Popular Music Trends

[Bob Womack]

Here is an interesting, and miraculously short, video from Rick Beato on current trends in popular music. If you write, you probably want to hear this stuff because it shows a change in trends for what is popular in instrumentation, song length, etc.



And yes, I know it is Rick Beato. The info is good here.

Bob

[RedJoker]

That's fascinating! Thanks for sharing.

[joe white]

That was the best news I have heard in years! LOL. Seriously though, that was really interesting.

[rokdog49]

The elephant in the room is that “country” has absorbed elements of multiple genres to include hip hop, pop, rock, electronica, folk and even R & B.
Since it is an almagamation of many elements, it has become a diluted genre’ that has very little to do with its true origins in a lot of cases.
I recognize that cross-overs have always existed, but the disproportionate share of “country” today is a mass-appealing blend of mush that covers many bases.
That is definitely intentional and would explain the rise in popularity.

[Keith Lee]

Others not mentioned

Bluegrass
Blues
Jazz
Instrumentals

[The Watchman]

It's all pop, isn't it? I dont know how they separate the categories.

But one factor I think has something to do with trends is demographics. The native born population under 20 has been shrinking for a few decades, in real numbers, not percentages. And so the audience is changing too.

[JonPR]

If I was interested in this kind of thing (and I am, a little) I would not be checking out Beato's report on the research (opinionated or not), I would be checking out the research itself.

[FrankHudson]

I'd kind of noticed this along with the rise in "country" over the past few years, even though I barely follow popular music trends. I don't follow this genre closely, but my impression is that it (like rap) has a lot of lyric songwriting that helps the audience relate to their lives, sometimes by making provocative points.

The TicTok short format think I was aware of. Weirdly even though I'm far from a pop music composer, I've been focusing on shorter performances. That part of Beato's summary was intensely interesting, as I still hear a lot 4-6 minute songs from contemporary semi-pop or genre-popular records that I think of as 3 minute songs expanded due to lack of deciding on the best verses or an apparent desire to sell the chorus as more significant than it is through repetition. I often aim to work on a sub-3-minute canvas myself, and find it odd that I seem to be a trend follower.

The overall trend concern here is that we may be culturally in a "Short Attention Span" moment, and the consumption of music on streaming or social media sites intensifies that movement.

[frankmcr]

The overall trend concern here is that we may be culturally in a "Short Attention Span" moment, and the consumption of music on streaming or social media sites intensifies that movement.

One of the things Beato points out is that many great songs of the late 60s/early 70s were less than 3 minutes. Masterpieces like "In My Life".

[ghostnote]

I’m at the dentist, so I’ll watch the vid later. But I do want to say that the songs I write are not for publication, they’re for me mostly - I’d have a hard time putting them into any category, except in a very general sense. I’d bet that a lot of folks here write that way, also. Once you understand that you can do whatever you want as long as it makes some kind of musical sense, it’s very freeing.

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by frankmcr

One of the things Beato points out is that many great songs of the late 60s/early 70s were less than 3 minutes. Masterpieces like "In My Life".

Yes. The highlight of Beato's video was pointing that out. Myself? my Parlando Project deals with literary poetry. That Project believes one can make an effective statement in a compressed form. The length differences between a poem and novel or full-length play are greater than anything we experience in musical forms!

A lot of the Short Attention Span stuff out there isn't looking for intense attention that some poems invite/need however. Short-form social media is largely about the ongoing scrolling time-line and the brief flash of entertainment before moving on to the next.

Beyond that, there's a thing I worry about the culture missing: that it may take a minimum length of musical expression to achieve certain effects. There are things that you likely can't elicit with a sub-3-minute composition. I am talking about "instrumental" music, or music with long instrumental passages in that regard.

[Silly Moustache]

Being half past ancient, the genres don't mean much to me -fr'instance "country" - how is that defined now? Is it "real" country music or . like, Nashville Rock in hats?

I've just looked at the top 40 for the UK I have heard of two of the 40 artists - Sophie Ellis-Bextor - with a re-issue of her 2001 hit (??) and Taylor Swift - I've heard of her but have not heard her music.

Apart from that .... nutt'n much - I guess I'm typical of people whose musical preferences stop at a certain age - for me ? Prolly age 30-40.

thinks ..... how do they have a top ten/twenty/thirty now - I mean does anybody actually buy singles ?

[davidbeinct]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

The elephant in the room is that “country” has absorbed elements of multiple genres to include hip hop, pop, rock, electronica, folk and even R & B.
Since it is an almagamation of many elements, it has become a diluted genre’ that has very little to do with its true origins in a lot of cases.
I recognize that cross-overs have always existed, but the disproportionate share of “country” today is a mass-appealing blend of mush that covers many bases.
That is definitely intentional and would explain the rise in popularity.

The first drum kit to make it into a Nashville studio was probably greeted with a “this isn’t real country” attitude. All American music has always had cross pollination. Louis Armstrong played with Jimmie Rodgers.

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by davidbeinct

The first drum kit to make it into a Nashville studio was probably greeted with a “this isn’t real country” attitude. All American music has always had cross pollination. Louis Armstrong played with Jimmie Rodgers.

Jimmie Rodgers' anglo-celtic inflected voice singing country blues songs interspersed with Swiss yodels while strumming a (Portuguese-derived) Hawaiian ukulele accompanied by jazz trumpet. Got yer Fusion Music right here, folks!

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by davidbeinct

The first drum kit to make it into a Nashville studio was probably greeted with a “this isn’t real country” attitude. All American music has always had cross pollination. Louis Armstrong played with Jimmie Rodgers.

Respectfully, I think that is a classic example of the "Bald Man" arguement - that there really isn't any difference between a bald man and a man wth a full head of hair except numbers. There really has been a shift in what is called "country" and even country artist are now referring to something thy call "classic country."

But back to the thread subject, the shorter songs have always been a fascinating study to me. The Allman Brothers expressed their thoughts in six to thirty minute blocks but there was, at the same time, a stream of music that was being written for three to three and a half minutes. Quote Billy Joel:

I am the entertainer
I come to do my show
You heard my latest record
It's been on the radio
Ah, it took me years to write it
They were the best years of my life
It was a beautiful song but it ran too long
If you're gonna have a hit you gotta make it fit
So they cut it down to 3:05

But think of what was said in those minutes!

2:04 with ring out.


3:13


3:55


3:29

Not a wasted note.

Bob