Why bands are disappearing: "Young people aren’t excited by them"
Why bands are disappearing: "Young people aren’t excited by them"
Maroon 5’s Adam Levine was scoffed at for suggesting there ‘aren’t any bands any more’ – but if you look at the numbers, he’s right. Wolf Alice, Maximo Park and industry insiders ask why
I was looking into why I just don't see cover bands at my local venue but this hits a bit deeper at the issue.
I wonder if how niche music tastes have become has something to do with it.
Maybe it's the fact that it's so fucking expensive to do anything, forcing us inside which is reenforcing itself rather cyclically. It is really hard to get excited about things when you don't have the funds to go out and do things. I am older but would be going out way more to events if I didn't cringe at the money I know I will be dropping on these nights out. Third real world spaces are dearly needed and people are getting priced out of them. I used to go out to music events at least once a week ten years ago.
Venues: "It'll be $50 just to come in and stand for an hour, not including drinks, and if you want premium space that'll be an extra 100 to actually be relatively close to the band"
People: "Uh, nah thanks, I have to buy groceries and survive, you know"
Venues: "No one wants to go to concerts anymore!"
Edit: I also searched the article, "Cost" shows up once but for artist cost, "ticket", "entrance", "price" never show up. What a boomer article. "These damn kids don't want to even go to music concerts anymore" and completely leaves out the most important detail on why.
Bought concert tickets for October. Total cost for tickets was $195.20. It's not a local show (ie: the bands have recognition beyond our town), so we have to travel to the city - 4 hours plus a $75 ferry. Plus overnight stay and food in the city. And we need a sitter to watch the kids, overnight.
So we're pushing $600-$700 for a concert. That's a "once every few years" thing, when we've saved enough and the band is one we really want to see.
Local shows are rock cover bands on a Sunday evening, usually, but I work Monday at 6am.
I think you mean “third spaces” but great point otherwise.
I donno why my city hates public pavilions so much.
Ok I know why it's because they hate the poors that hangout there.
Ah yes, sorry! Thank you!
Definitely agree with the dude talking about how niche music has gotten. And to the dude who said "all new music sucks", get out from under your rock man. Theres just so many bands/artists creating so much music now, some is bound to be good. Its easier than ever to record a song and get it out on the internet. The bloat makes it harder to find stuff you jive with, but when you do it almost feels tailor made for your ears.
bands aren’t disappearing. Small local bands are still cheap and great fun. I know, i’m in one. We tour locally every year and play a show every weekend throughout summer. We have to turn people down because we are so booked up. And that’s not just us, but most locals i know. People still love live music just as much as they ever did.
Thanks for making music, I love local bands.
The article is definitely one of those that pushes back on the editorialized headline.
thank you for coming out and listening! Y’all are the reason i love those 20h days of playing a show.
Bands aren’t disappearing, it’s just that DIY is more inclusive from both a fiscal standpoint and enjoyment standpoint. I don’t think many bands want to grow to the point of doing stadium tours and having the stress of appeasing their labels, managers, venues, merch sweatshops, etc… To me, music seems to be about music again and many up and coming bands are avoiding the industry in favor of the artistry.
yup. this is one of those articles that pushes back on the overly editorialized headline.
I think you nailed it. Artists can lose a lot when/if they get big. They can lose creative freedom, lose time with their loved ones, lose privacy, lose control of where they go and what they do, and more. Especially with the internet these days.
The label :
"You have to pretend to be single so fans will think they could date you. We want a bad boy/girl look for you".
"I like what you're doing, but these sounds are trending right now, so you'll have to incorporate that instead. Oh, our marketing team thought that this logo suits our idea for you better".
"I don't care that your grandma just died, you have a gig to play!".
"We're taking our cut now".
The consumers : (exaggerated, but maybe only by a bit for some people.)
"How dare you try to enjoy a private date! I bought a ticket to your show last year, so you practically owe me your soul!"
"Your old stuff was better. Why would you change the sound?".
"You haven't changed your sound in years, you're stale".
"You're so sick you can barely move? False. Musicians NEVER get sick"
I would require enough money to dissapear off of the face of the earth to ever go into that industry.
Maybe it’s because I’m old, but modern music SUCKS (yeah, blanket statement. There will always be exceptions, I know). It all lacks that organic warm feeling that elicits that feel good thing music used to bring.
I honestly don’t think niche music tastes have as much to do with it as much as music seems to have become exactly like movies. Rehash something from the 80s again and call it new or like all the marvel/dc mcshit.
This is honestly just a bad take. If you don't hear any music currently that doesn't sound the way you like it then you aren't looking in the right places. More music is being produced now than any other time in history, blanketly saying "all music now sucks" shows more about you then the current state of music.
Yeah I agree with you. I’m 40 now but grew up listening to music all the time. I’ve got a bunch of kids now so it’s hard to actively find new stuff on my own. I just subscribe to satellite radio and they do a pretty damn good job of finding good stuff. I just add to my library, and get more recommendations. Works well.
That's another reason I am thinking niche music has killed the cover band.
There's no way a band can cover a wide enough range of todays music to make a $5 ticket viable.
Or, maybe I just don’t like modern music as a whole. I know it’s hard for people to grasp , but it’s very possible. As I said in my original reply, there are exceptions, but as a whole, no.
More of something doesn’t mean it’s good.
Please do tell me, where should I be looking. I use pretty much all of the major music services (for different things) so what other super hidden special places should I be?
I understand the sentiment but I disagree. I've found the best music ever from producers and bands formed after my 20s and 30s.
I just won't be seeing them in local venues anytime soon because almost all of them are from outside of the US and aren't in the "top 40" spotlight.
@AttackBunny @JoYo modern music always sucks. the reason why the music of the past seems better is because nobody remembers all the chaff that populated the charts.
We also don't have time to listen to all current music.
It's not that we don't remember it, we've never even heard it.
Oh trust me, there is plenty of older music that I hate, however, I could throw a rock from about any song/band and find one I like. Now, not so much.
I agree with many comments here saying this is a bad take, but I'm generally curious on how you're arriving to it.
How do you find "new music"? What is your approach?
Satellite radio (Sirius XM) works for me
Apple Music, Amazon music, pandora etc.
It’s all just so….. fake. Everything is auto tuned to shit.
Drum machines of the 80s were equally shit sound imo. It happens every generation, but modern music seems to have nothing organic about it now.
I don’t think it’s a bad take, it’s just that verbally speaking, I don’t like modern music. As I said in my original reply, I know there are exceptions, but blanket statement holds true for me.
It’s not that music from the last 20 years sucks, more that it is just more of the same. There aren’t many bands you can listen to today where their sound isn’t that of a prior era, maybe slightly redone. When was the last real new musical genre? 90’s electronic, hip hop, R&b? 80s brought us alternative grunge and synth music. 70’s disco and prog rock and so on.
That’s kinda part of the problem though, isn’t it? Music used to evolve. There used to be distinct generations and genres, and sounds, character, and feelings, and everything. Now it’s just more and more of the same. It’s stagnant I guess is my issue with it. It all kinda sounds like a bad rerun of a crappy early 2000s pop song with no character.
I'm in the midwest USA and even here you can see Hip-Hop and EDM taking over where pop and rock would've been the go-to. All the venues/bars that play rock look like a retirement home party now. I'd much rather dance to a DJ then a cover band playing the same shit I've heard a million times over the last 30 years.
dudes out of touch music today is more diverse with less industry influence than ever
The article is about pop music. Not music in general. If you read far enough to see the statistics on various pop charts and musical festivals, you'll see the point they're trying to make more clearly.
the title is editorialized
Speaking as someone in the UK, specifically about here but it may apply elsewhere:
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everything is vastly more expensive than before, with help slashed for individuals and groups
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Brexit. Bands used to be able to tour Europe just as easily as in the UK, aside from the whole language thing. Drive to the coast, get on a ferry, drive from France. We could earn there with no issues, perform with limited issues, but now? Not any more. Anyone other than established bands have been cut out.
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Due to the cost of living, COVID, etc, venues have shut down on a huge scale. I have many locations I used to love seeing bands at which have ALL shut down. Some were around for decades prior. Where can new bands tour now? The pubs I knew that offered places to perform have now also gone, some out of business and others out of noise abation notices due to new apartments nearby.
And in my opinion really, all this has an effect on bands. Why bother putting one together when you aren't going to be able to gig easily anymore?
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Marketb is over saturated with cover bands. If you don't seem then at your local venue it's because the promoter simply doesn't want to book cover bands. If anything cover bands are too damn popular
They're promoted here as sing-alongs.
I live in a major city so the local venues here need a certain headcount before they'll book an event.
There's some very popular cover bands here but there are even less venues that can support them.
white ford bronco is the biggest one I know and their show sell out.
The article is about pop music. Not music in general. If you read far enough to see the statistics on various pop charts and musical festivals, you'll see the point they're trying to make more clearly.
Our local scene was decimated by pay to play promoters and it's never really recovered. We would have to pay in to presell tickets and then try to sell them just to try to break even when opening at 4:30 on a Wednesday. Not exactly a good way to gain new fans.
The actual promoters did nothing to really promote the gig since they were preselling to local bands they made their money that way.
If you're popular enough it's not tough to sell tickets once and awhile but if you want to play monthly, your pool of potential ticket buyers shrinks since not everyone can go to a show that often.
Technology supporting solo artists hits close to home.
It was certainly a larger factor in my decision to quit playing in bands, that composing/DAW software allowed me to make music in a similar fashion.In many ways, it's better than playing in a band, because you can make exactly the music you enjoy and play not just one instrument, but a whole orchestra.
Obviously, this is far easier said than done and there's many awesome parts of being in a band, too, but I can definitely see this being the preferred alternative for many people.
Pretty much how Trent Reznor started out. Still used guest members for live shows and touring, but I think he played everything himself in studio with Pretty Hate Machine and The Downward Spiral.
There's a place right behind my flat that does live bands 3-4 nights a week, cover is usually less than seeing a movie, never more than 30/40 people there. I know it's tough for venues/bars to pay the bands (a proper rate) and turn a profit some nights, but I really reapect the event-led places that keep it up.