Quote from: snapsunny on February 13, 2013, 12:35:20 AM

Quote from: SgtSpike on February 13, 2013, 12:18:38 AM

*shrug*

Few things here:
- Why mess with a formula that works and most people like? Especially when the alternative music geared towards minority crowds can easily be distributed through other channels?
- Music is constantly changing. If you look at the top songs in the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, vs now, they're all quite different.
- You're complaining about the top songs because they are the top songs. Isn't that inevitable in a free market? People choose to listen to what they like, so if a song is at the top, it's because a lot of people like it. It may be bad music to your ears, but good music to a lot of people's ears.
- If music isn't meant to be mixed with industry, then why do you care about what the music+industry mix decides is the best music to play? Shouldn't you only care about music that you yourself like? In other words, what are you really asking to happen? That the top charts are filled with music that doesn't make any money somehow?
- That song you linked to was awful, but I'm no Taylor Swift fan either! I'll give just about everything a chance at a listen though, so I appreciate you posting it anyhow.
- If you need some light piano listening, this is me: www.justinbporter.com

I think we must first assume music is as simple as "Oh, I like this, let's get some more of it." I think the reasons people love some songs almost universally is different than the reason people love the songs they usually enjoy. For example, PSY's Gangnam Style has to be one of the most popular songs in all of music history (I'm just basing this on YouTube views so don't sue me Grin

) However, most can agree, the song is simplistic, repetitive, and, more than anything, catchy. It follows a distinct formula that all pop songs follow, yet somehow, someway, Gangnam proved to be several times more liked than most top songs (Assuming people who watched the video liked the music.)

In this case, I believe it was more so the humor of the song's video, as the lyrics make no sense to the average listener (unless you speak Korean, of course! In which case, the lyrics are goofy anyway.) But humor isn't a standard quality of music; normally, when dissecting a song, "Is this song funny?" doesn't normally get factored in. All of this, inevitably, mixes into whether or not people will impulsively purchase the song for listening. The industry sees this, says, "Wow, we need us some of that!", and so the cycle continues. The problem I'm having is how little musicians can diversify their music when the industry needs more Gangnam style to reel in more money, as the point isn't to make amazing music, but to make what sells.

And yes, that song is quite atrocious Grin

I like weird music like that, and I don't know why. There's no industry for it, so I don't find a lot of music like it, as there's no incentive to make more music like that. It's horrible, but it's one of a kind--bad news for me Tongue

But the point I'd like to make is this: if a child is exposed to certain music while growing up, they'll have a tendency to like it. My brother and sister enjoy rap and hip-hop, because they went to a very urban school where that was the in-thing. Not the good kind of hip hop, either. Stuff like T-Pain, Lil' Wayne. There's no MF Doom on their platter, nor do you find Nujabes or Aesop. It's simply unusual, that people seem to have a love/hate relationship with top musicians, when 'hidden gems' as they're called remain loved by all their listeners. It's disproportionate. I love all the music I love, yet I still hear about music I don't love, and it's always a popular song everyone else falls in love with and I die a little bit because I know it's awful and took very little effort to compose.

Also, you're an excellent pianist! I've been playing for a year or two now, but I'm still nowhere near your level. Must practice.

You might enjoy this... Hauschka - Freibad

In my experience, there's always a ton of variety of music to choose from, so I guess I am not concerned with musicians trying to ride the waves of various trends. Some people are musical connoisseurs, while most people are not. To me, that's just fine. Those who like the music that the "hidden gems" produce can listen to that music. Those who like the more popular stuff can listen to the more popular stuff. I guess I just feel like the free market takes care of itself, because no matter what music you like, you can always find SOMETHING to listen to that fits your musical tastes.

I certainly agree about growing up with certain musical styles influencing a person's likes and dislikes, which does make trending musical styles more difficult to change. That might not be such an awful thing - musical styles do tend to help define the eras of humanity.

Regarding the lack of selection of atrocious music - I think there's a reason for that. Cheesy