No One Wants To Discover New Music

[Vehicle]

Artists themselves are forced to use the schema of, “Well, we’re sort of like [X], but with a a bit of [Y].” With “X” being a band that is more well-known than they are, and “Y” being a distinguishing feature that makes them different (and, one would hope, more appealing than) than “X.”

This is true of any band, from any era. There isn't an artist/band out there that didn't cut their teeth on some kind of music.

The difference between then and now, is there is such an over-abundant glut of music available to anyone, at any time, that acts from today resort to revealing their ingredients in the hopes that someone will take a taste.

With everything at a listener's fingertips, today's musician/salesman approach is almost a necessary evil. Any little edge they can get.

As far as discovering new music, I used to be in the 'I'll stick with what I know' crowd.

Not any more, though. The last few years, I've been expanding and exploring, and it's been worth it. I listen to suggestions, but I also go out on my own

There is a lot, and I mean a lot of good music out there. You just have to look for it.

The hardest thing about finding new music you enjoy, is giving it a fair listen.

This isn't taking your grass cutting money and sinking $7.00 into an album you've only heard one or two songs. It was a risk we all took. You invested your money in an unknown entity.

The only investment you make now is time. I don't mean :35, then skip the track.

In this day and age, people don't even have to get off their a&&. They can sit right at the screen and find literally thousands of songs, for free. FREE!!

There is no risk involved, other than losing some time.

Personally, I'll find a full album of an artist on You Tube and play it while I pay bills, or work on a model.

Am I going to like every song? No. In fact, if you find 10 songs from 100 that you even mildly enjoy, that's a lot.

There's room for growth. It's out there. I just found Pop Evil. They've been around a while, but they're new to me.


p.s. I've never been to Spotify

 

[Sunny]

Great response to this thread Vehicle! I could just about echo everything you've stated

 

[Vehicle]

Great response to this thread Vehicle! I could just about echo everything you've stated

I'm not just another pretty face, you know.

 

[mrJim]

I think part of the problem is we have achieved 'overgenrification' and cluttered the landscape with so many sub-genres it's hard to really classify music as easily as it was a couple decades ago.

What we have lost in the age of the interwebz and everything that goes with it are the old disc jockeys we used to listen to on the great FM stations, they would play anything and everything, you got to know them and trusted their recommendations. Looking on one of those online sites you have lost the personal touch, at least that's how I feel.

I hear that! cluttered for sure.


And there really are no disc jockeys anymore. most over the air stations have been replaced them with by piped in predetermined music and comedians. there are some classic rock stations out there but their dwindling

Jim

 

[LG]

I hear that! cluttered for sure.


And there really are no disc jockeys anymore. most over the air stations have been replaced them with by piped in predetermined music and comedians. there are some classic rock stations out there but their dwindling

Jim

The wholesale destruction of the local radio stations I consider a loss of our heritage, not just a good source for music. I don't know why the government has allowed a near monopoly by a couple corporations to buyout independent stations and then serve cookie cutter pablum from coast to coast...makes me sad.

 

[mrJim]

^^It really is sad. LG There is really no localized ability to create or even incubate any kind of music or Jockey. I miss it.

I remember way back a guy wanted the Buffalo market to have a real progressive alternative radio station so he started WUWU FM and for the first weekend the station was on the air Psycho Chicken by The Fools was played non stop.

That's some serious marketing creativity right but the music played by that station was great and you would definitely get to hear different stuff. Alas it is all gone, all over.... thank our elected officials

what's really just awful today is they even pipe in the comic relief.

Jim

 

[AboutAGirl]

Depends on what you mean by "new" music. If we're talking about new music in the vein of stuff people already like, I'd say virtually any serious music fan is looking for this stuff all the time. If we're talking about new music as in genres and styles that people have never given a chance to before, the % is a lot smaller but obviously there are still people who are looking for that.

I guess I disagree with the OP/article. It overlooks the very simple and very persuasive reason that drives most music listeners to find new music: you can't listen to the same song fifty times in a row and enjoy it the same the fiftieth time as you did the first time.

The article is correct on a hypothetical plane, if I could be satisfied by listening to ZoSo for eternity, I never would have discovered any other albums because I wouldn't have needed to. But that's not how our universe actually works, in reality. I overplayed ZoSo 13 years ago and have been discovering new music ever since. I still like ZoSo but I barely listen to a couple of its tracks per year since I have fresher material to listen to. And the artists that I continue to love through the years aren't strictly the ones from my teens, but the ones that continue to release new material for me to discover.

I'm sure there are a lot of people who never discover new music. But rather than that being the majority, it's more like a dichotomy. There are a lot of people who don't, but there's an equal number of people who do. Boards like this are a testament to that. There are oodles of us out here still chasing the dragon.

As for the stuff that Pandora, Spotify & the like recommend... I've found it extremely useful in discovering new genres I don't know anything about. All I had to do was type in one of the more popular noise, black metal, and punk bands when I wanted to explore those respective genres, and in doing so I got to hear all different kinds of bands from those genres and find my favorite.

But one caveat in the long term is, after I get into something, I'm not looking for something that sounds the same. If I already have Pantera, I don't immediately need White Zombie or Exhorder. If I already have Taylor Swift, I don't immediately need Colbie Calliat or Miranda Lambert. That's stuff I will look into later on down the line, but what I'm most interested in is discovering something that's not like what I already have. It's much more rare but it's a lot more exciting. So recommendations based on what I already like isn't always useful.

 

[CP/M User]

This seems to contradict my expanding Music Collection which maybe lagging something 2013-14 at the moment, though with music going back a long way, it's always interesting to check out that old stuff too, which always gives me as much excitement as hearing new music I like.

 

[Riff Raff]

Depends on what you mean by "new" music. If we're talking about new music in the vein of stuff people already like, I'd say virtually any serious music fan is looking for this stuff all the time. If we're talking about new music as in genres and styles that people have never given a chance to before, the % is a lot smaller but obviously there are still people who are looking for that.

I guess I disagree with the OP/article. It overlooks the very simple and very persuasive reason that drives most music listeners to find new music: you can't listen to the same song fifty times in a row and enjoy it the same the fiftieth time as you did the first time.

The article is correct on a hypothetical plane, if I could be satisfied by listening to ZoSo for eternity, I never would have discovered any other albums because I wouldn't have needed to. But that's not how our universe actually works, in reality. I overplayed ZoSo 13 years ago and have been discovering new music ever since. I still like ZoSo but I barely listen to a couple of its tracks per year since I have fresher material to listen to. And the artists that I continue to love through the years aren't strictly the ones from my teens, but the ones that continue to release new material for me to discover.

I'm sure there are a lot of people who never discover new music. But rather than that being the majority, it's more like a dichotomy. There are a lot of people who don't, but there's an equal number of people who do. Boards like this are a testament to that. There are oodles of us out here still chasing the dragon.

As for the stuff that Pandora, Spotify & the like recommend... I've found it extremely useful in discovering new genres I don't know anything about. All I had to do was type in one of the more popular noise, black metal, and punk bands when I wanted to explore those respective genres, and in doing so I got to hear all different kinds of bands from those genres and find my favorite.

But one caveat in the long term is, after I get into something, I'm not looking for something that sounds the same. If I already have Pantera, I don't immediately need White Zombie or Exhorder. If I already have Taylor Swift, I don't immediately need Colbie Calliat or Miranda Lambert. That's stuff I will look into later on down the line, but what I'm most interested in is discovering something that's not like what I already have. It's much more rare but it's a lot more exciting. So recommendations based on what I already like isn't always useful.

Actually there are plenty of songs I can never get sick of like that.

 

[AboutAGirl]

Actually there are plenty of songs I can never get sick of like that.

I find that very difficult to imagine, but obviously I'll take your word for it. You're one of the very lucky ones. You can literally sit there, in all seriousness, and listen to the same song fifty times in a row, and love it as much the 49th time as you did the second time? Not a new song but one you've known for years already? I can't fathom it. Sure there are songs I'll always love, but not enough to play on repeat ad infinitum.

Do you have enough of those songs to compose an album-length playlist out of? 'Cause that's all I'd ever listen to if I had that. I'd never need to find any new music again. I've known people who can listen to their favorite song a few times on repeat but never more than a handful of times in a row at absolute maximum.