is old music killing new music?

[RP]

Originally Posted by jpd

...The lack of so called, "quality" new music is a myth. The lack of complete absorption with music is the real change. Another great class of songsters with good promotion is just around the corner.

No doubt, and for the record, I don't believe that I've ever dissed the "new music." Music from the 60s-80s offers me what I want to hear between my own music collection and Sirius radio, and so I don't feel any need to explore in the same way that my need to go to the beach is amply satisfied by 4-5 day trips to Virginia Beach in the off-season. As a result, I don't feel the need to check out other oceanfront destinations...

[robj144]

There will ALWAYS be people who make good music. That's all I care about. Perhaps good music is not accessible as it was 20 years ago. But, I can find it whenever I want to find it. I don't care about what the industry is doing at all.

[robj144]

Originally Posted by RP

No doubt, and for the record, I don't believe that I've ever dissed the "new music." Music from the 60s-80s offers me what I want to hear between my own music collection and Sirius radio, and so I don't feel any need to explore in the same way that my need to go to the beach is amply satisfied by 4-5 day trips to Virginia Beach in the off-season. As a result, I don't feel the need to check out other oceanfront destinations...

But you might find a different beach you like very much if you checkout other oceanfront destinations.

Maybe it's just me, but I love to discover good music as much as I like to listen to music I already know that I like.

[czgunner]

Originally Posted by phydaux

I haven't read the article but GOD, I hope so.



It's totally normal for people my age to abhor modern music and cling nostalgically to older music, but IMO modern pop music is UTTER TRASH. Let's all hope some angry teenagers rediscover blues-rooted rock and roll.

Ha! You're being too kind. The only modern stuff I can tolerate isn't main stream and sounds like the "old" stuff.

[rmp]

Originally Posted by robj144

There will ALWAYS be people who make good music. That's all I care about. Perhaps good music is not accessible as it was 20 years ago. But, I can find it whenever I want to find it. I don't care about what the industry is doing at all.

I think you have to "look" for it

The stuff that's being fed to the unwashed masses, is mostly rubbish.

[robj144]

Originally Posted by rmp

I think you have to "look" for it

The stuff that's being fed to the unwashed masses, is mostly rubbish.

Yes, but it's very easy to find. I find new stuff whenever I want to look. It's actually easier than "waiting" for new material to be randomly played on the radio.

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by SingingSparrow

heck yeah, robotically advised musical journeys are the best! the spotify ai is pretty darn good. much better than google play and apple music ime.

so much great music out there - i'm consistently finding reason to stay enthused!

Originally Posted by RP

One of my favorite movie quotes is from The Big Chill. Kevin Kline is choosing a record for the turntable, and Jeff Goldblum, a hipster writer for People magazine, asks if he doesn't have any newer music. He goes on to say, that there's been a lot of great music since the 60s. Kline's character flatly says, "Oh yeh. Like what?" Of course keep in mind that The Big Chill was released in 1983...

@SingingSparrow nailed it but Apple is a much better company for some important measures including how much more they pay musicians than Spotify and some other measures important to me.

@RP I understand you are happy and set. I only brought it up because I've had SO much fun purposely seeking things new both in general and in some case just new to me.

I urge everyone who's not tried to do so. You can get trial accounts or just pay for a service for a month.

Here's another reason to try something new. I love what is known as Dolby Atmos or spatial audio. I confess some remixes of old music that way are not really new. I also confess not fully knowing how they get that extra height channel working with earbuds or headphones but it's neat stuff. If anyone here doesn't have Apple platform, the new Beats Fit Pro bring the spatial audio to other platforms via an app as Sony and Microsoft have done. The tone, fit and comfort are spectacular.

[bfm612]

Originally Posted by rmp

I think you have to "look" for it

The stuff that's being fed to the unwashed masses, is mostly rubbish.

When you say you have to look for good new music, I think that people also have to look for bad old music. If you take a peek at the Billboard Hot 100 from 1968, sure "Hey Jude" is at the top, but that list is also filled with a lot of forgettable songs. It's possible we think an era only produced gems because we only remember and choose to listen only to those gems because they're the gems. It's similar to critics who think old Hollywood only produced classics. People forget that each decade produced a lot of movies that are complete garbage, too.

[SingingSparrow]

Originally Posted by RP

One of my favorite movie quotes is from The Big Chill. Kevin Kline is choosing a record for the turntable, and Jeff Goldblum, a hipster writer for People magazine, asks if he doesn't have any newer music. He goes on to say, that there's been a lot of great music since the 60s. Kline's character flatly says, "Oh yeh. Like what?" Of course keep in mind that The Big Chill was released in 1983...

wonder what kevin kline's character would say about --

(clever girl's "no drum and bass in the jazz room" is one of my favorite albums of all time)



(the redneck manifesto are so freaking creative)



(how to count 1 to 10 - mellow tunes)



(typical toe)



(redneck manifesto again, i love so many of their tunes!)



i don't see any difference in listening to the above than, say, fernando sor or, heck, leo kottke. i am moved similarly by each of them. hell, polyphia does that crazy guitar stuff that gets me going every time i hear it even if i can't really listen to much of them in a go --



and this is just one genre. here is some "old school" new stuff:

LOVE this guy--



here's another




joan shelley with good old nathan salsburg, LOVE these two



i am more of the mind to listen to new things like xerxes and nathan salsburg, but the math rock stuff (so "out there" for me - although i listen to redneck manifesto a lot and consider them more "creatively homey" and familiar) is a (popularly) new interpretation of an old thing, which is how things tend to go innit and maintains momentum of a thing that is always in motion.

Originally Posted by imwjl

@SingingSparrow nailed it but Apple is a much better company for some important measures including how much more they pay musicians than Spotify and some other measures important to me.

oh yes - no doubt. a different matter, tho perhaps - but, yes, something that is important to me as well. thank you for bringing this up.

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by rmp

I think you have to "look" for it

The stuff that's being fed to the unwashed masses, is mostly rubbish.

This is it in a nutshell, and its not a new thing either. I'd say its been like that since the late 90's at least.

So heres my own theory on it... with the advent of online streaming the profit margins went way down for the music industry, therefore they started taking less risks and stick to putting out music that sounds like other music that has made money. So to find good music you need to go less mainstream, as anything coming down those pipes is getting heavily filtered by analysts and bean counters.

But wait... now that physical album sales are a thing of the past, the underground/ independant scene has no clout. Selling albums and T shirts at the shows was basically what kept an up-and-coming band fed while they were on tour a couple decades back. Now I'm not sure how underground bands even tour without going broke, and with the ever shrinking profit margins there are less independant lables to back these guys up and help them get any exposure. So now thats getting harder too...

So basically, for creative music to continue to exist as anything besides B grade U-tube performances, we need to be willing to spend good money on physical albums. If one isnt willing to purchase albums at a price that can support a healthy music industry, then one really shouldnt be complaining about the state of music.

[rllink]

Is the "Music Industry" even relevant anymore? Most of us older folks are still depending on the music industry to feed us and that's all they have. We are keeping them alive. New music did an end run a while ago and left the music industry behind. I think the music industry is struggling and and as we older listeners die off, so goes the music industry.

It is the same thing with publishing.

[RP]

Originally Posted by robj144

But you might find a different beach you like very much if you checkout other oceanfront destinations.

Maybe it's just me, but I love to discover good music as much as I like to listen to music I already know that I like.

I might or might not. Maybe it's the part of me that my long-term lady friend swears that lands squarely on the autism spectrum. I'm the same way with restaurants - once I find one(s) I like, I return there. She likes trying out new places which inevitably disappoint her. Go figure...

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by rllink

Is the "Music Industry" even relevant anymore? Most of us older folks are still depending on the music industry to feed us and that's all they have. We are keeping them alive. New music did an end run a while ago and left the music industry behind. I think the music industry is struggling and and as we older listeners die off, so goes the music industry.

It is the same thing with publishing.

Maybe you/we have to look at it (the traditional music industry and publishing) like Buick. Buick still lives but is mostly an unappealing if not just a pathetic joke if compared to the early and middle years.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by SingingSparrow

(i am hanging out on the computer whilst waiting for an appt so pardon all the talking.)

i appreciate this post. one thing i would say is that the ai, in my experience, does not really "choose what i already know," rather provides exposure to music that the ai has deemed as similar. so while there is a narrowness in that exposure, it is not as narrow as i understood from what was stated. and has, in my mind anyway, exposed me to entirely new genres as well (it is how i found math rock - from basically a blues based journey that led me to Papa M and Slint, which opened the doors to bands like toe, clever girl, don cab, etc.) nevertheless, i appreciated and resonated with what you said. thank you.

These are excellent points.

Something that I also think is worth considering: Sturgeon's Law, that 90% of everything is crap.

I bring Sturgeon's Law up because when I was young listening to music, I concluded the same thing. 90% of the music then wasn't very good, either. So it's no surprise that 90% of today's music "is rubbish." By definition, that's pretty consistent with the past.

Still, if you go back through thousands of works of music from the 1930s to the present day, you can come up with a pile of gems from the 10% that has stood the test of time.

If present day music is compared to all that music over the last 90 years it's kind of a tough test to pass for the new guys. It's hardly fair. At the same time, if 10% of today's music is going to pass the test of time, then some of it is certainly worthy. And how are we to know if we don't allow ourselves exposure to it?

I'm 73 years old, soon to be 74, but I have always been willing to listen to new music. I have a fairly high bypass filter for what I listen to more than once, but there is bound to be some of today's music that will last out to 50 years from now.

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

I think it's worth noting that the Atlantic article is written by a guy who has been making a living in the music business. Most of us are simply music consumers. Most of us are not trying to make our living in the music business.

So the perspective of the author matters in the context of the article.

- Glenn