is old music killing new music?

[phydaux]

Originally Posted by cu4life7

from my view the Music Industry is killing new music

Great point. But today angry teenagers have so many avenues for self publishing and self promoting. If they want to be heard then they can be.

And other kids will convert the YouTube videos into mp3s and the artists will never see a dime. But that’s what touring is for.

[Kyle215]

Originally Posted by bfm612

Also, older bands over the past several years have been (let's admit it) cashing in on the X-year anniversary of their seminal album's release. Jawbreaker has been touring "Dear You", (re)introducing younger people to their excellent work. Older artists with an existing and nostalgic audience are playing a part in it, too, and I'd be lying if I said I'm not at least partially enjoying that.

Yeah, I’ve got no beef with that either… as long as bands can keep making money on their catalog, they should definitely have at it. Sort of the flip side of that is Billy Stings toured for like 2 years on the first LP and played 2-3 hours a night with mostly trad stuff & extended jams with some originals mixed in, which is great because they made bluegrass cool again and turned a new generation on to all that older stuff. And then he(they) put out two new records in pretty quick succession once they were established.

[rampix]

I noticed this phenomena a couple years ago at my local Ace Hardware. A Fleetwood Mac song was on the PA and the college age clerk was looking out the back doors and singing along word for word. She didn’t notice me approaching from behind her so I started singing the harmony along with her. She turned around and saw this old guy singing with her and broke into a big smile. We chatted about how we both liked this music and she told me she and her friends played classic rock tunes because they didn’t like the current music. When I mentioned I’d gone to high school with Stevie and Lyndsey she seemed almost awe struck due to being such a fan.

I got home and told my wife about the experience. Her response was something along the lines of “no, you can't play and sing with college girls”. Oh well, rock stardom slips out of sight again. 😎

[phydaux]

As part of my checkered & meandering professional career, not too long ago I found myself working at a group home for adolescent boys in DYS custody.

One morning I can across a group of boys huddled around a boom box. I asked them what was up.

"We're just listening to a new CD Billy got. It's awesome!"

Really? Who is the band?"

"They're called The Doors."

I then watch these kids oooo & ahhh while listening to a singer who was already dead when I was their age.

[fitness1]

Well, us kids of the 60's and 70's really DID have the best music, you know!

I think the incredible growth of Youtube has allowed people to access what they like more easily. We used to have to wait to hear what came next on the radio, or see what new album our neighborhood friends bought.

Now, you can find something you enjoy, and the sidebar on Youtube will pop up 10 other related things instantly - you can spend all day going down a rabbit hole of just ONE artist, let alone related artists.

It's also obviously having an effect on all these young kids who are playing so incredibly well at a very young age. Tons of tutorial videos and simply exposing themselves to different styles and SEEING how their instrument is played.

We used to actually have to go to concerts to get that experience.

My guess is the increased exposure is leading people back to when it was actually MUSIC, and not electronic jibber-jabber.....and thankfully they are liking it!

It's a brave new world, and yet, the times they are still a-changin

[godfreydaniel]

Originally Posted by cu4life7

This was a good read, but from my view the Music Industry is killing new music. There is so much good music being made today, but we are left to our own devices to find it because it isn't being made or promoted by the Industries at large that are in control of everything.

Just like the Movie industry has given up on original for the low hanging fruit of a proven forumula/algorithm for a successful movie (marvel, existing IP, sequels), the music industry has subscribed to the formulaic and algorithm based decision making that in the end creates some plastic homogenous blob of forgettable and irrelevant garbage that comes and goes without making a stamp in peoples minds or hearts. It in no way differentiates itself. There is zero percent chance that today's generation of young people will talk in reverence to their children and grandchildren about a song by The Weekend or Doja Cat or whoever like it's a classic that has any form of staying power because it doesn't have any unique characteristics that make it stand out from the rest of the blob. It's all here today and then gone.

I could go on, but the A&R people in the industry need to do some freaking homework and do their jobs. Instead they watch tik tok all day about hope some fleeting trend falls into their lap a blips the radar for a few weeks, they should open their eyes to the amazing talent producing great music. That's what people will remember.

I think this is the primary problem.

There was an article in the NY Times about new music formats that mentioned that a lot of new songs are designed with things like TikTok in mind.

I thought it was silly that the Atlantic article mentioned a problem with record stores - what record stores? I only know of used record stores. And how would a record store be a point of distribution? Vinyl may be making a comeback, but I can’t imagine there’s enough business there to pay the rent on a brick and mortar store.

I think most of the music by today’s “major” artists is really dull, and it all sounds like it was made on some “producers” laptop.

I still hear some good new music on college radio stations, but it doesn’t fit the formula of what the music industry thinks will sell.

When seeing my 20-something dental hygienist, she listens to a streaming site that plays old stuff mostly from the 60s and 70s - and she can sing along to most of the songs!

[valleyguy]

Originally Posted by rampix

I got home and told my wife about the experience. Her response was something along the lines of “no, you can't play and sing with college girls”. Oh well, rock stardom slips out of sight again. 😎

Now that is funny....

[KalamazooGuy]

As someone entering middle age, I can honestly say I don’t care much for new music that I am exposed to. It will take the rest of my days to discover everything I need to from the past. Getting into bluegrass is the best thing I can think of for me in the last few years. Except for maybe having kids [emoji4]

[RLetson]

Gioia's problem is not with the making of new music but with how it fits into a marketplace. This is not a trivial problem for a musician hoping to make a living from music (whether making-new or just performing), but music will keep being made whatever the increasingly concentrated business environment gets up to.

Dog-breeders serve a market of human dog-owners. Dogs outside that environment, in the meantime, continue to breed among themselves--and to find humans who will adopt them. (Which doesn't mean we shouldn't shut down puppy farms or fail to support our humane societies or hesitate to take in strays.)

[bufflehead]

Originally Posted by godfreydaniel

When seeing my 20-something dental hygienist, she listens to a streaming site that plays old stuff mostly from the 60s and 70s - and she can sing along to most of the songs!

I had a similar situation while driving a van full of college kids to a field site. My TA put CSNY's Four Way Street into the CD player, and every student sang along with "Teach Your Children Well."

A great moment to be a professor.

[KevWind]

Besides the dubious notion in the article of 2021 being "new music" and 2020 being "old music"

I would agree there has been a downturn in music appreciation BUT it is not all that "New"
And assigning blame to one single factor is bit tunnel visioned

I think it has been a gathering storm of often seemingly unrelated cultural and economic influences ..

This is my take: no doubt there are more than this list BUT

First it may well have started with the music industry itself and the amazing success (and money generated) in the 60's -90's (due in no small part to the Baby Boomers who because of shear numbers, became a huge force of music buying consumers) This Big money situation started a trend of the major Record Labels being bought up by corporate interests

In 1979 Sony Walkman sprung up ( which ushered in the trend towards convenience and portability, over sound quality)

Then the digital age , CD's in 1982, and the internet became available for home use ... But what should been a boon to the music industry by 1999 and the and infamous Napster ( the first illegal download site) became an uncontrollable monster for the music industry .

As noted the industry had become a corporate quagmire and dug in and did not quickly or effectively address the digital age. And out of fear and tightening budgets, has become even more entrenched in formulaic approach to music production and distribution ..

And there was a growing notion among young consumers who should have continued to be the driving economic force in the music industry that music should be free (because it was through unauthorized downloading ) and there were so many more new entertainment options for youth like Video games etc. and so the importance or music became more diluted in the general young population.

I could go on but you get the gist .

[imwjl]

This is really just a reminder to be aware of cognitive biases and what Hans Rosling RIP described as gapminder problems.

Look at the data. The big music catalogs keep growing with new music. If you only know your little circle on the big map, or if you make judgments based on two points in time without knowing what's between them you are just out of it.

[SingingSparrow]

reads a tad fallacious, no?

this dichotomy that compartmentalizes old music and new music is perhaps more imaginative than real. and perhaps always has been so. music as it is popularly understood by human society has a momentum. it engines itself and plots its own evolution around social phenomena. as expected, even today i see newer artists mimicking older artists, trying to make some of that momentum their own - as has always been the case and is perhaps the only path available.

it is not so much that events change. life in general is pretty cyclical and recurrence is a reliable phenomenon. perhaps it is more so that changes are interpreted differently by society at different stages of the human experience. which, frankly, renders all this navel gazing kinda pointless because none of it is really looking at the big picture, and once one does look at the big picture perhaps one realizes there really is nothing to talk about here... (the world turns. bfd. what can really be said about constancy?)

perhaps what is more relevant here isn't the dichotomy between old and new music, but the delivery and consumption of art, period, in a digital age (which has consequences as already touched upon in this thread) - this new arena that is at once liberating and limiting but has surely ushered us into a new direction of ease in consumption and expression. i wonder, are we decommercializing art without decommoditizing it. is this old phenomena in a new wrapper (more than likely)... it is very interesting (to me.) but of course, it is always too early in the process to make conclusions (and therefore any dialogue is unreliable and is likely rendered as pure entertainment primarily) and perhaps it is best to decide where one is without actually coming to any conclusions. a difficult thing. anyway. thanks for the dialogue. cool to hear everyone's thoughts. cheers.

[birdsong]

I've had similar experiences as others here have posted. I mentor teens and readily admit my "audience" is quite limited and a bit skewed. But their musical tastes mirror many comments here.

Years ago I had these 3 gals: 14 and 16. We got into the music discussion and when it came to me playing guitar they asked that we work up some songs. Nervously I said "Sure". What a fascinating mix they chose.

I'll Fly Away. Then over to an Avett Brothers song ("we love the Avett Bros, and the Nickel Creek stuff...."). Then a Nat King Cole song - one of the gals said "I love NKC!". I asked "how can this be?" and she simply replied "The Internet. Duh". Of course, silly me.

I said "ok then let's try this" and showed them Blue Moon. Within an hour they had the harmonies worked out and off we went.

Then, over to one from a French-Canadian group called Moriarty. A song folks affectionately call "the Buffalo Song". And again one hour later and we have a decent version of our own. I don't know why I bothered to ask again - "where do you find this stuff?". ha ha. As pointed out, they like to browse YouTube and then follow the suggestions.

At one point I asked "So of all this music does anything really stand out for you?". "Classic Rock!". Then the 3 of them proceeded to debate the merits of Fleetwood Mac, and knew more about the group than I did (and I like FM).

My last example: I'm driving them back to our home town - a hour drive and one gal is up front. I put a CD in the player (we have older vehicles at work) and it's a Joan Baez CD from about 20 years ago. After 2 songs she wants to know who it is, commenting that "This is great stuff.......". She hadn't yet discovered Joan Baez but would be going online after we got home to check out more of her stuff.........

Over the years the next dozen kids had similar musical meanderings. They're finding the older stuff, thanks to the Internet, and they appreciate it. They find newer stuff and seem quite good at evaluating it.......

[RP]

Is anyone bemoaning the fact that classical music fans still listen to Beethoven, Brahams, Tchaikovsky and the like? The music of the 1960s-1980s was great, and it's clearly standing the test of time. As long as I've got tunes from my earlier days to fuel my musical needs, I feel no need to try to keep up with new music...