Survey Shows Gen-Z Not Listening To Radio

[landtuna]

"much of "new" music is crap and has, predictability, lost a ton of interest..." because radio can't run a huge percentage of current hits due to lyrics. Or if they do, and edit, the songs sound awful. So that whole group does not listen to radio... but to them, the current new music is just as good as the new songs in the 50's and 60's were to me.

My take is the current generation (and past generation) doesn't know any different.

Recently I made a mix of 50's-early 60's Doo Wop/Pop (pre British Invasion) for my 12 year old granddaughter. She had obviously never heard virtually any of these songs before nor had a small collection of her female buddies. I gave it to them to use at a recent birthday party/sleepover (not at my house). The host parents told me later the kids stayed up most of the night listening to the songs over and over again and I've had requests to make copies. Two sets of parents also said they had not heard most of the songs either but really liked the selections as well. The 'Goldmine' just got 4 new listeners.

I asked my GD what they liked most about the music and she told me (1) lack of "bad" language and (2) lyrics they could understand.

I told her when she is ready to hit the dance circuit I will cut a Swing music mix to add to the 50's sock hop hits. Once the kids hear it they seem to love it as much as we did way back when.

 

[TheBigA]

My take is the current generation (and past generation) doesn't know any different.

Your granddaughter is too young. In five years she will learn about search engines and various ways to search music, and she will discover over 100 years of music history sitting in her phone, all cross referenced in a way that will alert her to other songs that fit her music taste. This is how young people today have discovered the 60s. It's all there and easy to find.

 

[landtuna]

When I used the words "new music," I meant newly released music, as opposed to current hit music. Those are two different categories in the chart world. So I wasn't saying there's no interest in current music, because there is. However, there are also people like you who aren't interested in current music. Statistically speaking, you're in the minority.

The music industry doesn't make much money writing or playing Doo Wop or Classic RnR type music. For that reason alone my 'minority' peers will always be a minority...until we are no longer on planet Earth.

For you younger folks just wait 50 years or so and then see how much current music is still revered. My money is on zip point squat.

 

[landtuna]

Your granddaughter is too young. In five years she will learn about search engines and various ways to search music, and she will discover over 100 years of music history sitting in her phone, all cross referenced in a way that will alert her to other songs that fit her music taste. This is how young people today have discovered the 60s. It's all there and easy to find.

She surpassed that several years ago. As someone in the IT profession since the 60's I continue to be amazed at her prowess with electronic search products. She definitely knows how to write queries.

 

[TheBigA]

She surpassed that several years ago. As someone in the IT profession since the 60's I continue to be amazed at her prowess with electronic search products. She definitely knows how to write queries.

It must drive her mother crazy. Most parents try (emphasis on try) to restrict their pre-teen's use of the internet.

 

[landtuna]

It must drive her mother crazy. Most parents try (emphasis on try) to restrict their pre-teen's use of the internet.

It does. Both her mother and her grandparents (me and wifey) constantly police her online activity. But I have to admit she has a normal interest and doesn't go in for inappropriate sites. It's always a learning experience though.

 

[PrezSquid]

I'm beating a dead horse here but I'll say it once again - much of "new" music is crap and has, predictability, lost a ton of interest.

which do you find crap, because if you're referring only to hip hop or pop top 40 stuff, you're really just critiquing a small percentage of a big music industry that releases so much stuff from commercial and indie labels under many genres, plus self-released stuff from artists on the internet people like.

I'm so tired of this muh oldddd music better shit, music never gets bad.

also as a gen zer maybe you guys should play new music again.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

I'm beating a dead horse here but I'll say it once again - much of "new" music is crap and has, predictability, lost a ton of interest.

The new music is precisely like the old. It’s a you issue, not a music issue.

 

[cc333]

Bad music is always bad regardless of age.

The Kingsmen's "Louie Louie", for example. It has an okay beat, but the lyrics are practically indecipherable and the vocals are obnoxious and childish. This was recorded in the 60's!

I'm beating a dead horse here but I'll say it once again - much of "new" music is crap and has, predictability, lost a ton of interest.

Because, for Top 40 Pop and Hip Hop, much of it is either too profane to air, or too derivative and repetitive.

My take is the current generation (and past generation) doesn't know any different.

I agree with this.

I grew up listening to my mother singing and writing folk songs, but a lot of people aren't, and when they hear that stuff, my observation is that they're impressed and really like it, some to the point that they want to hear more.

About 10 years ago she decided to go to SF's Fisherman's Wharf with her music to have a good time. I tagged along to help with the equipment, so I sat and watched the crowds go by. You know who was most intrigued and fascinated by her music? People in the 20-35 range, which surprised me, because I expected them to be mostly indifferent to it (I don't remember who the biggest stars were back then, but I do remember that Taylor Swift was still a relatively unknown country singer-songwriter who had only just then began to cross over).

So, perhaps it isn't the radio industry that's the problem so much as it's the Top 40 Pop/Hip Hop song factories that are, in my opinion, misreading a relatively small but important chunk of the audience and keep pumping out songs that none of them want. If they could produce stuff that a majority of people like that the radio can actually play without violating FCC rules and regulations, maybe radio could slow down listeners' migration to streaming.

I'm a novice here and I don't know or understand fully how all this works, so take this with an appropriately sized grain of salt.

c

 

[Miss Tuned]

A lot of the people running radio are old. They pump out a load of CHR music and commercials with nothing else going on, and go "hey, kids, listen to this!" and wonder why young people don't listen - because, when they were young, balls-to-the-wall CHR radio was the thing, the place to experience new music for the first time. But, as well-rehearsed on here, there are so many other places to get music these days.

Stations that offer a bit more tend to do better. BBC Radio 1's audience has declined a bit over recent years, but not as fast as other CHRs because they offer entertainment, celebrity and showbiz stuff, news tailored to a young audience, advice talk shows, and so on. Young people aren't going to be attracted by "hey! we play the hits!" because who cares? But "hey! we're a station offering the hits, and all this other stuff, and a sense of community, and we're in the same spaces as you on social media" and you're onto something.

 

[Kelly A]

The new music is precisely like the old. It’s a you issue, not a music issue.

And that's exactly right. I'll bet that new music in Landtuna's younger days was considered crap by his parents or grandparents.
Sometimes older folks need to remind themselves of that before labeling or criticizing.

 

[Kelly A]

A lot of the people running radio are old. They pump out a load of CHR music and commercials with nothing else going on, and go "hey, kids, listen to this!" and wonder why young people don't listen - because, when they were young, balls-to-the-wall CHR radio was the thing, the place to experience new music for the first time. But, as well-rehearsed on here, there are so many other places to get music these days.

Most radio professionals already know why younger people aren't discovering new music via radio, because they've lived it every day for the past ten plus years. That's just one element of competition that streaming and apps have rendered. Quality and availability on demand are two others.

Stations that offer a bit more tend to do better. BBC Radio 1's audience has declined a bit over recent years, but not as fast as other CHRs because they offer entertainment, celebrity and showbiz stuff, news tailored to a young audience, advice talk shows, and so on.

That's been the case for over twenty years. Morning shows that feature talent with the ability to capture and hold an audience with their banter has been most times a profitable aspect of the business model. Problem is; not every station or group can afford to pay for such talent, let alone find the right ones willing or able to work in their market. All the other music shows rest of the day, night, and weekends, are essentially fillers until that morning show airs.

Young people aren't going to be attracted by "hey! we play the hits!" because who cares?

But most time tomorrow's hits and artists aren't available to radio stations, and younger people go where those new artists live; social media.

 

[michael hagerty]

The new music is precisely like the old. It’s a you issue, not a music issue.

With 12,000+ posts to his name, I'm not gonna go looking, but I could pull essentially the same quote from Landtuna ten and even 15 years ago on this board. Along with anecdotes of young family members with surprisingly instant affection for 50s and 60s oldies. Johnny Mathis' and Elvis' appeal is eternal and spans generations in at least one house in Maricopa County, Arizona. I know this because I was part of those conversations at the time.

I don't doubt Landtuna at all---but this is where he's coming from.

 

[michael hagerty]

Bad music is always bad regardless of age.

The Kingsmen's "Louie Louie", for example. It has an okay beat, but the lyrics are practically indecipherable and the vocals are obnoxious and childish. This was recorded in the 60's!

Someone please get cc333 a copy of the Trashmen's "Surfin' Bird" and explain the brief moment pre-Beatles when surf music and garage rock fused.

Because, for Top 40 Pop and Hip Hop, much of it is either too profane to air, or too derivative and repetitive.

And yet, they find music to play and people to listen. CHR radio's problem isn't that the music is driving people away, it's that there are places with fewer compromises (no censorship, no 7-minute commercial breaks) required to hear it. 12-34s aren't abandoning CHR to go stream Classical.

I grew up listening to my mother singing and writing folk songs, but a lot of people aren't, and when they hear that stuff, my observation is that they're impressed and really like it, some to the point that they want to hear more.

About 10 years ago she decided to go to SF's Fisherman's Wharf with her music to have a good time. I tagged along to help with the equipment, so I sat and watched the crowds go by. You know who was most intrigued and fascinated by her music? People in the 20-35 range, which surprised me, because I expected them to be mostly indifferent to it (I don't remember who the biggest stars were back then, but I do remember that Taylor Swift was still a relatively unknown country singer-songwriter who had only just then began to cross over).

But not enough to make stars out of folk singers in the 2020s and not enough to support a radio format.

So, perhaps it isn't the radio industry that's the problem so much as it's the Top 40 Pop/Hip Hop song factories that are, in my opinion, misreading a relatively small but important chunk of the audience and keep pumping out songs that none of them want. If they could produce stuff that a majority of people like that the radio can actually play without violating FCC rules and regulations, maybe radio could slow down listeners' migration to streaming.

Again, they're not rejecting the music. If they were, you can believe the artists, producers and labels would adjust accordingly. There are royalties and concert grosses riding on it.

They're not migrating to streaming because they're offended by what's on the radio in edited form---they're migrating to streaming to hear what the artist is saying and then make their own decision about whether it's something they want to hear again.

And in a world where there is no distinction between singles and album tracks, there's a lot to choose from. Radio, being linear, can only deliver so many songs, one at a time, in an hour.

 

[Kelly A]

Just the fact that we're comparing do-wop and The Kingsman with why young people don't listen to the radio today, speaks volumes as to the vintage of the perspective.

 

[michael hagerty]

Just the fact that we're comparing do-wop and The Kingsman with why young people don't listen to the radio today, speaks volumes as to the vintage of the perspective.

Someone just PMed me with a Landtuna post from 2012---eleven years ago.

In the first line of it he writes:

"...the music died in 1983."

So, really, for Landtuna, everything in the last FORTY years is crap.

 

[Kelly A]

So, really, for Landtuna, everything in the last FORTY years is crap.

And in the scheme of things; that's a long time.

 

[michael hagerty]

And in the scheme of things; that's a long time.

With some really great hit music that came after.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Someone just PMed me with a Landtuna post from 2012---eleven years ago.

In the first line of it he writes:

"...the music died in 1983."

So, really, for Landtuna, everything in the last FORTY years is crap.

And you know what my parents prattled on about in 1983? How bad the modern music was then. That, however, is a pattern I have tried to break. Yes, my affection is and probably always will be skewed to my younger years. Great. And there’s plenty of music today (and was plenty of music back then) that just isn’t my thing. Doesn’t make it bad. Doesn’t make the people who like it bad. It means it doesn’t work for me, but I can appreciate that it does resonate with others and that’s what matters.

And there are plenty of songs and artists today I enjoy quite a bit. Granted, it may be the kiss of death for any performer to be liked by someone like me.

 

[michael hagerty]

And there are plenty of songs and artists today I enjoy quite a bit. Granted, it may be the kiss of death for any performer to be liked by someone like me.

Exactly. I'm 67. I'm not SUPPOSED to like what's on CHR. If artists and producers played their stuff for me and I told them I liked it, I wouldn't blame them for rushing back into the studio to figure out how they screwed up.