The Decline of the Music Industry

Arguments are only arguments when they are factual. There is no factual basis for stating people are less educated, as they clearly are not. Your attempt to define "education" as it suits your argument is straw-man.  There is probably less music education, but, at least with popular music, it is not apparent that there is a high correlation from "forced" music education and a drive to create popular music.  Even the notion that there is a "decline" in music can be argued against.

You are basically throwing stuff against a wall and hoping it will stick without showing correlation let alone causation.

Maybe the death of music is because for the most part, life is too easy.  With the coming generation, things are really sucking for them.  If they can get away from synthesizers and learn some skills, perhaps they can turn that angst into something rebellious and interesting?


I think it is one of the reasons for the rise of black/ethnic "pop" music through the 90's into the 2000's. Everyone else had it too good, so there was not enough "emotion" to drive the song writing.


Please don't take what I am writing as racist, I am looking at influences and how that differed by race. I find it interesting.

"White" pop had a peak in the 80's. It was a reflection/culmination of life. Hey, look at us, we have prosperity, no one is trying to nuke us today, walls are coming down. Let's celebrate life. Prior to that, there was lots of angst about any number of things, so songs either reflected it or escaped it.  You of course still had good stuff after, but "happy" that is so meh/80's.  However, those that didn't get to partake in the enlightenment still had angst and perhaps even more anger. That gave rise to black pop music with edge, and we could say the "escape" of latin.

It's funny, because looking at China, they have a developing music scene, but it is like U.S. radio in the 50's --- all shiny and happy, because that is all that is allowed. I wonder if there is not some interesting underground as I am sure there is a lot of buried angst.

That’s okay mahgister, I think you burned out too many brain cells and you ramble because you like to hear yourself.


However, dismissing what I wrote, while taking a childish and lazy way out, gets you no honors, at least in my book.


If you don’t want to live in reality and talk about the real world, then you go ahead and leave it to the adults who are not afraid of more difficult topics.


You, the op perhaps, and zappa say "decline of music" but what you really mean is decline of music that you like or appreciate. Not everyone feels that way, and if you think factors that affected large swaths of society as a whole do not influence music and the people who make it then you have lost touch with reality. Poverty may be poverty, but if a poverty rate of a portion of society goes from 25% to 5%, then you will have far less music about poverty in the portion of society. When is the last time you heard a song about the Russians nuking us?

People are more educated and more diversely educated than they have ever been. Most popular music is created by people with a passion for music, not because their parents forced them to study violin. If there is never another violin virtuoso alive, my life won't change and neither will most others, though I am not sure who will perform the next Star Wars theme.

I don’t remember (and I remember it well), people giving much attention in the 80’s to nuclear war. Not at all like the 70’s and 60’s. The Soviet Union influence and decline was already in motion. Sure you had songs like 99 luft-balloons, and Forever Young, but 80’s pop was super happy overall, and it really peaked just as the Soviet Union was collapsing, and it was, like rock before it, almost exclusively white. Music from the black community, and I won’t call it African American as that would leave out the UK and others, had popularity in the 80s/90s, but the most popular was happy and not edgy whether Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, or Whipme Houston.

But as the 80’s progressed, if you wanted "edgy" music, music that spoke to youth either disinfranchised, or wanted to be, and certainly through the 90’s and 2000’s, it came predominantly from the Black community, through rap, hip-hop, urban. In the 90’s it was Janet, Mariah and Darius (Hootie and the Blowfish), in the 2000’s it was 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, and Usher, and I would throw in Eminem for the genre. Have you looked at what the top artists are with the <=25 crowd for the last 10-20 years? ... Ed Sheeran is not their Who/Stones or even Depeche Mode. If you can’t take off your "I am offended by everything" hat, then just exit the conversation. Whether rap, hip-hop, urban, it reflects angst, anger, or just being rebellious ... what drove much of what all those old white audiophiles thought was great "popular" music in the 60s, 70s, 80s.


The rise of latin music to me more mainstream language agnostic is a combination of demographics, but more so readily available streaming like you-tube. Perhaps cultural reflection, but it it generally happy music, and people need that escape too.


.. and whether I am black, white, or pink with blue pokadots does not change the argument.

simao1,147 posts01-27-2021 7:29pm@tjkurita That whole album was pretty good when it came out. The original title of that track was to have been "Mediterranean Queen", but marketing music peeps thought that wouldn't appeal to the lucrative American audience, so Ocean changed it.

Its and interesting comment. While music is popular world-wide, English countries really drive the dollars. Despocito may be the biggest on Youtube, where most streaming is free, but on paid sites, Ed Sheeran is the big dog. Psy was initially a bit "dismissive" of the U.S. till someone reminded him that virtually all his income was from the U.S., UK, as artists by law pretty much can only make a pittance in Korea for their music. They can make good money touring, but from the music itself,little.

@bob540,

Given a choice between Nelly doing Hot in Herre, or Shirley Ellis doing Name Game I will take Hot in Herre any day. How repressed does society need to be for a song like "name game".  I don't pine for that lost era one bit.

Ed Sheeran and Adele are two of the most popular artists today. Are you claiming they are not talented. I can't stand Drake personally but obviously talented, like Eminem whether you like him or not.  The Weekend?  Latin pop? 


With almost no sales of recorded material, just streaming, it is difficult for artists to get started and hone their craft. "Groups" can't hold it together long enough to get good and get their break. I think that is why solo artists dominate now. Even simple societal things like an excess of structured play (even including music lessons) can have negative unintended consequences.

Personally I find most of the music that Frank Zappa did himself to be pretty much noise, which is probably why most people, even if from that "age group" can't tell you even one song he does. Perhaps he is not the best person to judge?