Is Old Music Killing New Music? (1 Viewer)

Optimus Prime

Subscribing Member
VIP Subscribing Member
VIP Contributor
Joined
Jul 18, 1998
Messages
24,900
Reaction score
53,665
Offline
Good article from the Atlantic

I've always preferred older music - 60's and 70s make up 95%+ of what I buy and listen to, and have for 30+ years when I first got into music (and not just listening to the same songs over and over - though I do plenty of that, I'm constantly looking for 60s and 70s songs, albums and artists I haven't heard before, and what draws me to 'new' music is when it sounds like 60s and 70s music
================================

Old songs now represent 70 percent of the U.S. music market, according to the latest numbers from MRC Data, a music-analytics firm. Those who make a living from new music—especially that endangered species known as the working musician—should look at these figures with fear and trembling. But the news gets worse: The new-music market is actually shrinking. All the growth in the market is coming from old songs.

The 200 most popular new tracks now regularly account for less than 5 percent of total streams. That rate was twice as high just three years ago. The mix of songs actually purchased by consumers is even more tilted toward older music. The current list of most-downloaded tracks on iTunes is filled with the names of bands from the previous century, such as Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Police.

I encountered this phenomenon myself recently at a retail store, where the youngster at the cash register was singing along with Sting on “Message in a Bottle” (a hit from 1979) as it blasted on the radio. A few days earlier, I had a similar experience at a local diner, where the entire staff was under 30 but every song was more than 40 years old. I asked my server: “Why are you playing this old music?” She looked at me in surprise before answering: “Oh, I like these songs.”

Never before in history have new tracks attained hit status while generating so little cultural impact. In fact, the audience seems to be embracing the hits of decades past instead. Success was always short-lived in the music business, but now even new songs that become bona fide hits can pass unnoticed by much of the population.

Only songs released in the past 18 months get classified as “new” in the MRC database, so people could conceivably be listening to a lot of two-year-old songs, rather than 60-year-old ones. But I doubt these old playlists consist of songs from the year before last. Even if they did, that fact would still represent a repudiation of the pop-culture industry, which is almost entirely focused on what’s happening right now.

Every week I hear from hundreds of publicists, record labels, band managers, and other professionals who want to hype the newest new thing. Their livelihoods depend on it. The entire business model of the music industry is built on promoting new songs. As a music writer, I’m expected to do the same, as are radio stations, retailers, DJs, nightclub owners, editors, playlist curators, and everyone else with skin in the game. Yet all the evidence indicates that few listeners are paying attention.

Consider the recent reaction when the Grammy Awards were postponed. Perhaps I should say the lack of reaction, because the cultural response was little more than a yawn. I follow thousands of music professionals on social media, and I didn’t encounter a single expression of annoyance or regret that the biggest annual event in new music had been put on hold. That’s ominous.

Can you imagine how angry fans would be if the Super Bowl or NBA Finals were delayed? People would riot in the streets. But the Grammy Awards go missing in action, and hardly anyone notices..............

 
The only way to get decent new music to most folks is via one of the streaming services. Over the air radio in this area is worn-out classic rock, tired old country/suckful new country, or that god-awful Christian music.

My 19 year-old son puts me in touch with some good new stuff, but I put him in touch with lots and lots of old stuff. He’s eating up everything from Rory Gallagher to Joe Bonamassa. Carter’s first LP was Jimi Hendrix Greatest Hits.

I’m wondering if the resurgence in vinyl as a listening media isn’t contributing to the growth of interest is older music.

When I get home ima put on my 40 year-old Dire Straits Love Over Gold LP and listen to it through wired headphones….just like 40 years ago
 
Last edited:
I need to send this article to my wife. She jokes sarcastically about my musical interests, which to say involves nothing new or recent. There are a few exceptions, like Trombone Shorty for example. Otherwise, my playlists are full of Classic Rock, 80's and Alternative 90's music, and 80's/early 90's country. I don't drift very far from those lanes. And I'm killing new music while I'm at it!
 
The only way to get decent new music to most folks is via one of the streaming services. Over the air radio in this area is worn-out classic rock, tired old country/suckful new country, or that god-awful Christian music.

My 19 year-old son puts me in touch with some good new stuff, but I put him in touch with lots and lots of old stuff. He’s eating up everything from Rory Gallagher to Joe Bonamassa. Carter’s first LP was Jimi Hendrix Greatest Hits.

I’m wondering if the resurgence in vinyl as a listening media isn’t contributing to the growth of interest is older music.

When I get home ima put on my 40 year-old Dire Straits Love Over Gold LP and listen to it through wired headphones….just like 40 years ago
God-awful Christian Music is what I love to listen too and have been to many concerts , in fact the last concerts my wife and I and friends have been to were Christian music . . And the worn-out Classic rock and Classic country music are gold ! Sorry , we'll have to agree to disagree . Not trying to start anything , it's all good . "To each his own " .
 
I just read the clip, and it seems to conflate "popular music" with "new music" and while they probably overlap to some extent, they are certainly not equivalent.

Agree - he seems to be talking less about whether there's any good or meaningful new music and talking more about the reduction of the role of new music in popular culture, whereas he sees older songs retaining that role, even with a younger audience.

I think a lot of ^^^^ has to do with the total decentralization and atomization of new music over the last 25 years - coextensive with the age of digital production and distribution. When analog record labels and the radio airplay industry controlled, the scope of new music was much narrower. People listened to largely the same thing depending on which radio format they listened to. This wasn't necessarily bad, there was good music made - but when people are sharing the same experiences it creates lasting cultural bonds that becomes a sort of cultural currency that seems to easily translate to new people even though they were there at the time.

Now, there's just so much music. The technological (and hardware) hurdles to recording music have been obliterated and distribution is now as simple as uploading to a platform. New music is everywhere, all the time. In great quantities and across all genres including new ones that didn't really exist before the digital/internet era apart form some very minor recordings with virtually no distribution.

I love old music, have a pretty extensive knowledge of it (by sort of studying it over the years) and a love for 60s, 70s, and 80s rock and pop was a huge part of how my wife and I bonded so closely - and she listens to old stuff exclusively. But I love new music, I seek it out, I find that I can thrive on it in a way that the old stuff just doesn't deliver. And in fact there is some brain physiology behind that (see link below).

The key is to find sources of new music that suit your tastes. I think the most efficient way to do that is find a publication/website that reviews new music that slants toward your taste, whatever that taste is, there's a music website covering it. Let the professionals do the hard work for you, read weekly reviews of new releases and the ones that sound like they're up your alley, give it a listen. My taste in new music is very indie rock and Americana, I read Pitchfork and Consequence of Sound reviews regularly to find new stuff - but there are so many other avenues.

Of course this is all beside the point of the piece in the OP. To answer the question it raises, I personally don't think that old music is what is keeping new music from reaching the same cultural status as music from past decades. I think it's the nature of how music is made, distributed, and consumed these days that accounts for that - they're apples and oranges. It's not a level playing field.





 
what Chuck says, but i think a major factor in the continuing presence of 'old' music is needle drops on tv shows
it's something that's been in play for movies (GotG is a mixtape with action scenes built around it) and tv for decades but it was something Breaking Bad was particularly noted for
now every showrunner looks for the perfect song that can help move a story along or is the perfect punctuation on a scene

also video games
 
There is not as much great music out there now as there was when the music was more about the instruments....that said everything Steven Wilson and TTB does I'm down for....TTB live is about as good a live show I've ever been too and I've been going to concerts since 1977.....
 
what Chuck says, but i think a major factor in the continuing presence of 'old' music is needle drops on tv shows
it's something that's been in play for movies (GotG is a mixtape with action scenes built around it) and tv for decades but it was something Breaking Bad was particularly noted for
now every showrunner looks for the perfect song that can help move a story along or is the perfect punctuation on a scene

also video games

I think that's true, but it does kind of beg the question of why do they use old music for those things instead of new music? I mean, I guess part of it is that the old music is know so it imparts certain "feelings", but frankly most of the old music used in GotG is not music that I really knew before watching the movies since my musical interest has always been more in the realm of 80s and 90s alternative and punk.

I think I've said this before on here, but I always thought that the ability to distribute music without going through the big record companies and the ability to record music cheap with home computers would lead to amazing diversity, variety, and innovation in music. But most of the new music I hear in the area of indie rock, new alternative, and even hip hop all seems really the same or just very derivative of other music. Admittedly my experience isn't that wide since most of the new music I hear is from my wife playing Alt. Nation and Indie Rock stations on Sirius/XM along with the new music I hear on video games like FIFA, Madden, etc. but I just don't hear the innovation or variety I expected would result.

Maybe it's just because I'm old and don't know where to look for new music, but it all just seems very stale and derivative.
 
Last edited:
Check out Rick Beato on youtube. He can tell you lots of reasons new pop music is generally terrible. BTW, there's definitely good new music. It just doesn't tend to be on the radio or the headphones of teenagers.

He also has some suspect taste in music himself. 🤪

His videos are good though.
 
Old music is art that has stood the test of time. Will the new music pass the same test? Only time will tell.
 
Old music is art that has stood the test of time. Will the new music pass the same test? Only time will tell.
Bach is the greatest composer of all time (I will brook no argument)
People our age probably knew Bach from Firing Line
Today people more than likely ‘find’ Bach from tv shows and movies (or Xmas)
There are TONS of great songs/music that just have not been pulled forward

The quality of music alone is not the reason some last and some don’t (there’s no quality reason Beethoven is present and precious few know Marin Marais)
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Users who are viewing this thread

    Back
    Top Bottom