That doesn't seem exactly right. One can turn on a "new music" playlist anytime, or a "current hits" or curated new music playlist in a given genre for more targeted new music. This would delete any bias to old music with one stroke, no?
That doesn't seem exactly right. One can turn on a "new music" playlist anytime, or a "current hits" or curated new music playlist in a given genre for more targeted new music. This would delete any bias to old music with one stroke, no?
One could easily generate a playlist that only has songs that came out this month too, but that isn't how people (here I mean the majority of music listeners) currently interact with their music distribution services. People that actively seek out new music are a pretty tiny minority (and always have been). Also most "current hits" and "new music" playlists typically have a very long tail (lots of older songs).
Ah but there you gave the lie to Ted's thesis - that it is the technology rather than the consumer that is the deciding factor here. Your bracketed "(and always have been)" statement sneaks in the truth and highlights the key fact that Ted ignores - new music afficionados have always been the exception, not the rule.
Well, to be honest, I'm not sure what exactly Ted's thesis is. You are certainly correct that new music aficionados have always been the exception, not the rule. My thesis is that the changes Ted points out are driven by technology; culture follows technology in the way conservatives like to argue that "politics is downstream of culture". The "forward looking art form" was certainly not always forward looking, it became that way because new distribution methods arrived that made it more profitable for a new form of gatekeeper to promote new music over old. Now we have another new technology it has produced a new form of gatekeeper that finds it more profitable to promote old music over new. I'm not sure how bad or good this is for the continued production of great new music, but I expect it will lead to very homogenized mass music and "siloing" of different genres. It will probably reduce musics ability to drive culture, but it might lead to greater creativity and diversity on the musical fringes.
That doesn't seem exactly right. One can turn on a "new music" playlist anytime, or a "current hits" or curated new music playlist in a given genre for more targeted new music. This would delete any bias to old music with one stroke, no?
One could easily generate a playlist that only has songs that came out this month too, but that isn't how people (here I mean the majority of music listeners) currently interact with their music distribution services. People that actively seek out new music are a pretty tiny minority (and always have been). Also most "current hits" and "new music" playlists typically have a very long tail (lots of older songs).
Ah but there you gave the lie to Ted's thesis - that it is the technology rather than the consumer that is the deciding factor here. Your bracketed "(and always have been)" statement sneaks in the truth and highlights the key fact that Ted ignores - new music afficionados have always been the exception, not the rule.
Well, to be honest, I'm not sure what exactly Ted's thesis is. You are certainly correct that new music aficionados have always been the exception, not the rule. My thesis is that the changes Ted points out are driven by technology; culture follows technology in the way conservatives like to argue that "politics is downstream of culture". The "forward looking art form" was certainly not always forward looking, it became that way because new distribution methods arrived that made it more profitable for a new form of gatekeeper to promote new music over old. Now we have another new technology it has produced a new form of gatekeeper that finds it more profitable to promote old music over new. I'm not sure how bad or good this is for the continued production of great new music, but I expect it will lead to very homogenized mass music and "siloing" of different genres. It will probably reduce musics ability to drive culture, but it might lead to greater creativity and diversity on the musical fringes.