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Old Music is Killing New Music


I was reading this really interesting article up above about how old music is killing new music. In the U.S., old songs are 70% of the music market.

The article goes over a few possible reasons for this. Record companies and radio stations favoring older songs as well as deep fakes and holograms bringing back deceased artists contribute to this. But one thing it doesn't mention is that the lyrics in decades typically regarded as the best for music, especially the 70s and 80s, had more complex lyrics. A lot of music nowadays is really repetitive and dumbed down in its lyrics.

Speaking for myself, it's that repetition in modern music that's the biggest turn off. A lot of the lyrics are the same old repetitive love songs or talking about drugs.

I've discovered great artists in more recent times, like Imagine Dragons and Beck, who aren't so safe and standard with what they put out. That makes their music stand out more.

What are your thoughts on this? What reasons are contributing to new music not gaining traction? And what are some of your favorite modern artists/songs?
 

Spiritual Mask Salesman

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I don't listen to much new music unless it's from a band or artist I already know and like. Some newer artists I discovered within the last few years I found out about from ZD, or from recommendations. For example Greta Van Fleet is one of my favorite newer bands, I discovered them from @Pen telling me about them. I really like Starset a lot, and I got into them because @Fraxinus posted their music in the "What Song Are You Currently Listening To" thread. I found out about Ghost back in 2013 sometime from a friend showing me the music video for Secular Haze. I can't really think of any new music discovery I made on my own, and that's probably because I just don't seek out new music for myself in my spare time.

But yeah, in general the reason I don't like much new music is because a lot of it just sounds too similar, or has similar subject matter with little variety, and I don't care for "pop" music much anyway. I didn't read the article though, but I do wonder if it even matters that older music is the larger market for music since it seems, at least at a glance, that new popular artists are doing well with sales.
 

Dizzi

magical internet cat....
ZD Legend
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New music is very ....samey whereas old music was more individual like if they came on the radio you could say oh thats take that the flood but now its like uhhhh whats this??
 

Hyrulian Hero

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I don't believe musicality exists in the public eye today. The "musicians" promoted by world media are people who can sing in a way that many people find pleasing. Somebody else plays the instruments, somebody else writes the music, somebody else writes the lyrics, somebody books the tours and assembles the sets, somebody else bankrolls the production, somebody else contracts the "musician" for a certain number of albums, somebody else builds the "musician's" image and tells them what to say. There are plenty of good artist and maybe even a couple of truly great ones but they will not be promoted in the public, perhaps because they have too much control over themselves and their profession to become a malleable puppet for the "music" industry.

I like a lot of bands that don't make great music but sing lyrics that I like or play musical styles I enjoy but I can't say they're truly great. We may have been ruined by artists like Bach, Handel, Brahms, and Beethoven. Uncompromising, fully integrated artists who, maybe due to their circumstances, were in a position to be promoted to fame so that their craft could be consumed by the masses. Like the great authors, the great musicians have a holistic acquaintance with their field. I don't know how many truly great artists their are these days but I'd opine that true craft finds it difficult to compete in a consumerist society that values the efficient over the wholesome.
 
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Mikey the Moblin

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I don't believe musicality exists in the public eye today. The "musicians" promoted by world media are people who can sing in a way that many people find pleasing. Somebody else plays the instruments, somebody else writes the music, somebody else writes the lyrics, somebody books the tours and assembles the sets, somebody else bankrolls the production, somebody else contracts the "musician" for a certain number of albums, somebody else builds the "musician's" image and tells them what to say. There are plenty of good artist and maybe even a couple of truly great ones but they will not be promoted in the public, perhaps because they have too much control over themselves and their profession to become a malleable puppet for the "music" industry.

I like a lot of bands that don't make great music but sing lyrics that I like or play musical styles I enjoy but I can't say they're truly great. We may have been ruined by artists like Bach, Handel, Brahms, and Beethoven. Uncompromising, fully integrated artists who, maybe due to their circumstances, were in a position to be promoted to fame so that their craft could be consumed by the masses. Like the great authors, the great musicians have a holistic acquaintance with their field. I don't know how many truly great artists their are these days but I'd opine that true craft finds it compete in a consumerist society that values the efficient over the wholesome.
Taylor swift is our only hope
 

Hyrulian Hero

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I uh...sarcasm doesn't translate very well through the vehicle of text and I think I saddened you about moblins so I'm just going to keep quiet on this one.
 
Too lazy to read the article, but if you determine music popularity based on the radio charts, then yeah, they're naturally gonna funnel in some "basic" direction, because it's for a wide array of listeners from different eras of music and what feels good to listen to. But also, the what the radio plays has a lot of control over what is popular; if you listen to the radio and discover music based on what they play, then naturally what they play will be songs you like, because you know the songs from the radio. How many times have you bought a song because you heard it on the radio? It's a feedback loop.

SMS mentioned Starset, and I remember the day I first heard them on the radio. I was in my friend's car; I stopped regularly listening to the radio after graduating high school, but my friend had the radio on as we were going to a greenhouse for a fun outing. I completely lost my **** because I'd been listening to Starset for about a year at this point, generally convinced that my taste in music just isn't stuff most people care about. I live in the city they're from so, I figured maybe it was a local bias thing and they only had one album out at the time, but they actually did end up making it pretty far in their music scene for pioneering what the frontman calls "cinematic rock." It's probably a double edged sword to be considered to be played on the radio, but it's also a rite of passage that like, wow, what a compliment that someone at a radio station heard their music and was like, yes this is something the public will want to hear on their commute.

As far as the bias for 80s and other classics go, a lot of popular songs from that period, particularly rock songs, are feel-good and anthem-ic. And everyone knows them. When I was in middle school, I wasn't very into music, because I hated the modern pop music (which hilariously I will binge on pop music from the late 2000s and early 2010s now with fond nostalgia), but I was super into 70s and 80s music because I knew the music, from being in my mom's car. A lot of people like the sounds of oldies--and even films can be thanked for often bring back resurgences in lesser known, but still popular from the time, 70s and 80s artists and bands. Moreover, there are a lot of modern music movements and genres, such as arena rock like Beast In Black and synthwave like Fury Weekend who isolate particular qualities--especially vocal style and synth quality--80s music in their songs. They're 2010s artists and bands, but their music has that 80s feel.

Tell me this doesn't sound like an 80s song


I'm actually extremely passionate about modern artists though. Not ones that probably would ever find their way onto the radio, but as Hyrulian Hero pointed out, in order for music to be a more personal experience, they probably have to be less popular, because the more "personal" a work of art is, the less it'll resonate with a larger group. But for the few people it does, it's a lot deeper for them. Over the past year alone, I've come across a lot of artists who are pretty new--or are at least have released music in the past year or two--and I love them dearly. Amorphis, Alcest, Avantasia, Caster, Dvizia, The Moth Gatherer, Omiki, The Raven Age, Static Movement, Swallow the Sun... Bandcamp is a great platform to discover artists and bands with passion projects that may otherwise not see much attention but there's a lot of meaningful stuff out there. When I do discover a new artist or band, who has a lot of releases, I'll usually start with their newest stuff, because that'll, one, be more consistent with what to expect of them in the future if I end up liking them, and two, the production quality will likely be better, especially if they're independent and self-made.

The thing is when you think modern music, you probably think a specific type of pop or party music that does get played on the radio. I think the worst thing about this particular style of music is how friggin short the songs are. 2 minutes is not a song; it's a commercial. I have noticed even with bands I've followed for the long time, that lyric writing does get simpler, verses in particular get shorter compared to their early work. But then there's trance music where one or two phrases are just repeated throughout an 8 minute song and that feels extremely profound. I don't know, man. I think it just depends on how people choose to use it, but yeah I really can't stand short songs. I don't bother listening to them a lot of the time because if they're not a transitional or intro track, they're gonna disappoint me if they end up being good because they'll end too fast.

To close, um... no matter your taste in music, please listen to this song by Temperance off their 2018 album, Of Jupiter and Moons. Meaningful modern music still lives.



I was charging up to make this post all day. Time to go back to sleep.
 
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I still enjoy listening to old classic rock et from the 1970s to 1990s.

Today's music is crap. Only artists around are Lady gaga, Adelle and whatever there is for heavy metal bands.
 

Stitch

AKA Patrick
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New music is all over the place. I often hear about new artists all the time without even trying. People just listen to music differently than they used to. The old ways of tracking success aren't very useful for newer artists because they pretty much just aren't being used. The accessibility of music also limits how popular one artist can be, since people just aren't limited to a select few artists that are picked up by labels/radio stations. Really, the music industry is in a very exciting state even with the cons of how things currently work.
 

Dio

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The majority of the population is now old and grew up with this older stuff. Less kids are being had so there are more people from the previous generations than from the newer ones. Music was one of those things that really seemed to mean a lot to the older generations, they didn't have internet or smartphones. Music made such a huge impact on their lives. And I think they play it for the younger generations which is what gets them into the older tracks too.

The current younger generations just aren't as passionate about new music like their parents were. There are a lot more other distractions now. Another contributing factor is because because the algorithms pump out so much of this manufactured muck these days. Musical tracks are now products not performances. They are made by the same companies with the same writers in the same ways. That is why there is so little experimentation or originality.

There are actually few great bangers that are made still. And I'd even say there is probably as many great tracks being made now as ever before but the problem is a lot of it goes under the radar. You don't tend to hear it unless someone specifically tells you. Instead the algorithms push this ear sewage instead. And when it comes down to it that stuff is forgotten in a few months but the older stuff sticks in the mind and people go back to it again and again.
 

Pen

The game is on!
Where do we draw the line between new and old music these days? At the turn of the millennium? Later? Earlier? Regardless, I think it's safe to say that much more old music exists in the world compared to new music, simply because the the "old music" time period is much longer than the "new music" time period (and it only keeps getting longer). But since all that music is still available to us, maybe that makes us more likely to listen to old music, just because there's more of it.

To be honest though, in my experience modern music seems to be more popular than older music. Of course I haven't done any thorough study on it, but that's just how it's seemed to me. I for one generally prefer older music to modern music though. Some of my favourites include Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Queen, David Bowie, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Electric Light Orchestra, Yes, and Supertramp. The 70s just happens to be, without a doubt, the best decade for music in my opinion, but most of the people I meet seem to prefer most modern music. Perhaps my different experience with this is due to my location in northern Europe. Just a thought.

Anyway, even though I generally prefer older music, there are of course still some current artists and bands that I absolutely love. Some examples are Shishamo, Kimbra, Mino, Greta Van Fleet, and Lamp. ^^
 

Dizzi

magical internet cat....
ZD Legend
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Where do we draw the line between new and old music these days? At the turn of the millennium? Later? Earlier? Regardless, I think it's safe to say that much more old music exists in the world compared to new music, simply because the the "old music" time period is much longer than the "new music" time period (and it only keeps getting longer). But since all that music is still available to us, maybe that makes us more likely to listen to old music, just because there's more of it.

To be honest though, in my experience modern music seems to be more popular than older music. Of course I haven't done any thorough study on it, but that's just how it's seemed to me. I for one generally prefer older music to modern music though. Some of my favourites include Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Queen, David Bowie, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Electric Light Orchestra, Yes, and Supertramp. The 70s just happens to be, without a doubt, the best decade for music in my opinion, but most of the people I meet seem to prefer most modern music. Perhaps my different experience with this is due to my location in northern Europe. Just a thought.

Anyway, even though I generally prefer older music, there are of course still some current artists and bands that I absolutely love. Some examples are Shishamo, Kimbra, Mino, Greta Van Fleet, and Lamp. ^^
umm yes is a band or??
 

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