Thanks for this post! I have noticed a LOT of what you have included here. Fortunately for me I started a Top Ten party with friends back in the early 80s when we were in our early 20s. There's a group of ten of us that still participate every year. The rule is: each year's Top Tens MUST be new songs! As a result, each person has been forced to explore new music every year. Some of our tastes have changed a lot while others are still fairly grounded in what they were interested in years ago. I think anyone who has ever loved music should do something like this! It keeps us alive and far from stagnant!
This method of finding out new music is excellent. We have something similar with some friends where we make a top 20 album list every year.
I believe that some years ago the “in” thing to talk about in tech was “gamification”. In learning, in music discovery in… almost everything. I see these lists as a game.
Not sure what exactly happened but we’ve moved more towards algorithms. I guess it’s easier and more scalable. But yeah find people to be engaged with something and it will stick :-)
Great points! We used to "game" it by trying to predict each other and giving prizes. Keep me in mind near the end of the year. I'll likely do a version of the songs/albums of the year with other Substackers!
Super interesting stuff, although interestingly none of it applies to me. I’m 32, and I’m still constantly discovering new music. I have always been hungry for more new sounds my whole life. I was actually more conservative as a kid, because kids tend to only like what’s hip, mainstream, or at least commercially accessible in some way. Now I like more extreme kinds of music.
Yeah I mainly liked what you might call traditional heavy metal/hard rock for most of my youth and then in my late 20's - 30's I was suddenly like "Death Metal! Moar! Yaaargh!"
This is so fascinating! I never knew there was official research on this. I've saying for years to my family how it was so strange that my parents musical tastes seemed to come to a standstill the minute they started having kids, (me first, 1963, yep, I'm a young boomer). I thought it odd that there were people who's musical tastes stagnated because mine had not. I thought I was the normal one; I guess not.
Based on this research, I'd like to think of myself as an outlier. Once Spotify became a thing, I stopped using an iPod and saving songs in iTunes because I didn't want to keep listening to the same stuff. Based on this research, my musical tastes would have stagnated in the music of the late 70s and 80s. Yikes! I'm so glad it didn't stagnate. I can probably count on one hand how many songs from that time period are saved in any of my playlists.
Now, there are a few genres I absolutely won't listen to, like country music, but my taste is all over the place and always looking for new music and artists. I love most of the top 40 pop, K-pop, alternate rock, new age, singer/songwriter, folk, and more.
Last fall, I discovered the band Måneskin from Italy. I did discover them a little late, since they've been around a few years and had been nominated for a Grammy last year. In December, I discovered that they had two tour dates left in their world tour, Dublin, Ireland which was 4 days away and Manchester, UK, in 9 days. I found a resale ticket for Dublin, booked a flight, and flew from Minnesota to see them in concert. It was the best concert I've been to. My parents would never.
I read this and looked at the graphs and can't help but wonder how much the graphs were cleaned up for "flyers" like myself? 65 and always finding new music. Sure I have preferred genres and a few sub genres I won't listen to but by and large my play list continues to grow.
I’ve found new music to enjoy by requesting my ap to offer songs from other countries and languages; currently exploring French music, after being blessed by a college radio station for its program of Brazilian music.
I just turned 65 and yes just started Medicare. I’m finding new music on Spotify every Friday with their Radar Releases. I would have never listened to the new Beyoncé if it wasn’t on RR. I’ve been turned on to other artists like Dixon Dallas, Harry Stiles, Stephen Sanchez, Dua Lipa, Crisp and Dave Lee. Please keep the new music coming.
I also feel like the sheer accumulation of music over the years becomes overwhelming. I've listened to so much music, and enjoyed so much of it. By the time I hit my 30s, the idea of adding MORE started to seem overwhelming. The older I get, the more I'd rather enjoy a smaller number of things more deeply, rather than getting a buzz of the novelty of something new.
People forget that that song that they LOVE was new to them at one point. If they had said “Nah I’ll stick with the same old-same old”? they never would have heard it.
Enshitification. Music that we listen to is controlled by the “Big Few”. See Chokepoint Capitalism for explanation. “I❤️Radio” killed radio and other media and took control of what is left. Radio and tv should be locally owned, not have music and dj shows piped in from New York and LA. Locally owned is how you break new music to the world.
I will be 67 in a few days. I am still discovering new music and listening to music of my younger days. My saving grace is my iPod. I have 18000+ songs on the device and I keep adding to the library. I have one large playlist made up of all 18000+ songs played randomly with no repeats until all 18000+ songs are complete. With my listening habits It takes about 1.5 years to finish the playlist. I like my iPod much better than Spotify. The Spotify algorithm played too many repeats too often.
1. The degree of importance attributed to music declines with age...
2. Young people listen to music significantly more than middle-aged adults.
3. Young people listen to music in a wide variety of contexts and settings, whereas adults listen to music primarily in private contexts.
The issue of music discovery does not originate from infinite choice; instead, this problem likely stems from decreased listenership (point 2) and a waning commitment to exploration."
Eh? What happened to the critical importance of context?
I'm in my 50s, and don't listen to much music at all, but I least want to listen to the songs of my youth. I heard them too much when they were new. I'm Gen-X, and if I had to pick a "best" era for music I'd probably say the 1940s or '50s.
My overall experience has been that when I was young I was into music that was new, and as I hit my late 20s I stopped caring about music. From age 35 to 40 a lot of sad things happened in my life, and music was a solace, so I became deeply involved in it, and discovered lots of then-new songs. Once life stopped being sad, I again stopped caring much about music.
I don't know if my experience is the norm, but I wonder if to at least some degree, when we are confused, sad, or otherwise unsure in our lives, music can console us, and once we grow up, get married, and have kids, and life is happier and more secure, we have less of a need for it.
1. If your Dad likes the Washington Nationals he does like new things. If he was truly set in his ways he'd be an Orioles man.
2. I always find this kind of thing fascinating because I utterly hated the popular music of my teenage years (the 90's). I still like the music I listened to as a teen (which was mostly not contemporary) but rarely listen to it now. Just because it's kinda played out for me. It's interesting, to me, that this doesn't seem happen to more people.
Yeah they keep saying “outside the mainstream” but I think half the time they meant music that isn’t contemporary. I dont think mainstream was the right word. Especially because the kinds of people who only listen to mainstream music tend to be more close-minded and less exploratory about music anyway. Even young people.
I thought the same thing, re the Nationals … though perhaps his Dad was an Expos fan. I started listening to The National and rooting for the Nationals around the same time, when I was in my mid-30s. Had never really given that much thought until now.
Oddly enough, I’m 54 and constantly seeking out new music. I must admit I’m still a huge emo/pop punk fan but I’m a massive Swiftie now and am passionate about emerging artists. Maybe I’m a statistical anomaly.
I really liked this post! recently I followed the advice of some music reviewer I heard in a podcast who said that if you wanted to get up to date on what the kids were listening to these days, check out the Billboard 100. I did and was shocked to realize how little of what I would call "rock" was on there. back in the 80s and 90s, almost everything would have been screaming guitars, which I really miss. Now I'm trying to find newer bands that sound like the 90s.
A little late to the game, but damn this is so good.
I really love your perspective on this fact at the end. It's nice to like what we like and to appreciate really great artists over our lifetime instead of chasing what's new
Thanks for this post! I have noticed a LOT of what you have included here. Fortunately for me I started a Top Ten party with friends back in the early 80s when we were in our early 20s. There's a group of ten of us that still participate every year. The rule is: each year's Top Tens MUST be new songs! As a result, each person has been forced to explore new music every year. Some of our tastes have changed a lot while others are still fairly grounded in what they were interested in years ago. I think anyone who has ever loved music should do something like this! It keeps us alive and far from stagnant!
I'm currently writing a memoir based on the Top Ten lists I've created for every year even before we started doing these. Feel free to check it out if you haven't! https://open.substack.com/pub/danpal/p/a-top-ten-memoir-1975-im-seeing-you?r=lru5s&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
This method of finding out new music is excellent. We have something similar with some friends where we make a top 20 album list every year.
I believe that some years ago the “in” thing to talk about in tech was “gamification”. In learning, in music discovery in… almost everything. I see these lists as a game.
Not sure what exactly happened but we’ve moved more towards algorithms. I guess it’s easier and more scalable. But yeah find people to be engaged with something and it will stick :-)
Great points! We used to "game" it by trying to predict each other and giving prizes. Keep me in mind near the end of the year. I'll likely do a version of the songs/albums of the year with other Substackers!
Super interesting stuff, although interestingly none of it applies to me. I’m 32, and I’m still constantly discovering new music. I have always been hungry for more new sounds my whole life. I was actually more conservative as a kid, because kids tend to only like what’s hip, mainstream, or at least commercially accessible in some way. Now I like more extreme kinds of music.
Experimental kinds of music * and extreme too I guess
Yeah I mainly liked what you might call traditional heavy metal/hard rock for most of my youth and then in my late 20's - 30's I was suddenly like "Death Metal! Moar! Yaaargh!"
I didn’t start listening to extreme metal till I hit 40.
Holy shit me too lol, I never liked death metal until my thirties 😆😆 that’s hilarious
This is so fascinating! I never knew there was official research on this. I've saying for years to my family how it was so strange that my parents musical tastes seemed to come to a standstill the minute they started having kids, (me first, 1963, yep, I'm a young boomer). I thought it odd that there were people who's musical tastes stagnated because mine had not. I thought I was the normal one; I guess not.
Based on this research, I'd like to think of myself as an outlier. Once Spotify became a thing, I stopped using an iPod and saving songs in iTunes because I didn't want to keep listening to the same stuff. Based on this research, my musical tastes would have stagnated in the music of the late 70s and 80s. Yikes! I'm so glad it didn't stagnate. I can probably count on one hand how many songs from that time period are saved in any of my playlists.
Now, there are a few genres I absolutely won't listen to, like country music, but my taste is all over the place and always looking for new music and artists. I love most of the top 40 pop, K-pop, alternate rock, new age, singer/songwriter, folk, and more.
Last fall, I discovered the band Måneskin from Italy. I did discover them a little late, since they've been around a few years and had been nominated for a Grammy last year. In December, I discovered that they had two tour dates left in their world tour, Dublin, Ireland which was 4 days away and Manchester, UK, in 9 days. I found a resale ticket for Dublin, booked a flight, and flew from Minnesota to see them in concert. It was the best concert I've been to. My parents would never.
Thanks for the Måneskin recommendation, hadn't come across them yet. It's fun.
I read this and looked at the graphs and can't help but wonder how much the graphs were cleaned up for "flyers" like myself? 65 and always finding new music. Sure I have preferred genres and a few sub genres I won't listen to but by and large my play list continues to grow.
I’ve found new music to enjoy by requesting my ap to offer songs from other countries and languages; currently exploring French music, after being blessed by a college radio station for its program of Brazilian music.
I just turned 65 and yes just started Medicare. I’m finding new music on Spotify every Friday with their Radar Releases. I would have never listened to the new Beyoncé if it wasn’t on RR. I’ve been turned on to other artists like Dixon Dallas, Harry Stiles, Stephen Sanchez, Dua Lipa, Crisp and Dave Lee. Please keep the new music coming.
I was just talking the other day about how amazing their recommendations are.
Who’s?
Spotify
I also feel like the sheer accumulation of music over the years becomes overwhelming. I've listened to so much music, and enjoyed so much of it. By the time I hit my 30s, the idea of adding MORE started to seem overwhelming. The older I get, the more I'd rather enjoy a smaller number of things more deeply, rather than getting a buzz of the novelty of something new.
Imagine stop finding new music, bleak
People forget that that song that they LOVE was new to them at one point. If they had said “Nah I’ll stick with the same old-same old”? they never would have heard it.
Enshitification. Music that we listen to is controlled by the “Big Few”. See Chokepoint Capitalism for explanation. “I❤️Radio” killed radio and other media and took control of what is left. Radio and tv should be locally owned, not have music and dj shows piped in from New York and LA. Locally owned is how you break new music to the world.
I will be 67 in a few days. I am still discovering new music and listening to music of my younger days. My saving grace is my iPod. I have 18000+ songs on the device and I keep adding to the library. I have one large playlist made up of all 18000+ songs played randomly with no repeats until all 18000+ songs are complete. With my listening habits It takes about 1.5 years to finish the playlist. I like my iPod much better than Spotify. The Spotify algorithm played too many repeats too often.
Something slightly screwy about the article;
"Context is critical to cultural discovery. ...
1. The degree of importance attributed to music declines with age...
2. Young people listen to music significantly more than middle-aged adults.
3. Young people listen to music in a wide variety of contexts and settings, whereas adults listen to music primarily in private contexts.
The issue of music discovery does not originate from infinite choice; instead, this problem likely stems from decreased listenership (point 2) and a waning commitment to exploration."
Eh? What happened to the critical importance of context?
I'm in my 50s, and don't listen to much music at all, but I least want to listen to the songs of my youth. I heard them too much when they were new. I'm Gen-X, and if I had to pick a "best" era for music I'd probably say the 1940s or '50s.
My overall experience has been that when I was young I was into music that was new, and as I hit my late 20s I stopped caring about music. From age 35 to 40 a lot of sad things happened in my life, and music was a solace, so I became deeply involved in it, and discovered lots of then-new songs. Once life stopped being sad, I again stopped caring much about music.
I don't know if my experience is the norm, but I wonder if to at least some degree, when we are confused, sad, or otherwise unsure in our lives, music can console us, and once we grow up, get married, and have kids, and life is happier and more secure, we have less of a need for it.
1. If your Dad likes the Washington Nationals he does like new things. If he was truly set in his ways he'd be an Orioles man.
2. I always find this kind of thing fascinating because I utterly hated the popular music of my teenage years (the 90's). I still like the music I listened to as a teen (which was mostly not contemporary) but rarely listen to it now. Just because it's kinda played out for me. It's interesting, to me, that this doesn't seem happen to more people.
Yeah they keep saying “outside the mainstream” but I think half the time they meant music that isn’t contemporary. I dont think mainstream was the right word. Especially because the kinds of people who only listen to mainstream music tend to be more close-minded and less exploratory about music anyway. Even young people.
I thought the same thing, re the Nationals … though perhaps his Dad was an Expos fan. I started listening to The National and rooting for the Nationals around the same time, when I was in my mid-30s. Had never really given that much thought until now.
Oddly enough, I’m 54 and constantly seeking out new music. I must admit I’m still a huge emo/pop punk fan but I’m a massive Swiftie now and am passionate about emerging artists. Maybe I’m a statistical anomaly.
At 50, I still enjoy discovering new music. However, I enjoy discovering new things about old favorites just as much.
I really liked this post! recently I followed the advice of some music reviewer I heard in a podcast who said that if you wanted to get up to date on what the kids were listening to these days, check out the Billboard 100. I did and was shocked to realize how little of what I would call "rock" was on there. back in the 80s and 90s, almost everything would have been screaming guitars, which I really miss. Now I'm trying to find newer bands that sound like the 90s.
Yeah, that was terrible advice! Maybe you'll find something new to love here: https://anearful.substack.com/p/best-of-2023-rock-folk-etc
oh wow, thanks!
Which podcast?
A little late to the game, but damn this is so good.
I really love your perspective on this fact at the end. It's nice to like what we like and to appreciate really great artists over our lifetime instead of chasing what's new