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When do we stop finding new music?

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Re: When do we stop finding new music?

#181

Post by redwall_hp »

lapcat wrote: post #168

I find it interesting that GenZ and Millennials show a much smaller preference for their own decade's music. https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_pr... The 1980s are still doing quite well among all but the oldest generation. Is it possible that music may actually be getting worse? Corporatized, consolidated, computerized. Look at Hollywood now too: everything is a sequel, prequel, remake, reboot…

Music has become more stratified. The 90s through the present have been an ongoing escalation of music being democratized more and more, from the rise of the DAW in the late 90s to iTunes and P2P sharing to YouTube and music streaming. So there is vastly more music now, and people have more opportunity to find things that suit their tastes.

People listen to a wider variety of music and the same Billboard notion of popularity doesn't really paint a useful picture anymore. What plays on the radio or in TV ads is the lowest common denominator corporate waffle, and is played heavily, but it doesn't represent what people listen to overall.

I have personal playlists of everything from House music and 90s Eurodance to all kinds of J-Pop to 19th century folk music to early 2000s rock to 80s synth pop to orchestral music. I couldn't name a single Taylor Swift song offhand, but apparently she's pretty big.

Re: When do we stop finding new music?

#182

Post by doublepg23 »

ergonaught wrote: post #39

Well I'm in my 50s, and I mostly stopped finding new music when record labels, streaming, and social media destroyed the prospects for people who would otherwise make that new music for me to find. New stuff still arrives (you're not going to predict that me-at-15-loving-Megadeth will much later also love Billie Eilish or Gin Wigmore or Mirel Wagner or ...) but most "new music" is garbage by the standards set by abou…

Have you tried adapting to newer discovery methods like http://rateyourmusic.com/ or http://last.fm/ or subreddits like reddit.com/r/LetsTalkMusic , reddit.com/r/IndieHeads , reddit.com/r/HipHopHeads ?

Perhaps even "4chan /mu/ charts"?

Re: When do we stop finding new music?

#183

Post by nemothekid »

qzx_pierri wrote: post #22

Spotify has financial incentive to obfuscate their UI to tilt people toward mindlessly consuming playlists. This is because labels pay Spotify to put certain songs on large playlists, and Spotify knows playlists are a good habit to push onto their users. Radio was used to discover new music decades ago, but paying a radio station (directly) to play a song is illegal (payola), so DJs had to break new songs, styles, an…

>My current new genre is South African Amapiano.

How did you discover Amapiano? I ask because Tyla has become massively popular in the last year and I'm wondering if the discovery was truly coincidental or undercover marketing?

Re: When do we stop finding new music?

#184

Post by qzx_pierri »

bheadmaster wrote: post #176
qzx_pierri wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If I like a song, I’ll listen to the album. If it I like the album, I’ll listen to the discography. Not everyone wants to put forth that much effort. Design decisions are often, if not always, centered around the path of least resistance. [1] 1: https://www.usertesting.com/blog/why-users-wont-go-where-you...

> Not everyone wants to put forth that much effort. How is that more effort than listening whole albums? I personally do my Spotify discovery exactly that way - I listen to "discover weekly", and when a song stands out, I just click on the artist and listen more. I can't imagine any way of putting less effort than that into discovering new music.

Albums aren’t what Spotify recommends. Path of least resistance. See my comment above.

Re: When do we stop finding new music?

#185

Post by qzx_pierri »

nemothekid wrote: post #183
qzx_pierri wrote: post #22

Spotify has financial incentive to obfuscate their UI to tilt people toward mindlessly consuming playlists. This is because labels pay Spotify to put certain songs on large playlists, and Spotify knows playlists are a good habit to push onto their users. Radio was used to discover new music decades ago, but paying a radio station (directly) to play a song is illegal (payola), so DJs had to break new songs, styles, an…

> My current new genre is South African Amapiano. How did you discover Amapiano? I ask because Tyla has become massively popular in the last year and I'm wondering if the discovery was truly coincidental or undercover marketing?

Uncle Waffles @ Coachella 2023

Re: When do we stop finding new music?

#186

Post by haunter »

I've only been listening to the BBC Essential Mix since ~2005. Pretty much nothing else, it's always about the latest music and trends (especially if it's something from the UK like dubstep, grim etc.). 2x2 hour episodes are absolutely perfect for a week (there's a Classic show where they play the old ones again)

Re: When do we stop finding new music?

#187

Post by dublinben »

reducesuffering wrote: post #65
coldtea wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

New-new music, or just new acts in the same genres that you liked in your early 20s?

Maybe I missed this in the article but I agree this is a major consideration. I find a lot of people might like "new" music but it's very much a slight riff on stuff they liked a long time ago. As a 30yo, good luck introducing anyone in the 25+ category to new albums that actually experiment into novel sounds and become the music of the current 20yo generation. It's a little sad too because the internet unlocked so m…

>good luck introducing anyone in the 25+ category to new albums that actually experiment into novel sounds and become the music of the current 20yo generation

Both here and in the article there's a conflation of "new music" with "contemporary mainstream popular" which seems invalid. Is the Billboard Hot 100 any more or less innovative in 2024 than it was in 2004, or 1974? I think that most "mainstream" music is precisely "a slight riff on stuff [written] a long time ago." You have to go outside of the mainstream to find music and artists that are experimenting with novel sounds, just like you did in decades past.

As you say, there's been an explosion of independent creativity, thanks to the Internet. There's no reason for anyone who is interested in music to listen to the same old mainstream dreck.

Re: When do we stop finding new music?

#188

Post by rsanheim »

qzx_pierri wrote: post #22

Spotify has financial incentive to obfuscate their UI to tilt people toward mindlessly consuming playlists. This is because labels pay Spotify to put certain songs on large playlists, and Spotify knows playlists are a good habit to push onto their users. Radio was used to discover new music decades ago, but paying a radio station (directly) to play a song is illegal (payola), so DJs had to break new songs, styles, an…

Also - just don't use Spotify. It has a UX that is just consistently opposed to album-centric listening. Or any sort of focused listening, really.

There are alternatives. Apple music is fine. Tidal + Roon is also pretty good.

For discovering music, Roon provides a much more album-centric way to browse and learn about different albums and genres. I use that combined with subreddits for particular genres and good old fashioned album reviews and artist interviews.

Re: When do we stop finding new music?

#189

Post by dotancohen »

harles wrote: post #110
Euphorbium wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they tend to play what is cached locally, to save on streaming costs.

That’s certainly possible, but I’d expect licensing costs to dwarf bandwidth costs.

You have no idea how little artists make from selling music on platforms. The money is in the live performances and merchandise.
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