Is Old Music Killing New Music?

[onomatopoeia]

Is Old Music Killing New Music?

Old songs now represent 70 percent of the U.S. music market. Even worse: The new-music market is actually shrinking.

www.theatlantic.com

When I see a kid wearing a Ramones t-shirt, I tell them that I saw them live in 1979. Reactions have always been positive.

I was fortunate to see many of my favorite bands/ performers when they were at or near their artistic peak, at minimal cost by today's prices for concert tickets. I have little interest in seeing the same artists, now 40 or more years older, playing those same songs at twenty times the ticket price. Rod Stewart singing Do Ya Think I'm Sexy at age 80 is just...wrong.

It's always refreshing when young people don't have the attitude that the world began when they were born.

 

[3wire]

Part of the problem might be that the new stuff is just bad. Not all of it, of course, but most of it. It just hurts my ears.

 

[onomatopoeia]

A few reasons why newer acts have to rely on digital downloads for selling their music, as opposed to the traditional vinyl record or CD format:

There are many fewer stores selling new CDs and other 'hard copy' home entertainment. Older people like to own a physical asset; younger people prefer to subscribe to streaming services, or portable entertainment that can amuse them anywhere on their phone.

I spoke with Chelsea Tyler of Kane Holler, (she's the youngest daughter of Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler), at The Mod Club seven years ago. She said the major hurdle for new acts is that record companies don't want to invest money in the packaging costs for recording artists who do not already have a proven record for physical sales. A CD costs pennies to manufacture. The jewel case/ booklet/ sleeve in which it's stored is much more expensive to manufacture. I bought Kane Holler's 4 song EP at the show, (I think I was the only one who bought any of their merchandise), on the condition that Chelsea sign it for me. She was cool with that.

Almost five years ago, I saw Vanessa Carlton at Longboat Hall - that's the lower bowl concert venue in The Great Hall at Queen Street West and Dundas. Tthe building is a former Templar Lodge, now rented for events; acoustics are excellent. Vanessa sells CDs and T-shirts at concerts, and they are expensive, but about ten minutes after the show, she comes out and personally signs and speaks with anyone who bought tour merchandise, so part of the cost is for that meet and greet opportunity.

I'm not a huge fan of Vanessa's music, but I very much approve of the career path she chose. Most people think of her as a one-hit wonder for her song 2002 song A Thousand Miles. The lead single from her follow-up album was White Houses:

Which only played on MTV a couple of times. The lyrics refer to a young lady losing her virginity, and someone with a bug up their ass complained. Walmart refused to stock the album unless the track was removed. Vanessa refused, her record label did next to nothing to promote the album, and soon dropped her from the label. She now makes Indy music, and earns enough from sales to her hard core fan base that she doesn't need to have a day job. The stories that she tells between songs are almost worth the price of admission to one of her shows. She could have been a big star, but chose to be true to herself instead.

I have a theory that what put Kurt Cobain over the edge was that he caved in to Walmart; he allowed Geffen Records to change the name of the song Rape Me from In Utero to "Waif Me" for copies sold at Walmart, and I think he lost self respect for making that decision.

 

[poker]

Also, with legacy artists selling their catalogs for hundreds and hundreds of millions…. The investors buying the music will flood movie soundtracks and commercials with the old for the residuals. It further squeezes out out opportunities for new artists and new music.

 

[Insidious Von]

I was downtown on Thursday, Tim's was using the north face of Dundas Square to promote Biber nads. That's the problem with current music, it's 110% corporate, someone like Bruce Springsteen or David Byrne would get crushed today. Y2K babies are starved for decent music, all their getting is sugary insipid one note crap.

I introduced this, the raving was infinite!

 

[blueray]

A few reasons why newer acts have ......

Terb has it own Alan Cross....who knew Interesting read.

 

[Fun For All]

Part of the problem might be that the new stuff is just bad. Not all of it, of course, but most of it. It just hurts my ears.

Yes, we need a new wave of music...

 

[mandrill]

Is Old Music Killing New Music?

Old songs now represent 70 percent of the U.S. music market. Even worse: The new-music market is actually shrinking.

www.theatlantic.com

When I see a kid wearing a Ramones t-shirt, I tell them that I saw them live in 1979. Reactions have always been positive.

I was fortunate to see many of my favorite bands/ performers when they were at or near their artistic peak, at minimal cost by today's prices for concert tickets. I have little interest in seeing the same artists, now 40 or more years older, playing those same songs at twenty times the ticket price. Rod Stewart singing Do Ya Think I'm Sexy at age 80 is just...wrong.

It's always refreshing when young people don't have the attitude that the world began when they were born.

LOLOL! - That's like when I told my bratty niece back in the 00's that I saw the Replacements play at a pub venue in London UK in 87. For the first time ever, old Uncle Mandrill was actually cool. (For a few minutes!)

 

[curr3n_c1000]

Always been like that.

When the music industry was destroyed by pirating, The record labels started pushing quick and cheap music for profits.

They know there is a demand for quality music but they don't want to invest.

 

[Sonic Temple]

Terb has it own Alan Cross....who knew Interesting read.

He rocks - love the Cross man (his podcast is brilliant), so insightful. As for new music - I have seen my collection dwindle for the amount of new music I buy. Its a shame, last year the only new artist I purchased was Mammoth WVH and Dirty Honey. Its a pop world for sure - top 40 rule the airwaves.

 

[poker]

He rocks - love the Cross man (his podcast is brilliant), so insightful. As for new music - I have seen my collection dwindle for the amount of new music I buy. Its a shame, last year the only new artist I purchased was Mammoth WVH and Dirty Honey. Its a pop world for sure - top 40 rule the airwaves.

So much easier to download and use a Music program, that take the time to learn an instrument. You can learn to use Garage Band in under an hour. In a few weeks, you can literally put out music as good as what’s on radio.

 

[Ponderling]

Back in the day there were musicians who devotedly honed their craft for like 10,000 hours over a few years.

Now it would take 8-10 years and you would have lost your vibe a dozen times a day every time your smart phone bings.

 

[Mr.Know-It-All]

Nobody can deny that older music is higher quality. The market is speaking loudly. It's no longer a case of "old people hating on the young generation". It's young and old generations in full agreement that most new music is garbage.

 

[billie69]

Part of the problem might be that the new stuff is just bad. Not all of it, of course, but most of it. It just hurts my ears.

I think a lot of stuff also moves in cycles, but a lot of the new stuff is “manufactured” and a lot of people get tired of it.

It’s interesting how you can get tired of some “new” songs after 2-3 weeks but you don’t get tired of hearing some of the “Old” stuff even when it’s 40+ years old!

 

[james t kirk]

The reason that there are no new rock music bands is money. Simple as that. "Back in the day" music was big money and went hand in hand with the big record labels. There was big money to be had and it was always about the new group, the new record, the new sound. Make a record, sell it, everyone makes money.

But the internet changed all of that. Along came this guy Shawn Parker who had this idea of "sharing" MP3 files online. AKA Napster. Kids thought, "this is great, I can get all the music I want "FOR FREE".

Well I suppose "free" was one way of putting it. Some might have been less gracious and labelled it, oh, I don't know, "STEALING" or "THEFT". But young people thought that it was victimless and when you confronted them, they just called you old. Not like you were breaking into someone's house and stealing their jewelry. Well, it just amazes me that young people can be so fucking childish and so selfish to figure it was perfectly OK to "share" (read steal) content. Well, it spelled the end to the record industry. It became impossible for the suits who backed the artists to make a buck, so they all got out of the industry. The sad part is that the artists are the victims in all of this. Gone are the days of record labels fostering new young talent. So no more "next Led Zeppelin" or "next Pink Floyd". No more nothing. It's ironic that young people deprived themselves of having a musical age to call their own. No money = no new bands.

So kids today have picked up on the bands that I grew up with because they don't have a band to call their own. Sure, there's still some new music out there, but it's all crap and it's a shadow of what it could be. You've got the major "pop stars" like Bieber and Drake and Hip Hop artists and such, but none of them are any good. None of them will have any lasting impact nor will their stories be told. They won't be making thought provoking documentaries about Bieber like they do about those four guys from Liverpool. No-one will be making Drake's crap into an opera. Sadly, there won't be another John Lennon, or Roger Waters or Jimmy Page or Bob Dylan. All because someone thought it was perfectly right to steal content.

It's a tragedy actually.

I'm lucky I grew up in the late 70's and 80's and got to enjoy music from the 60's and the 90's to boot. Kids today will never know the excitement and the anticipation that comes with the release of a new album from any number of great musicians.

 

[Mr.Know-It-All]

Not only is this OLD song appropriate for the thread, it is a song that's better than any new music to hit radio stations in all of 2021.

 

[K Douglas]

The reason that there are no new rock music bands is money. Simple as that. "Back in the day" music was big money and went hand in hand with the big record labels. There was big money to be had and it was always about the new group, the new record, the new sound. Make a record, sell it, everyone makes money.

But the internet changed all of that. Along came this guy Shawn Parker who had this idea of "sharing" MP3 files online. AKA Napster. Kids thought, "this is great, I can get all the music I want "FOR FREE".

Well I suppose "free" was one way of putting it. Some might have been less gracious and labelled it, oh, I don't know, "STEALING" or "THEFT". But young people thought that it was victimless and when you confronted them, they just called you old. Not like you were breaking into someone's house and stealing their jewelry. Well, it just amazes me that young people can be so fucking childish and so selfish to figure it was perfectly OK to "share" (read steal) content. Well, it spelled the end to the record industry. It became impossible for the suits who backed the artists to make a buck, so they all got out of the industry. The sad part is that the artists are the victims in all of this. Gone are the days of record labels fostering new young talent. So no more "next Led Zeppelin" or "next Pink Floyd". No more nothing. It's ironic that young people deprived themselves of having a musical age to call their own. No money = no new bands.

So kids today have picked up on the bands that I grew up with because they don't have a band to call their own. Sure, there's still some new music out there, but it's all crap and it's a shadow of what it could be. You've got the major "pop stars" like Bieber and Drake and Hip Hop artists and such, but none of them are any good. None of them will have any lasting impact nor will their stories be told. They won't be making thought provoking documentaries about Bieber like they do about those four guys from Liverpool. No-one will be making Drake's crap into an opera. Sadly, there won't be another John Lennon, or Roger Waters or Jimmy Page or Bob Dylan. All because someone thought it was perfectly right to steal content.

It's a tragedy actually.

I'm lucky I grew up in the late 70's and 80's and got to enjoy music from the 60's and the 90's to boot. Kids today will never know the excitement and the anticipation that comes with the release of a new album from any number of great musicians.

Musicians today on average make more than their counterparts back in the 1970's-1990's. Just look at the cost of a concert ticket.
The difference back then was that musicians did their thing because they were passionate about music. The money was just a bonus.
For today's musicians its the other way around. Quantity over quality.

 

[eddie kerr]

As a

I think a lot of stuff also moves in cycles, but a lot of the new stuff is “manufactured” and a lot of people get tired of it.

It’s interesting how you can get tired of some “new” songs after 2-3 weeks but you don’t get tired of hearing some of the “Old” stuff even when it’s 40+ years old!

As an old music lover going back as far as 60 years, most songs back in the day were popular because of the lyrics and also the backdrop sound of the guitar be it accoustic or electric. I find that songs today, and there are some that are very good, are all about the accompanying videos first and lyrics are the background. Just an evolution? I don't know, but I am glad I still have a library of music consisting of cassettes, cds, albums going back to the 1950s.

 

[onomatopoeia]

There are a limited number of chord sequences which are both memorable and pleasant to the ear. By now, most of them have been discovered or co-opted in one song or another by someone. This is one of the main points in the The Atlantic link in post #1.

The first time I heard of a pliagiarism lawsuit in pop/ rock music was The My Sweet Lord Copyright infrigement suit in 1971. Petty much ALL of the good riffs have been used by someone by now, and new ones that are good are often too close in structure to existing ones that entertainment lawyers can smell a money-making opportunity.

I can't name a GREAT guitarist born after the 1970's, and those born after the 60's are fairly rare.

Rock music as a force in NEW music is a bit player. Few of the seniors bands still gigging are creating New music with any chart presence. There were never a lot of Rock acts who produced enduringly popular songs after the songwriters attained age 35. If the membership in these bands is still alive and playing live, it's their old tunes that the crowd is paying to see. I for one would rather listen to the old tracks, or watch a DVD of an old performance than pay hundreds of dollars to see sexagenarians perform fifty year old tunes with one or two 'real' band members and some side men.

I also don't consider a live performance to be a Rock concert if the name performer has back up dancers on stage.

 

[shack]

I can't name a GREAT guitarist born after the 1970's, and those born after the 60's are fairly rare.

I can think of 2.

I imagine that you've heard of Derek Trucks, nephew of Allman Bros. drummer Butch Trucks. 1979. He's been widely acclaimed as the best young guitar player for at least a decade.

Currently giving him a run for his money and who you may not have heard of is Cary Clark Jr., from Texas, 1984. I'd say that these guys are 1 and 1A.

Please indulge me and give a listen. I'm pretty sure that you'll approve. In Bright Lights he starts kicking it in at about the 2:50 mark but the whole song is worth listening to.

And this song probably highlights his talents even better. He's got fingers that look like Jimi's. The camera focusses in on his fretwork. Absolute classic blues song. I recommend listening to the whole song but if you don't have the time he does two solos, the second one kills and starts at about 6:45. Would love to hear your feedback.

Oh. And how could I forget JoBo, Joe Bonamassa, 1977. The solo starts at around 5:00