This is just a symptom of the cultural zeitgeist moving out of the mainstream distribution channels. People are still listening to new music, it’s just not happ

This is just a symptom of the cultural zeitgeist moving out of the mainstream distribution channels. People are still listening to new music, it’s just not happening the way it used to (e.g. labels, records, radio, or even streaming services). A lot of new music is discovered/distributed through social media which makes it much harder to quantify what even counts as a “listen”.