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Is old music killing new music?

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.
By Ted Gioia

About the author: Ted Gioia writes the music and popular-culture newsletter The Honest Broker on Substack. He is also the author of 11 books, including, most recently, Music: A Subversive History.

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 ominou

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 notice

The declining TV audience for the Grammy show underscores this shift. In 2021, viewership for the ceremony collapsed 53 percent from the previous year—from 18.7 million to 8.8 million. It was the least-watched Grammy broadcast of all time. Even the core audience for new music couldn’t be bothered—about 98 percent of people ages 18 to 49 had something better to do than watch the biggest music celebration of the yea

A decade ago, 40 million people watched the Grammy Awards. That’s a meaningful audience, but now the devoted fans of this event are starting to resemble a tiny subculture. More people pay attention to streams of video games on Twitch (which now gets 30 million daily visitors) or the latest reality-TV show. In fact, musicians would probably do better getting placement in Fortnite than signing a record deal in 2022. At least they would have access to a growing demographiphic.

Some would like to believe that this trend is just a short-term blip, perhaps caused by the pandemic. When clubs open up again, and DJs start spinning new records at parties, the world will return to normal, or so we’re told. The hottest songs will again be the newest songs. I’m not so optimistic.

Read: Why aren’t there more women working in audio?

A series of unfortunate events are conspiring to marginalize new music. The pandemic is one of these ugly facts, but hardly the only contributor to the growing crisis.

Consider these other trends:

The leading area of investment in the music business is old songs. Investment firms are getting into bidding wars to buy publishing catalogs from aging rock and pop stars.
The song catalogs in most demand are by musicians who are in their 70s or 80s (Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen) or already dead (David Bowie, James Brown).
Even major record labels are participating in the rush to old music: Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music, and others are buying up publishing catalogs and investing huge sums in old tunes. In a previous time, that money would have been used to launch new artists.
The best-selling physical format in music is the vinyl LP, which is more than 70 years old. I’ve seen no signs that the record labels are investing in a newer, better alternative—because, here too, old is viewed as superior to new.
In fact, record labels—once a source of innovation in consumer products—don’t spend any money on research and development to revitalize their business, although every other industry looks to innovation for growth and consumer excitement.
Record stores are caught up in the same time warp. In an earlier era, they aggressively marketed new music, but now they make more money from vinyl reissues and used LPs.
Radio stations are contributing to the stagnation, putting fewer new songs into their rotation, or—judging by the offerings on my satellite-radio lineup—completely ignoring new music in favor of old hits.
When a new song overcomes these obstacles and actually becomes a hit, the risk of copyright lawsuits is greater than ever before. The risks have increased enormously since the “Blurred Lines” jury decision of 2015, and the result is that additional cash gets transferred from today’s musicians to old (or deceased) artists.
Adding to the nightmare, dead musicians are now coming back to life in virtual form—via holograms and “deepfake” music—making it all the harder for young, living artists to compete in the marketplace.

The Apple Store

I'm a human being so I couldn't lower myself and enter into this store.
Jay , don't you agree?

usher laugh

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The heritage of what would become macOS had originated at NeXT, a company founded by Steve Jobs following his departure from Apple in 1985. There, the Unix-like NeXTSTEP operating system was developed, before being launched in 1989. The kernel of NeXTSTEP is based upon the Mach kernel, which was originally developed at Carnegie Mellon University, with additional kernel layers and low-level user space code derived from parts of BSD.[14] Its graphical user interface was built on top of an object-oriented GUI toolkit using the Objective-C programming language.

Here's an underrated guy that few talk about

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King Tee, problem a top ten west coast rapper and definitely a 🐐 caliber MC. Brought us another underrated group of MCs the Liks and was the main influence of Notorious B.I.G. A strong discography and a leader of the alternative movement to the dominant gangster rap scene.

Tension between the NATO mafia and Russia

Over the last week lamestream media has been attempting to shovel off 46s approval ratings off the front page and find something else. Anyone who understands how modern American Policy works understands that a President with sinking approval ratings must got to war or start a campaign. The newest campaign is this dog whistle of the Ukraine (a non NATO state) and Russia. NATO and its allies have lost favor with most of the world only to began infighting with each other. The earliest signs were Brexit and most recently between the UK and Ireland. Racially speaking, its is rumored as of late that Ukrainians also have a special type of Anti-Black racism with its Azov and Svoboda groups recruiting military officer cadets and enlisted alike.

☆HOWEVER, that's not the magic bullet, as the white population in America loses influence, they find themselves grasping for white people to import. A factor contributing to the relatively high death in the Ukraine is a high mortality rate among working-age males from preventable causes such as alcohol poisoning and smoking. In 2008, the country's population was one of the fastest declining in the world at -5% growth.

Attachments

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We Subjugate Ourselves Globally. ECOWAS Sanctions Mali.

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To sum this video up:
  • Malians kicked out French Troops
  • France was mad
  • ECOWAS put sanctions on Mali
So Malians are rejecting France and a West African Bloc of Nations (ECOWAS) decides to put sanctions on them.

Confused Thinking GIF by MOODMAN


You know how you know it's a bad move for Africa? Because America agrees with the sanctions:


This is that nonsense that keeps us subjugated globally. Black people working with White Supremacists to keep us all oppressed. Europe could not keep this system going without our own help.

This is the same thing at a micro scale. Coons help keep us subjugated at a micro and macro level.

This news is disgusting.

A white supremacist website got hacked, airing all its dirty laundry

Study your enemies they way they study you, learn everything you can about them so you know how to defeat them.
White supremacy is all these people have to make them feel important, by default they are earth's mediocre, we have been the standard since the dawn of time.
Never fear these kkkowards... Ever.

Opinion: The Black Boogeyman Lie

This is a good read, most of what's pointed out is mostly known among FBA, it's no secret this country, our country have people in it that don't like us. I could care less about their reasons for not liking us, I just can't go along with the stereotypes they attach to us. Will this ever change?

Cut The GD Check AmeriKKKa!!!!

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Look what I stumbled on...These pink MF's got money and need to pay this ever so rising debt. Last night I think I heard the slow rumblings of covert planning of 4 man cells that "don't" know about the others nor did I have the feeling of "God Bless AmeriKKKa"!!!

You know what? Last time I check there wasn't 1 ewish hook nosed soul killed in any type of camp. So why does this MF crooked government want to play games like they can't pay FBA's what owned to them? Maybe if the open ended targets (news stations) really start taking L after L.

My problem with the ewish ppl was with my 2nd grade teacher...Who kept me to be last going out for recess. This hook nosed skank told me that my dark hue reminded her of her morning shit. You think that changed me for the better or no?

This country IS going to fall like Rome but harder and much Bloodier.

Walk-Off

The Red Lobster video got my brain going and I started thinking about other jobs I had quit mid shift. Red Lobster is the only one I've walked off, walked off. Most of the others were above board, or I just stopped going. The least I've even given a f%*k though was at a job at my university calling alumni for donor money. I lasted 2 hours. We went on a ten minute break and I never came back. I could not make another phone call. My spirit would not let me. Anyone else got walk-off stories?

Wisconsin Republicans pass bill allowing some high school students to bring a gun to campus

This will turn out well, I really think white people have lost their mind, who would even consider this?
I really hope there isn't too many black kids in these schools, you know they would be a target.


How many days before a shooting? And which students would be allowed? I promise no non white kid.

P-Money's Casting

usher laugh

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The opioid epidemic is the extensive ongoing overuse of opioid medications, both from medical prescriptions and from illegal sources. The epidemic began in the United States in the late 1990s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, when opioids were increasingly prescribed for pain management and resulted in a rise in overall opioid use throughout subsequent years

How Red Lobster Seafood Remains So Cheap

I have never eaten Bass in my whole life. I'm looking to try it.

But Red Lobster is so cheap and yet they don't sell bass.

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Red Lobster Hospitality LLC is an American casual dining restaurant chain headquartered in Orlando, Florida. The company has operations across most of the United States, as well as in China, Ecuador, Guam, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates; as of June 23, 2020, the company had 719 locations worldwide.

Chun Li On Bass

I don't know if this should be in music or tech but it is definitely nostalgic.
At 3:21 she breaks it down


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Chun-Li is a fictional character in Capcom's Street Fighter video game series. The first ever female playable character to appear in a fighting game to gain mainstream recognition, she first appeared in Street Fighter II: The World Warrior in

Which outlet should we care about?

When pertaining to black music, hip hop and R&B specifically?

The reason I ask this question is because I recently took a look at the award results for XXL and they were predictable and comedic, to say the least (I really don't want to give them more views but if you insist I'll add the results). Drake and Doja of course got nods for the record. Most of the music information or news I get from smaller podcasts that I follow on Twitter, if they have a blue check I almost immediately disregard their opinion on anything. Dead End Hip Hop is one of the ones I follow.

Second part of this question is what do we have to do to relinquish the narrative again?

Sinema Censured and Dems In AZ Poll At 8%

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Kyrsten Lea Sinema is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Arizona since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she served three terms as a state representative for the 15th legislative district from 2005 to 2011, one term as the state senator for the 15th legislative district from 2011 to 2012, and three terms as the United States representative for the 9th district from 2013 to 2019

Is egypt the homeland?

For a while ive felt that the bible is propaganda but now i belive it is anti black propaganda namely the exodus. This story says jews were inprisoned in egypt and escqped after god intervened there is of course 0 proof of the exodus. Let alone the insane claims of plagues and the water splitting itself or god being scsred of iron chariots or whatever. We know that egypt has been greatly demonized as evil as well and this seems like the way to keep us away from our own culture. Also why there are white people playing egytians in the movie the mummy. How can the pharoh of a sun worshipping people be white? The egyptian statues are clearly black. I think we should expore this and what the kemet egypians were there culture and beliefs.

When will we see new battery tech?

One of the biggest setbacks of modern technology is the lack of battery systems that last a long time as well as ones that are able to be disposed of without causing harm to us or the environment. We have come a long way but I feel like solar-powered options such as cars will not be mainstream until we are able to find better tech in batteries. I was considering getting some solar panels in the future with a generator but seeing the price tag and the short lifespan of them coupled with them being dangerous (no way to dispose of them once they are dead) is an issue.

Is there any word on new battery systems being worked on? I keep hearing of going green and getting rid of a reliance on oil but no one is bringing up real solutions. Like nuclear energy is clearly the way to go as of now but people just think of Chernobyl and freak out.

What is going on with these damn school systems?

So I sometimes ride to work with Christian radio stations on. I had one on yesterday that was talking about some nonsense of a school teaching kids pagan rituals as part of their everyday learning. Not teens but like 7 to 11-year-olds. Teaching them to give thanks to demons and all this bull. Then they brought up gender studies being pushed on kids and these "queer conditioning" classes where they are putting it in these young kids' heads that they might be gay, trans, whatever. I can't remember the locations of these schools but knowing this kind of stuff is happening is sickening. Where are the parents!?

I would imagine these schools are those mostly white ones that hire nutjobs fresh out of college who have degrees in gender studies and some kind of weird religious cult teaching. I always felt like teachers didn't get paid enough but these people shouldn't be getting paid anything, they should be fired.

Anyone else hear about this? I didn't look it up yet. I feel like if I do, I will get heated.

Nosy Family

I think most people have at least one family member that is nosy. They can't keep their beak out people's business. I have an auntie like this. She is always on my case every time I see her about who I am dating, when I am getting married, when I am having kids, buying a house, etc. and not even my own mom does this. It is annoying. I love the woman but I have been avoiding her lately cause I don't like to be rude but I also don't like getting asked a million questions and then told I am getting old and I need to do something. Like damn, I know.

How do you deal with nosy family members?

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