Yeah, some of the evidence he presented is concerning if true, but it was only backed by weak data or anecdotes. If the absolute number of new streams really i

Yeah, some of the evidence he presented is concerning if true, but it was only backed by weak data or anecdotes. If the absolute number of new streams really is dropping year over year, that is concerning, but a single year's worth of data - a year with massive confounding factors to boot - isn't enough to convince me, and the full report is behind a paywall. Having the market share of new streams drop as a percentage is completely expected, and nothing to be concerned about. The early adopters of streaming services were younger, listening to what was new at the time. Now as they get older, even if they add new music at the same rate, the are still listening to the streams the created earlier, so the mean age increases. In addition, as the services become more mainstream, wider segments of the population sign up, and bring their listening habits with them. So you would expect a general shift towards older music. And as that occurs you would expect the music industry to invest more in older music portfolios. That doesn't mean that newer music is in decline, just that the industry has a new way to monetize older music that it didn't have before. Musical preferences and purchasing have always peaked in ones teens and 20s, and as you get older you tend to buy less music and listen to more radio, or the music you already have. Maybe rebuy a tape or CD or MP3 version of the album you already had. But as consumption moves away from radio and towards streaming, the long term revenue for a hit doesn't drop off as quickly as it used to. This isn't a zero-sum game, and increases in revenue for old music doesn't necessarily imply a decrease in revenue for new music. Likewise, for some of his other supporting evidence. I concur that the rock radio stations around here have pretty much completely stopped playing new music (country stations aren't so stale, can't speak for hip-hop), but that is largely because young people don't listen to radio much anymore, so why cater to them? And yes there is risk that music industry could focus too much on the old music that is making them lots of money now, and not invest enough in new music that will make them money in the future - but his own testimony is that they are still pushing new music hard. There might be something here, but the article didn't convince me.