People stop checking for new music by age 30

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

I heard on the radio this week that people stop seeking out new music by the time they reach age 30 on average using a term made up called "musical paralysis". Looking up articles about it, it seems to be a recent study released that made the claim. Some of the reasons cited include busy lifestyle, being parents, or being overwhelmed by the choices available. It kind of makes sense on a surface level. Most people recite music from their late teens and 20s as the best music of all time.

mixmag.net/read/research-suggests-that-people-stop-discovering-new-music-at-age-30-news

I found this interesting because I consider myself someone who purposely looks for new music and who spends so much time listening to music, and I keep a weekly personal chart (which turns 20 this year!) yet a few years ago I found myself at a point where I couldn't find enough new songs that interested me and I had to cut my chart down from a top 100 to a top 40. It's interesting that I'm someone who makes an effort to discover new music, even if just to have something for my chart, so I can only imagine how much work or effort a casual music fan puts into it.

It seems that for me, 31 was the age where I found myself digging more into old favourites than getting into new music. I still look for new releases but for the most part, it's become new albums by artists I already like. 2015 was the last year I discovered and loved new artists (and even now I find myself nostalgia for 2015). In trying to think about any new artist who has emerged in the last couple years, I don't think I can think of anyone I really care about. Even acts I would normally have liked had they come out 10 years I don't get into. It's not for lack of desire to find new artists, I don't think, at least for me. It's more of a lack of anything that grabs my interest but I don't know if that's because nothing coming out lately really works for me and it's only temporary or if it's something more internal. I do miss the feeling of discovering someone amazing and being obsessed for a period of time. It's such an exciting feeling.

For anyone here over 30, do you think this applies to you at all?

[Deleted]

I think major music fans like the people who post here are probably the exception. I still seek out new music almost every day. I'd say 90%+ of what I listen to is older music, but I still love discovering new songs and artists. However, of the new music I seek out, I tend to gravitate more to music that reminds me of the music I grew up on.. so I'm not really listening to pop radio to discover new music. I'm using blogs, social media, last.fm, etc. to discover new music.

[Deleted]

YES! However, it was 40 for me. For the majority of my 30s, I was both a radio and club DJ, so I was still very much seeking out and into new music.

But, yeah, it's like now I can barely be bothered listening to a new album that's right there, free, on Spotify, while I'm sitting at my desk with earbuds sitting right there. I'm all focused on building my massive iTunes playlists of singles from the 60s through today and listening to them on random shuffle and living my best past life.  I do still check out new stuff, but I don't obsess over it.

Sidebar: Speaking of my hit singles playlists, the Hot 100 and peak positions are a great reference (minus that infamous time in the 90s)... but I've found that today's Hot 100 is so littered with deceptively high peaks for songs that came and went within a week or four. It requires more subjectivity on my behalf, because these playlists are mostly for me, but I also want them to be comprehensive, with a standard for "real" hits. It's tricky!

Anyway, yeah... I'm glad it's a thing and not just me. I used to think my dad was such a bullhead for being so into his 60s music and not listening to much current stuff.  But now I'm basically him and it's a strange but very real thing.

[Fat Ass Kelly Price]

*23. I’m so bad at checking out new music.

[boscy]

Many people find new music and acts by listening to their satellite radio formats in their cars.  They choose a genre and only find new music when something unfamiliar catches their attention.  If they choose an oldies station, they will never hear new music.

[Chelsea Press 2]

I'm 34 and I still seek out new music all the time. It's so much easier to find and discover new music via Spotify and even social media. I do listen to a lot of stuff that I grew up with too, but I have also gone backwards and discovered "new" music from the 70s and 80s that I missed out on before. I love finding other music from the times I was around for that I missed out on. I do find myself not liking some of the trends and styles of music coming out now, but there is a lot out right now that I am liking.

I have a friend I have known for a long time who is exactly as mentioned in the initial post. He will not look for or listen to anything new, nut it goes much further than that, he will hate on and bash anything and everything that comes out even by artists he once followed religiously before. He's the one I mentioned in another post who felt that Madonna's last good album was Like A Prayer and that everything that came after that was desperate and bad. He's definitely an outlier in that regard. We share a love for 80s and 90s music so we have that in common.

[Jay D83]

I can dig it. I'm 34 years old and around 2013 I fell totally out of favor with most of what was hot and now I only find new songs by accident. I no longer seek them out and find myself singing commercials more than new music. It's sad. LOL.

My favorite radio format is Urban AC and with them adding more and more "old school hip hop" I don't need another format.

[Az Paynter]

If the topic title holds true I have 16 months left before I become a total stick in the mud. #ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmm

[His Holiness]

I'm not 30 yet so I guess I'll check back with you in a few years!

But I think with Spotify playlists and stuff it's now very easy to passively discover new music. And don't older people listen to the radio?

[korbel16]

Aug 18, 2018 13:10:28 GMT -5 His Holiness said:

I'm not 30 yet so I guess I'll check back with you in a few years!

But I think with Spotify playlists and stuff it's now very easy to passively discover new music. And don't older people listen to the radio?

i was thinking that??? My mom knows songs that are relatively new through the radio. She knew what in my feelings was and a lot of number 1 songs because of it lol

[His Holiness]

Aug 18, 2018 14:10:04 GMT -5 korbel16 said:

Aug 18, 2018 13:10:28 GMT -5 His Holiness said:

I'm not 30 yet so I guess I'll check back with you in a few years!

But I think with Spotify playlists and stuff it's now very easy to passively discover new music. And don't older people listen to the radio?

i was thinking that??? My mom knows songs that are relatively new through the radio. She knew what in my feelings was and a lot of number 1 songs because of it lol

I discovered many new songs by going around with Uber!

[Gary]

I missed this memo

I have a Billboard magazine subscription and have for a long time. Guess I should cancel it - LOL

[Deleted]

If you're a musicophile (as most people here tend to be) this likely won't apply, but it totally makes sense for the "average" consumer, who probably only ever passively consumed music from the start. When you're younger you have the time and interest to pay attention to all that stuff, but as personal and work life responsibilities increase, both your time and interest decrease. Radio doesn't really break new artists much if at all these days so it's unlikely that someone who gets their music listening in that way will discover much of anything. Streeaming is easy - once you discover it's there - but again, that's the rub, having the time to actively discover this whole new way of passive listening.

I'm on the edge of 37 and I'm still very much into discovering new music but even I have noticed in the past few years that I don't have quite as much time to get into things as I would like. So I'll be aware about stuff that has been released but if it's not a big 'fave' I don't get around to listening until a week, or two weeks, or even a month later.

Something interesting/sort of odd I've noticed about myself - I grew up listening to all kinds of music, but r&b (and to a lesser extent hip-hop) was always my favorite. The past several years, I realized I am much more into new pop music than I am into new r&b/hip-hop - and when I do get into new music from those two genres, it is often stuff that reminds me either of 'old-school' music or just of older artists, in the way they used to approach the way they wrote and and promoted their music. I do like some contemporary urban stuff but it's a lot harder for me to get into it right away than it is with new pop music for some reason.

[¤ Matthea ¤]

I'm 30. I do think I'm getting more and more disinterested in current mainstream music. The main reason for this being the rise of rap/hip-hop. Aside from an Eminem single here and there or a rap feature on a pop track, I just don't care for rap. Mostly because I'm a white woman from mainland Europe, I just can't relate to rap culture in America. As I said, Eminem sometimes catches my attention, but that's about it.

I still live for great new pop songs that appear here and there, but pop genre has been in decline for a few years now. It's like, artists, writers, producers, etc. that used to produce heaps of instat pop hits in the past are now struggling to produce anything that sounds remotely as good as their past work. Even if they try to come up with something fresh, they fail to make good stuff.

Not long ago I listened to 'Today's Top Hits' on Spotify and realized I hated or didn't like most of the stuff on it. Now I make my own pop playlists and search for playlists that mostly contain pop music.

[Red]

Yeah, I heard about this study not that long ago...and it makes sense. Hell, I've seen it happen to some of my friends and family in real time. But I can also say that it does not apply to me at all. If anything, I'm more interested in seeking out music I haven't heard before than I used to be. I assume this is because it's easier to discover new music than it has ever been thanks to Spotify and other streaming services. I've said this before, but I'd also say that Pulse has played a big role in my taste in music evolving. I've discovered more music through Pulse in the last two years than I can begin to comprehend.

[Troublemaker]

So according to the article I have less than 6 months to stop discovering new music (hmm). Considering I discover most of my new music through here, iTunes recommendation and my friends, I highly doubt my OCD will stop my quest for new music.

[Deleted]

Considering my parents' stagnant tastes in music, yes. Seriously, they know absolutely no new stuff except for whatever AC stations play.

[Deleted]

I think i'll always enjoy discovering new songs and artists to listen to and love, but I'll be honest I have actively given up on searching for it myself. Usually if I hear a song I enjoy, I'll just make a radio station on apple music and run through that, but I'm not putting in much work these days. Honestly I barely know who's even being played on the radio anymore.

Why do I post here

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Aug 18, 2018 15:41:39 GMT -5 @antigonerising said:

I'm on the edge of 37 and I'm still very much into discovering new music but even I have noticed in the past few years that I don't have quite as much time to get into things as I would like. So I'll be aware about stuff that has been released but if it's not a big 'fave' I don't get around to listening until a week, or two weeks, or even a month later.

This is kind of where I am. I *want* to discover music and sometimes put the effort into finding it but the desire isn't the way it used to be and I find even when I find something I like, I revert back to putting on something from the 2000s or whatever.

I've also wondered how much of it is associated with experiences and making memories. Admittedly I don't go out as much as I used to and I would often link certain artists, albums or songs with specific memories, events or people, so not having those as much kind of doesn't really give me much for new music to really latch on to. I think that's become the main missing component for me when trying to find new music to love that I will come back to in the future. Most of what I listen to now that's old tends to be something I've had some sort of connection with at some point in the past. So maybe for me it isn't even about the music at all?

[DJ General]

This is really interesting. I was thinking today actually about my "personal chart" and how long I would keep it up for. I have done it since around 2008 and then I stopped after 2016 because it was just a lot of work and prep to do (or at least how I did it) and in 2017 I dialed it back a bit and did a much simpler way of just noting favorites of the year but still picking a "#1 song" of every week. Then I started to miss it and instead of a Top 40 I made a Top 10 for 2018. so now im doing that each week.

I still always check out new music though. I love to discover new artists. Since music is such a big part of my life, and watching the charts, I think it is something that will always be there for me though.

[jenglisbe]

For me a lot of discovering new music has to do with friends and romantic partners; they expose me to what they listen to. If you stop meeting new people - as often happens to people in their 30s and older - that could be another part of it.

[owenlovesmusic]

Interesting. Definitely true for my mother.

[Envoirment]

Perhaps it's due to people being more concrete in the artists they enjoy as well? I've definitely found myself sticking to the same set of artists as I get older. Not that I don't branch out looking for new music/artists; particularly if one produces music that I really enjoy (Jess Glynne for example).

My music library is rather large as well and there are lots of songs that I love that I don't listen to much anymore and I've been re-exploring my library recently. Perhaps that's another reason?

[Luckie Starchild]

This is a concept that really only applies to straight people.

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

I mean, what are they defining as "discovering"? Just listening to new music that has come out? Or saying that you're a fan of a new artist? Does it count as "discovering new music" if you're listening to a new album by an artist you already previously enjoyed?

[Unhinged]

At 37 I find that I pretty much have the same thirst for new music as I always have. But like some have mentioned here before that's probably because I'm obsessed w/music and always have been. More so than your "average" listener. I see a lot of my friends not give a fuck about anything new and I'm the one saying "but check this new song out, it's so good!" That said, I do find it harder and harder to find new artists now-a-days that I can connect with, and that's most likely due to my age. Looking at my personal chart I definitely still latch on to the artists that I grew up with but I actually recently expanded my chart from a Top 20 to a Top 40 cause I was just finding so much new quality music thanks to Spotify.

I hope that my attitude towards new music never changes and when I'm 75 I'm still checking for it. I love my oldies but I love the new stuff too!

[stunnedout]

Aug 18, 2018 9:51:56 GMT -5 @jazzysoul47 said:

I think major music fans like the people who post here are probably the exception. I still seek out new music almost every day. I'd say 90%+ of what I listen to is older music, but I still love discovering new songs and artists. However, of the new music I seek out, I tend to gravitate more to music that reminds me of the music I grew up on.. so I'm not really listening to pop radio to discover new music. I'm using blogs, social media, last.fm, etc. to discover new music.

Same. I'm honestly listening to the same stuff I grew up listening to, but I give all new music a chance and I pick a few songs here and there. I also enjoy discovering old music before my era.

[Love Plastic Love]

Hmmm. I would say I still enjoy discovering new music and finding new music. However, I do care way, way less about the actual artists. Like, dear god, I used to be so invested in the actual artists and their success and now that seems like such a waste of time. I want new music, but I don't really care who is making it or if they are talented or not or if they are successful or not.

I am early 30s and not straight, if that matters

[SHOOTER]

I actively seek out new music but streaming services have made it incredibly easy to do so. If I was stuck scouring for it on blogs or listening to the radio, I doubt I'd bother as much I do. Plus I listen to a variety of music so going down genre rabbit holes of new artists/music from time-to-time is rather rewarding for me.

[Red]

Aug 19, 2018 19:00:44 GMT -5 Luckie Starchild said:

This is a concept that really only applies to straight people.

I guess that makes me the exception to the rule twice over.