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Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
It's a commonly held grudge of listeners who are no longer pop's core demographic that the music of the moment is not what it once was [...] But [what] happens when science attempts to prove these claims? Here are some studies that suggest your parents might have been having a lot more pop fun than you are...
[...] This followed a similar study by a team from the Spanish National Research Council, lead by artificial intelligence specialist Joan Serrà, who examined nearly half a million pop songs over a similar period (in this case 1955-2010), and looked at their tonal, melodic and lyrical content. They concluded that pop has become melodically less complex, using fewer chord changes, and that pop recordings are mastered to sound consistently louder (and therefore less dynamic) at a rate of around one decibel every eight years.
[...] The Lempel-Ziv algorithm is a lossless way to compress data, by taking out repetitions, and Morris used it as a tool to examine 15,000 songs from the Billboard Hot 100 from 1958 to 2014, reducing their lyrics down to their smallest size without losing any data, and comparing their relative sizes. He found two very interesting things. The first was that in every year of study, the songs that reached the Top 10 were more repetitive than their competition. The second is that pop has become more repetitive over time, as Morris points out: "2014 is the most repetitive year on record. An average song from this year compresses 22% more efficiently than one from 1960."
Of course, none of this means that pop songs are any less fun. They may be slower and sadder than before, but if pop songs are now simpler and louder and more repetitive than they used to be, that might make up for it. In fact, a 2011 report called Music and Emotions in the Brain: Familiarity Matters, compiled by a team led by Carlos Silva Pereira suggests that the human brain enjoys knowing what is coming next in music. Having conducted fMRI scans on people listening to songs, the report concludes that, "Familiarity seems to be a crucial factor in making the listeners emotionally engaged with music."
Source: Has pop music lost its fun?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday January 17 2018, @12:23PM (8 children)
You can find music created by real musicians, but you have to look in different places. My wife discovers them through podcasts. Others go to live performances. Corporations do control the old channels so processed pablum is all that a person will find there anymore.
I took a different route. In the Napster days and afterward the RIAA irritated me so much that I began teaching myself to play music. I'm no virtuoso, but I can do it well enough to scratch the itch. It's rewarding, too, in a way that listening to something someone else has composed isn't. That experience of channeling your expression into music is different and better than listening to even a great piece from someone else.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Nerdfest on Wednesday January 17 2018, @03:28PM (1 child)
My goal this year is to go out and see more live local music more. I did it quite a lot last year, and loved it. I found some amazing bands, great shows, and a lot of the time stuff outside my normal sort of comfort range for listening. Because of the "safety" of going through metal detectors and being searched at the big venues, it actually feels like I'm going out to have fun as well. I may make an exception for Greta Van Fleet if it's a big venue show if they ever show up here. Damn those guys sound good.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday January 17 2018, @06:21PM
I don't know where you are in the world but if you can South by Southwest seems to attract unusual artists, as well, though in the smaller venues around town more than on the main stages. There are even buskers all over downtown who can't or don't want to pay the registration fees for the smaller places, but want to be there for the scene and the chance for exposure from talent scouts wandering from scheduled show to scheduled show.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 17 2018, @03:32PM
Corporate Music sucks. Learn to play and make your own music. I retired and decided to teach myself acoustic guitar. Having fun at a local weekly jam session.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday January 17 2018, @05:07PM (2 children)
By that point, the RIAA stops annoying you and the NMPA [nmpa.org] starts.
Do you write your own music, play music that others have written, or both?
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday January 17 2018, @06:09PM (1 child)
Both, but I don't bother with tabs or sheet music. Neither do I perform. I play for my own enjoyment, and it doesn't bother me if I don't reproduce a known tune exactly.
If I did want to, or to play with others in a band or something, then I'd probably go to a library and take a picture of the sheet music with my phone or do something else. The analog hole is my friend, and always will be.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 17 2018, @09:52PM
Thief! How dare you steal from hard working middlemen!
You should be taxed at a rate of 200% for 10 years to make up for your transgressions.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday January 17 2018, @08:24PM (1 child)
Names/links please?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 17 2018, @09:06PM
Mrs. ...
Oh you meant the podcasts. Never mind.