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Music just isn't good anymore
(mander.xyz)
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The music industry, such as it is today, is nothing. It was getting super fucked in the 80s, had a last gasp in the 90s and now it’s nothing.
The former pipeline of label to radio to charts is dead. Whats left is a necrotic accounting and marketing mechanism driven by algorithms and viral splashes.
Things have changed but the music industry is very much alive. The barrier to entry dropped significantly with the advent of the internet which definitely affected the established companies but they don't represent the industry. The artists do.
There's more independent labels than ever and live music hasn't changed significantly (minus the feed for "major" venues). I'd even go as far as to say the music industry is better than it's ever been.
I’m sure that’s true in many respects, but from the standpoint of putting content in front of . . uh . . earballs, that pipeline that used to exist for almost every adult person (in the US anyway) is dead.
Spotify and Youtube are two possibilities, both pay almost nothing and require lots of sandbagging to get a foothold.
Any new music I accidentally come across is more often than not a style I’m not into, and/or it sounds like everything else.
I've made a similar "rant" before on this in the hopes to change someone's mind so I'll give you the shortened version. And I don't mean this negatively, I mean it as encouragement!:
Music can be an active or passive hobby. Most people fit the latter category and the older you go, the more it skews that way. Adults have a lot less time to experiment and if you aren't actively seeking out new music, you can fall into the trap of "they don't make it like they used to"
But they do! It's out there! You're just less likely to stumble upon it because not only do you lack the time, the people around you are in the same boat. We've also heard a LOT of music since our teens so fewer songs feel fresh. There's no such thing as "derivative" if you've never heard the original!
I'm an active hobbyist who listens to 20+ hours of music I've never heard before on a weekly basis and can guarantee that music in pretty much every single genre is still around.
So I would encourage you to spend a couple hours exploring some time. Even if it's just googling "modern bands like [old band] reddit" and seeing what the music hobbyists have to say, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Meanwhile I am the kind of weirdo who can listen to the same song on loop for a very long time. Or something like same set of 5 songs.
For example, currently I am listening to Flames by David Guetta. I've heard it in the background of some TV show, and liked it.
Right now, it's been playing on loop for the past half an hour.
I usually do this when I add songs to my library. Based on file timestamps, I've been listening to this song on my phone, my laptop, and while brushing teeth again and again since February 14th.
Not non-stop, of course, but really damn often.
Until I start to dislike it, move on to a different song, rinse and repeat.