Perhaps, Pop/Rock as a genre has peaked. Most of the "song space" might already be explored. In the past, new music has often been inspired by new instruments

Perhaps, Pop/Rock as a genre has peaked. Most of the "song space" might already be explored. In the past, new music has often been inspired by new instruments (e.g. the electric guitar, synthesizers). Strictly speaking, that often was not even new music, but a new sound. Today we can create all sorts of sound digitally, including the "original" sound from the 60s, 70s, 80s. New music productions often adapt a sound from a soecific era. The linked post brings up one important point about old music: it's much lower risk to market than new productions. You know already that the songs work, and you can be reasonably certain about intellectual rights ownership when you bought the catalog. It's the same with movies by the way: Most successful movies these days are sequels or remakes. Seems that conservative mindsets prevail in the mainstream of art. And THAT is not new, either :D