I know this topic has been beaten to death for quite some time now and I know many of you will probably not read this thread because of that in mind, but I honestly don’t care. I need this outlet to express how I feel because I’m tired of holding back my reservations and concerns that I’ve had regarding not just music, but us as consumers.

For the past 100 years, music labels and execs have essentially curated the soundtracks to our lives. Whether it was through the radio, TV, or CDs, we were all tuned in to what’s going on because they were the sole providers of what we listen to and we were forced to consume it (aka MONOCULTURE). While that sounds kinda dystopian like (and in some ways it was im ngl), personally I see it as a way of relatability and community. When we are restricted, we are forced to deal with what we got and make something out of it. It’s through discussion and exchanging of ideas within those confines that ignites that creative spark within us.

However, that spark has been put out thanks to streaming and social media. I’ll be the first to admit that if it weren’t for streaming, I wouldn’t be 1/10th of the music nerd that I am today. I started using Spotify when I was 11 back in 2011, back when you needed a Facebook account to use it. I was playing musical instruments and buying CDs at that point in my life so some sort of musical foundation had already been established in me. Through my young and curious mind, I was able to discover whole new worlds of genres and sounds because I grew tired of hearing the same s*** for the 2000th time. Why limit myself to CDs and a 2GB iPod Shuffle when I have the whole world at my fingertips?

That lack of a limit is what has destroyed the creative mind. When you look back on the music of yesteryear decade by decade, you start to notice a trend of drastically different sounds because PEOPLE got f***ing tired of hearing the same ol s***. Nowadays, society has become more self-absorbed and general discourse regarding anything with substance is trite; the system has taught us that differing opinions in an individualistic world will make people defensive and hostile. Many artists are scared to experiment or go out of their comfort zone because the people can make or break their career with just reactionary tweets. We’re too busy focusing on getting a dopamine rush rather than truly appreciating and digesting the art that has been provided to us.

We live in a world where a peasant can become a prince in a matter of minutes, yet the crown is always being moved from head to head without any sense of direction because we ourselves don’t know what we want. I'm just honestly scared for the future...for the people who didn't know (or just completely forgot) what it was like to listen to music before the streaming age.

s/o @onetwo and @DARE_IZ_A_DARKSIDE

Great write up OP. Technology really has opened up Pandora’s box when it comes to consumption. All in all I think we share the same opinion of it being a net positive and allows us to break the feeding tube of artists from the top down and done what decentralized it, it also removes a lot of the quality control that once existed. I think we’re too caught up in the micro and if you step back music historically probably has had its highs and lows as with everything in life

everything is just one big loop...i think im just more frustrated than anything lmao

oh yeah @letsgocena

@Brave @americana

Will be reading

all facts

@ me in like 12 hours and ill read

gotchu fr

@YoungNastyShawty your vid really got me thinking bro thank you

whats the tldr? (genuine)

streaming and social media has made a lot of people complacent and too scared to try new things; there is no sense of community, love, and progress in popular music ever since streaming has become the predominant platform

You are wrong and delusional

Also this is not a long read and it really speaks to your intelligence that you would call it that

the weeknd the only artist making good popular music

i mean you been around for less than a year so i understand why you wouldn't think it's a long read (i dont think it's a long read either), but a lot of people wince at paragraphs on this site just thought you should know

I said, "Well, Daddy, don't you know that things go in cycles?

S*** is looking the way it is rn and we prolly wont realize until years later how much covid played a big part of it @op

But I'ma give some optimism to this that the way s*** is now just at its core is not sustainable. Not on the business sense (CEOs b****ing about it being more harder than ever to develop a "star" in the market that they themselves created) and not in the artist sense.

There's more talk than ever during these times for musicians to unionize than it has been in decades past and maybe s*** like these times finally removed the veil from a lotta artists eyes and made them realize things like "whoa, the superstars we grew up listening to are giving away their royalties. Maybe the current market where the only way to make money is now the least money earning way has something to do with it."

As a musician and artist, I don't believe it'll always be like this forever. At some point some thing's gotta give. The fact prominent hip hop heads for example have to now acknowledge the drop in quality in that genre for example is a start.

@Brave @FREE

funny enough, i was going to mention covid but i feel like that is another conversation in itself...it definitely slowed down the momentum for whatever was brewing.

im right there with you though. i know in my head things will come full circle, but this particular moment in time f***ing sucks lmao. it's like a weird transitional phase

Time to read

It’s tradition for this site to s*** on or make fun of posts longer than three lines so he’s jokingly acknowledging that wtf are you on about

one of the few dudes in the mainstream who really cares about their craft and their fans

I admire the personal angle swagalot took here, and it’s how a lot of people have felt since about 2019