Bad news for song writers: "We don’t really want to hear new music"

ChristophEar

Just read this interesting article summarising some recent research into the habits of music consumers:

We don’t really want to hear new music - futurity.org

“Our results suggest that the emphasis on novelty in the music domain, by consumers and people often protesting the current state of the music business, is probably misplaced,” Goodman says. “In the marketplace, and in our pilot study, consumers say that they want more novelty when in fact their choices suggest they do not.”

DulcetJones

I don't know about these studies but what I see/hear in radioland these days is about a 50/50 mix of classic rock stations and alternative music stations.  Recently one of the biggest classic rock stations has dropped "classic" and adopted "world class rock" as it's buzzword and now plays not only the classics we all love, but some of the new music it inspired.  Some observations on my part are that there are a couple of artists that get played on both types of these stations, The Foo Fighters and The Offspring being the most often heard.  The classic stations have overplayed AC/DC, ZZ Top and Guns'n'Roses to death and the alternative stations never touch either of these acts.   All of the "Oldies" stations have disappeared completely in the last couple of years, there used to be 3 or 4 that played nothing newer than 1965, so I don't think new music is dead yet.

TTony

My music buying & listening habits have really changed over the last 5 or so years, and even more so over the last year or so.

I'm not sure whether that's because I've got older, whether the quality of new music really has deteriorated as much as I perceive it to have done, or whether I've just become disconnected from wherever the good stuff is.

Mostly, the radio is on radio4.  They don't play a lot of music.  Radio 1 has explicitly said that it doesn't want listeners of my age.  Radio2 plays (mostly) the classics and when the specialist shows are on (evening), I'm generally not listening.  Anything new that I've found has been via Jools, and that's maybe 3-4 new artists in the last couple of years.

Amazon has changed my buying habits in the last year or two.  Their free sampler albums have led me into new stuff.  Their "other people have bought" links have sometimes been useful (but generally not). 

Mainly, I have bought a shedload of old stuff - 50s/early60s - as the compilation albums have come out full of the out-of-copyright stuff.  50 tracks for £3/£4.  I'm happy to buy and I've found it more enjoyable than manufactured pop and regurgitated rock that masquerades as "new" stuff.  OK, that's unfair and exaggerated to make the point, but it certainly fits the conclusion of the study!

Sporky

Over the last couple of years I have mostly been listening to radio 3 and post-metal.

DulcetJones

Assuming you guys(Sporky and TTony) are based in the UK, maybe we're getting a different scene here in Canada.  On top of the commercial radio I described above, our CBC Radio2 has seen some changes in the last few years.  It was dominated by classical and jazz for years but recently put several new shows on that take up most of the day and mainly consist of new alt/rock/pop/folk music that doesn't get heard on many other stations.   It's not all great music but there is some very cool stuff that I'm glad I get to hear.  As you may have gleaned from my earlier post, I am really tired of some of the old guard of the classic rock era and welcome new material as long as they don't throw too many bombs in all at once.  And it's not just me, everyone here seems to be going "alt" on some level, rap and hip-hop have a following but it's kind of underground, only a few stations in major cities play it, it never reached the fevered pitch the US saw here.

ChristophEar

My impression (from holidays and internet streaming) is that radio in the US and Canada is far more varied and interesting than in the UK. 

But I gave up relying on the radio for new music a long time back. Between friends and recommendations from Spotify and Last.fm I normally have some good new stuff to explore when I'm in the mood, and Spotify ensures I can always listen to the same old familiar stuff the rest of the time. In fact, it clearly has taken the lessons of that article to heart:

stickyfiddle

I'm quite sure I want new music. I just struggle to find any I like. Was introduced to Gaslight Anthem last year, and they're now my favourite band, but that was because so many on here were raving about them. I have no idea where to go to find great new music with proper songwriting, rather than just good riffs. I'm sure there's some out there somewhere. 

As for the general population, the last 60 years or so has proven time and again that they like whatever they're told to. Whoever the radio stations give the marketing budget to is who the big radio stations play, and that's who becomes huge. Anyone without that struggles to be discovered by the majority. It's nothing to do with critics, and as far as I can tell none of the online music services help either.

Look at someone like David Ford (who? exactly!). He's been around as a solo artist for almost 10 years, has 4 critically acclaimed albums, is brilliant live, and yet noone knows who he is. Jools Holland used to have a bit of pull by putting on a mix of acts, but even that's getting silly these days with the unknown/indie act each week being so inevitably awful you could set your watch by it.

Humbug!

Fretwired

I don't fit that study. I rarely listen to rock these days and have a range of artists on my iPod that most people haven't heard of .. a mixture of experimental electronic, modern jazz and some really weird stuff.

This is an example of something more accessible .. guitarist Eivend Aarset

Phil_aka_Pip

When I listen to the radio for music, it's The Early Music Show on Radio3.

Most of the rest is IMO uninteresting.