a trickle of a few a year. Most pop tracks seem to be just vocals and beats, better to fend off lawsuits I suspect.

Another important milestone in the legal environment folks might have forgotten was when George Harrison was taken to court over the music of one of his songs being reminiscent of a Motown-era ditty. ("My Sweet Lord" vs. "He's So Fine")

There are undoubtedly some great undiscovered writers and musicians that haven't been noticed nor allowed to be noticed by the big players. Artist development went in the toilet as profits declined.

Re: Is Old Music Killing New Music?

#10

Post by hansthehorse » Sun, Jan 23, 2022, 10:30 PM UTC

Pro Tools and Auto Tune destroys new music. Is the verse repeated somewhere? Just fly the first verse over. Engineers and producers will quantize the song and just put things where they want them. Timings are microsecond perfect every time. It's bare, lifeless and completely sterile. If a new artist wants to, even slightly, disrupt this paradigm they are going to have a hard time making the rent.