For years I've been analyzing and understanding the downfall of mainstream rock music, which will ultimately be posts, a book, or maybe even a doc.
Something I'm always observning is media consumption and how it's changed in the past twenty years.
THINK ABOUT IT!
In 1999 we were still buying CD's, going to Blockbuster, and watching TRL. To get all the Sunday NFL highlights usually required watching lots of ESPN and your phone was good for sending text messages and playing snake.
Then we started buying iPods in 2001 and MySpace and Facebook started surfacing a few years later. These three things alone would start to take up our traditional media consumption.
Now it's 2019 and literally everything can be consumed by our smart phone.
Yep, I'm a cord cutter. In the mornings I listen to UpFirst and The Daily via podcast and then switchover to YouTube for some Morning Joe. During the day if I'm not on a computer I'm listening to music via Apple Music or Spotify and more podcasts. By the evening I'm watching videos again on YouTube from traditonal networks (NBC, ComedyCentral, Vice, ESPN) to concert footage shot on iPhones and cooking segments on Bon Appetit.
Throughout the day, I'm on Instagram where I manage two accounts (@noshcity-foodie related) and (@mordyskosherpalace-everything else). Social media alone is taking up the time that used to be allotted for traditional TV, movies, and yes music.
It's pretty simple, think about how much time you spend on social media to watching two hours of television or a movie at night.
From my observations, music is now consumed primarlily while in transit (commuting), exercising, in social situations (concerts, parties, dining out), and through social media.
In a way, it takes more of a background role, then a principal role. The TV show is the principal, the music played throughout an episode is the background and it takes your own effort to find out the artist/song.
The dominant force in music consumption has been streaming led by companies like Spotify and YouTube.
I'm a music nerd and prefer to even have an actual mp3 file, compared to streaming but I'm in the minority. Streaming is the future and yes that helps but still is a strain on the artist/bands. You can make the album, but now you are more reliant on touring, merchandising, sponsorships, etc.
The main issue I'm getting at it is, as consumers of media we are consumed by other things compared to twenty years ago. So it only makes sense that the music industry and all media in general is constantly trying figure out how to increase viewership. ad revenue, and subscriptions in an increasing competitive market to grab the consumer's attention.
To be continued...
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