[efdee]

I've rewritten this comment ten times already and I guess I don't really know what I _want_ to say, but this really irks me the wrong way. What you are describing is not Music (with a capital M) but rather the very similar product that is available in high abundance and nearly worthless. Real artists still have a considerable following that will absolutely anticipate and purchase physical media on launch day.

I'm sorry, that's the best I could do.

[andybak]

> Real artists still have a considerable following that will absolutely anticipate and purchase physical media on launch day.

I adore music, always have and follow what I hope are "real artists".

I haven't bought physical media for several decades and often buy albums weeks or months after release.

I think you've sliced this wrong.

[ar_lan]

She has a cult following, but Taylor Swift's Midnights broke over 1 million vinyl sales (from late October -> late January).

But I mostly agree with you - I get very excited for artists that I really enjoy releasing new work, and "line up" so to speak by listening to it the day it releases on Spotify.

[efdee]

I did not mean to say that "real" fans must buy physical media. Just that there are plenty of them out there who do.

[CWuestefeld]

I think you're describing the difference between art and entertainment. Both of these efforts use "music" as their medium, and of course there's a lot of gray area between. But it's not necessarily a bad thing that there are many different goals when producing music.

[josuepeq]

Totally. I should have posted what I had written earlier, had a section on this in my comment, and even spent a half hour trying to explain how this doesn’t apply to all artists and genres. I wrote it about 10 times and I do agree…

Identifying the good from the rest in such a place as Apple Music is a miserable experience. To Apple, they also make more revenue from their prioritization of marketing similar sounding two minute tracks in this “nouveau pop” format, backed up by a small amount of older superstar artist anniversary editions. Good original new music never makes it to the featured content sections.

And Genres and algorithms are a mess. It applies across the board to all music and is really a problem for the flavors of House, Techno, and other genres that are simply labeled “Electronic” or “Dance.” I’m getting Avalon Emerson one minute, Bicep the next, to be ruined by corporate mass marketed deadmau5, follow by a Bad Bunny remix….worse is the algorithm which thought I might like corporate edc-esque superstars and poorly autotuned remixes- though I have not added a single song to my collection in 20 years of digital music consumption…

Can we do better than “Dance” and “Electronic?” Of course they could, they haven’t. One must go elsewhere.

For House and Techno, this dearth of music discovery and search-ability methods by streaming companies makes room for independent music station alternatives, like Fault radio, or gives a reason for one to seek out artists via other means, like going to independent music festivals like Sunset Campout, Honcho campout, and other events highlighted on Resident Advisor, a poster in a nightclub, a text message listing the warehouse location.

(Apple Music did at least bring back Beats in Space.)

I think about the proliferation of streaming, and how it actually makes finding new content difficult for people who are not familiar with those other means of distribution.

- We have deprioritized the concept of the local radio station, now what was alternative rock is a rebroadcast of an AM Sports broadcast (i.e KFOG)

- the death of the sale of “singles,” made it a cheap entry point for people to experience a new artist. Releasing a track on Spotify doesn’t feel as substantial.

- and exclusively agreements contract provisions with corporate entities that engage in predatory practices that force up and coming artists to choose between performing for their fans at local venues, or extending their potential reach by putting their name on the bill for Coachella, sacrificing potential shows for a few hundred of miles away and several months on either side of the festival.

- Additionally entertainment conglomerates like AEM and LiveNation are increasingly becoming the owners, or managers of, the entertainment venues in cities around the world. Similar exclusivity agreements can have a significant negative impact on unaffiliated independent venues ability to compete.

I can’t speak for anyone in particular from the Gen Z or Alpha generation. I think for them, it’s all Apple or Spotify, music festivals if they can afford them, sharp discerning music choices on TikTok if they feel the need to branch out… and the question is - do they?

The norm is now a fully mass market formula that is almost impossible to break through… and the effect of this puts the chill on the ability to link good music with committed audiences.

I think I mostly explained how I feel there…

[jakkos]

> I can’t speak for anyone in particular from the Gen Z or Alpha generation.

I'm just barely young enough to be a zoomer, so maybe my view will be interesting. From my perspective my ability to find "good" music is better than it ever would have been in the past.

I find music suggestions from forums, review sites, subreddits, friends, online people I follow, etc. Then I can immediately listen to it with no effort or expense. I found my favorite album of all time from a random comment someone left on an internet thread.

To me the idea of having to wait until a local radio station played a song, and then make a leap of faith on purchasing the album seems like such a worse experience.

Similarly, in terms of creating music, it has never been easier to learn, create and distribute your own music. The rise of the internet has made it so much easier to find a niche communities of people making incredibly diverse and experimental music together.

In my mind, streaming sites have two roles and do a very good job at both:

- make all music as accessible as possible

- suggest music for people who want to "passively" listen to music, which is how the average person has always listened to music (and that's a completely legitimate thing to want and enjoy)

I see a lot of "the death of cinema", "the death of music", "the death of video games" takes around, and I can't help but feel like these views come from people who have lost track of where the "niche" communities has moved on to and then feel despair when to them it looks like the "mainstream" is all that exists.