4 ms·

I agree that popular music was better in the old days. But that's just because the rise of indie labels, and then the internet, have enabled the more creative a

I agree that popular music was better in the old days. But that's just because the rise of indie labels, and then the internet, have enabled the more creative artists to thrive on the fringes, instead of having to compete for mainstream popularity.

kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
What was popular used to be determined by actual popularity and DJs with control over what got played even in the face of payola. The vertically integrated pop music industry now tries to decide who they will promote based purely on analytics without any regard for actual talent. Nobody can sing ballads on pop radio now except the one designee, Adelle.
- MiddleEndian 8y ago
  But now I can listen to music from a variety of non-radio sources with minimal effort.
- cortesoft 8y ago
  isnt using analytics also taking into account talent? Analytics is just measuring what people like, and people like talented artists. Why would using analytics hurt the talent level?
  - nine_k 8y ago
    It's about concentrating the effort on the average, and cutting the long tail. Imagine: "Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin all target the same audience segment; we should only choose one, and discontinue the other two."
    - cortesoft 8y ago
      But that makes no sense from a business perspective... I feel like corporations actually do the opposite... "Oh, this band is really popular with a profitable audience segment? Lets find and promote a hundred other bands that sound just like them!" They won't make more money by choosing one and discontinuing the others... you are only going to buy a band's album once, you can only go to the concert when they are in town.. a record label is going to want to give you multiple albums to buy and multiple bands to go see.
  - Fins 8y ago
    Because people generally do not care for talented artists? They want easily digestible pop, which is entirely different thing.
    - cortesoft 8y ago
      But if that is the case (that people want easily digestible pop), then wouldn't the most popular music be easily digestible pop? I don't see how not using analytics would change that.
      - Fins 8y ago
        Isn't it? You need to keep recording something new to sell. Before you had to take at least some risks to find something that's both easily digestible and goes with the current fashion, and sometimes good music would sneak in, too. Now you can just run it through some buzzword black box and get back something that should make label the most money with least expense.

kevin_thibedeau 8y ago

What was popular used to be determined by actual popularity and DJs with control over what got played even in the face of payola. The vertically integrated pop music industry now tries to decide who they will promote based purely on analytics without any regard for actual talent. Nobody can sing ballads on pop radio now except the one designee, Adelle.

MiddleEndian 8y ago
But now I can listen to music from a variety of non-radio sources with minimal effort.
cortesoft 8y ago
isnt using analytics also taking into account talent? Analytics is just measuring what people like, and people like talented artists. Why would using analytics hurt the talent level?
- nine_k 8y ago
  It's about concentrating the effort on the average, and cutting the long tail. Imagine: "Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin all target the same audience segment; we should only choose one, and discontinue the other two."
  - cortesoft 8y ago
    But that makes no sense from a business perspective... I feel like corporations actually do the opposite... "Oh, this band is really popular with a profitable audience segment? Lets find and promote a hundred other bands that sound just like them!" They won't make more money by choosing one and discontinuing the others... you are only going to buy a band's album once, you can only go to the concert when they are in town.. a record label is going to want to give you multiple albums to buy and multiple bands to go see.
- Fins 8y ago
  Because people generally do not care for talented artists? They want easily digestible pop, which is entirely different thing.
  - cortesoft 8y ago
    But if that is the case (that people want easily digestible pop), then wouldn't the most popular music be easily digestible pop? I don't see how not using analytics would change that.
    - Fins 8y ago
      Isn't it? You need to keep recording something new to sell. Before you had to take at least some risks to find something that's both easily digestible and goes with the current fashion, and sometimes good music would sneak in, too. Now you can just run it through some buzzword black box and get back something that should make label the most money with least expense.