Old songs now represent 70 percent of the U.S. music market, according to the latest numbers from MRC Data, a music-analytics firm. Those who make a living from new music—especially that endangered species known as the working musician—should look at these figures with fear and trembling. But the news gets worse: The new-music market is actually shrinking. All the growth in the market is coming from old songs.
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.
Ted Gioia
Interesting observation, but I fear the author is drawing exaggerated conclusions in support of his own preconceived ideas, as he later launches into a tireless rant against the music industry. First of all, the definition of this supposedly ‘old’ music is tracks released more than 18 months ago – the standard delineation in the music business in fact. That can hardly be considered ancient music snuffing out rising talent. The original report also makes clear that this decline happened for the first time since MRC Data began tracking streaming music in 2008
– not exactly a long-standing trend that should be looked upon with fear and trembling
.
In fact, if were to go back before streaming, data on what people were listening on a regular basis was not even available! Back then, nobody could track whether people listened predominantly to new hits on the radio or TV, or to their available library on vinyl, CDs, digital audio, or any other format. The industry could only look at physical sales and media syndication, both of which are obviously skewed towards new releases. This proportion of catalogue versus new releases could have varied multiple times in either direction – and nobody would have been aware of it.
This preference for catalogue could reflect others factors as well, from habits changing during the pandemic to a shift in the demographics of music streamers towards more mature customers, who are less inclined to keep up with every new minor trend in the music space. Multiple parties can benefit from this: for music labels, catalogues are their cash cow, a steady source of revenue with few associated costs, as they rarely need to spend on marketing or rerelease albums in this age of streaming – or deal with the inherent risks of investing in a new artist. It also benefits consumers to have a wider variety of content to choose from – if new tunes don’t appeal to them, who are we to tell them otherwise?
New artists are indeed at a disadvantage from this increased competition with the past – but there are multiple other ways to distribute content in a digital-first economy, from TikTok clips to streaming on Twitch. Neither of these distribution and discovery channels are taken into consideration in these figures as far as I can tell – another reason to take the overblown conclusions in the article with a large grain of salt.
As a personal anecdote, I also found myself increasingly drawn to older music these past months – and ended up discovering how many popular hits were covers or reinterpretations of older songs.
Post a Comment