theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/old-music-killing-new-music/621339

Old songs now represent 70 percent of the U.S. music market. The new-music market is actually shrinking.

(Old = older than 18 months)

• Spotify’s Top 10 most-streamed songs in history were all released between 2017 and 2019

• The 200 most popular new tracks now regularly account for less than 5 percent of total streams. That rate was twice as high just three years ago.

• The mix of songs actually purchased by consumers is even more tilted toward older music. The current list of most-downloaded tracks on iTunes is filled with the names of bands from the previous century, such as Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Police.

• The leading area of investment in the music business is old songs. Investment firms are getting into bidding wars to buy publishing catalogs from aging rock and pop stars.

• The best-selling physical format in music is the vinyl LP, which is more than 70 years old. I’ve seen no signs that the record labels are investing in a newer, better alternative—because, here too, old is viewed as superior to new.

• Radio stations are contributing to the stagnation, putting fewer new songs into their rotation, or—judging by the offerings on my satellite-radio lineup—completely ignoring new music in favor of old hits.

• When a new song overcomes these obstacles and actually becomes a hit, the risk of copyright lawsuits is greater than ever before. The risks have increased enormously since the “Blurred Lines” jury decision of 2015, and the result is that additional cash gets transferred from today’s musicians to old (or deceased) artists.

I mean I may be oversimplifying this but there are way more old songs than new so this should make sense right? I’m sure the panny played a part in this as well

Streaming makes old music more accessible to us but it's still worth discussing. The amount of old music consumption has risen even in the past three years.

I overlooked those points. Interesting I wonder if this is an outlier due to the circumstances of the world lately maybe trying to find comfort in old familiarity? Or is this a trend of what to expect moving forward

^ this

Only real s*** gon last?

i feel like there was a similar thread to this a while back...

edit: yeah ktt2.com/over-66-of-all-music-listening-in-the-us-is-now-of-old-catalog-32487427

Verzuz plays a huge part in this btw

"The mix of songs actually purchased by consumers is even more tilted toward older music. The current list of most-downloaded tracks on iTunes is filled with the names of bands from the previous century, such as Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Police."

This the part thats a no brainer & nothing new.

Newer music of the last few years has always been more popular on streaming than radio or buying because of age demos.

Only redflag of the stats for me.

The regular players aren't making mega hits anymore. When was the last time Drake, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran etc. had a gas station/barbershop tier hit? Blinding Lights proved it's still possible.

66 to 70 its on an upclimb & does show its a trend 🤔

yeah i’d chalk it up as a product of the current age we’re in for the most part

music peaked with Graduation (2007) so not surprising

Damn maybe old = good/new = bad after all

The first stat is kinda irrelevant no? Being the biggest streamed song ever will take time to accumulate those streams.

Isn’t Bad Habits pretty huge? Whenever I’m in an Uber or a store, I hear it played

Pop music quality continuing to drop.

The pandemic really hurt music because part of promoting new songs was artists going on tour, talk shows and other places like the awards to perform to songs but with those shrinking the hits don't have the staying power. Now radio is carrying new hits but it isn't accurate to what people are listening to so those hits don't stay either

Talking To The Moon (2010) and Locked Out Of Heaven (2012) being big hits in 2021

Boomers.

the new music market is s***