How Streaming is Changing the Sound of Pop

[freebit 6,240]

Interesting article from Pitchfork, a lot of it makes me cringe. Y'all need to read it. It's pretty illuminating and illustrates why I kind of HATE the homogeneous sound of the streaming era. Here are some excerpts:

“In sessions, people have genuinely been saying, ‘Oh, we need to make something that sounds like Spotify,’” says Emily Warren, a singer-songwriter behind hits including Charli XCX’s “Boys” and the Chainsmokers’ “Don’t Let Me Down.” According to the artists, songwriters, producers, and executives interviewed for this piece, no aspect of a song, from production to vocal performance, is unaffected by the regime change.

Mencel describes streaming data as a guide for artists as they start putting out music. “Spotify tells you what your job is,” she explains, adding that her tracks are especially popular on the Teen Party playlist, a fizzy top hits collection with almost 3 million followers. This raises a slightly radical notion: Artists are now essentially creating with specific playlists in mind, potentially blurring traditional radio formats in the process.

Apparently, the first 30 seconds of a song are more crucial than ever:

In order for a stream to count toward chart tallies and, reportedly, for royalty payouts, a given song must be played for at least 30 seconds. That’s why, while how a song starts has always been important in pop, with streaming it’s more crucial than ever.

The reason why most streaming hits are full of breathy and mumbly vocals:

“People are listening smaller,” says songwriter Ross Golan, who interviews Top 40 songwriters like Stargate and Bonnie McKee on his “And the Writer Is...” podcast and has credits on hits including Selena Gomez’s “Same Old Love” and Ariana Grande’s “Dangerous Woman.” To Golan, this leads to production that feels like the singer is closer in your ear—music for headphones rather than car stereos, let alone arenas—and lyrics that sound more like they’re directed at the individual listener than at a crowd. “It takes a lot of confidence to sing quietly,” he says. “If you look at the Top 50 songs on Spotify, most of them have these almost mumbly-type performances. Even Kendrick and Drake—the rappers now are not these aggressive rappers. What’s popular is intimacy.”

Why "It Ain't Me" was a hit while "Bad Liar" underperformed:

It’s also possible to write songs “wrong” for streaming, and all that merciless data reveals some sobering realities. Selena Gomez’s recent single, “Bad Liar,” samples the stalking bassline from Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer”—a popular reference for the record-collector set, perhaps, but not well-known enough to take advantage of streaming’s entrenched logic of familiarity. The song was praised by critics, who cited its originality and wit, but for all its merits, it turned to be a relative flop, maxing out at No. 20 on the Hot 100 in July and spending most of its time on the charts outside the Top 40.

By contrast, “It Ain’t Me,” Gomez’s by-the-numbers collaboration earlier this year with trop-house stalwart Kygo, who has never heard a pan flute he didn’t like, was an international smash, peaking at No. 10 in America and hanging around Top 20 for weeks on end. The moral of this tale of two songs couldn’t be clearer: If Gomez goes by the data, which is more definitive than ever before, she could simply remake “It Ain’t Me” until the metrics tell her otherwise.

 

******

So, all in all, I feel that even though a songwriter interviewed here claims streaming has "opened up creativity", I feel as if it's the opposite - if anything, streaming is making songwriters more formulaic. This sentence pretty much sums it up for me:

The relentless pursuit of global impressions could lead to more songwriting that’s as palatable and predictable in its own ways as the pre-streaming Top 40, and as beholden to the overseas box office as the superhero and sequel-stuffed contemporary film industry. 

[Salvador Sequea 813]

if I hated Spotify before this, now I kind of hate it even more 

Nothing compares to have your music in your own hands. Because of streaming now CD Singles are gone forever, something I used to love from Gaga.

Like, for example, the iconic BTW EP 

 

[BBhomemaker 5,611]

So basic songs are successful for their non-originality  

Thank you streaming, You have killed creativity, thoughtfulness and talents 

Also GP have no taste? Webeenknew.gif 

[RadioIsOurs 13,876]

Although I'm only 16, I think I've already reached that stage in my life where I tell the young kids how their generation's music sucks donkey ****... 

[Ziggy 12,010]

This isn't revolutionary, though lol The same shift happened when digital became the norm over CD. Because so many songs were accessible, the hooks became more important than ever (thanks Gaga). This is just another shift. Industry's change. Either you adapt or gtfo. Hopefully Gaga can adapt. Good thing is songs like The Cure seem to show that the girl knows what to do if need be.

[Whispering 18,865]

I strongly dislike all the mumbly singers and songs. No wonder I can't stand to listen to radio anymore! 

[sipthistea 21,099]

I hate this era of music so much. It's just too shallow and boring. 

[freebit 6,240]

22 hours ago, Ziggy said:

This isn't revolutionary, though lol The same shift happened when digital became the norm over CD. Because so many songs were accessible, the hooks became more important than ever (thanks Gaga). This is just another shift. Industry's change. Either you adapt or gtfo. Hopefully Gaga can adapt. Good thing is songs like The Cure seem to show that the girl knows what to do if need be.

Yes, I understand it's nothing new (as discussed in the article with Phil Spector and his songs), but I feel like this is just encouraging pop songs to be even shorter, sample heavy, and monotonous. There's so many great songs that probably won't find a good audience with this criteria that these songwriters and Spotify currators are pushing. Plus, I just really dislike the current Spotify sound - it's like all the energy has been sucked out of the songs in an attempt at being ~cool~. It's like T-Pain's old music, but 10x worse. The last time I disliked a movement in popular music was back in the mid aughts when Good Charlotte, Yellowcard, The Used, Panic! and all those other interchangeable bands were slaying. 

[Morphine Prince 106,769]

Interesting article. 

I'm just happy streaming has brought into light what's REALLY popular. It's not all about sales. It's about what people are listening to. Radio doesn't shove the same 10 songs down your throat anymore. You are free to choose what songs you stream and even the popular chart playlists are 50 songs. 

I used to only listen to the radio in the car but now I just stream my music on Spotify. 

[Sorcerer 12,518]

This is the reason why Joanne deserves more recognition, especially in the Grammys. No mumbly singing and formulaic sh*t.

While I actually discover a lot of music through Spotify, those boring and predicable songs in the top hits and party playlists get the most recognition.

[Ziggy 12,010]

53 minutes ago, freebit said:

Yes, I understand it's nothing new (as discussed in the article with Phil Spector and his songs), but I feel like this is just encouraging pop songs to be even shorter, sample heavy, and monotonous. There's so many great songs that probably won't find a good audience with this criteria that these songwriters and Spotify currators are pushing. Plus, I just really dislike the current Spotify sound - it's like all the energy has been sucked out of the songs in an attempt at being ~cool~. It's like T-Pain's old music, but 10x worse. The last time I disliked a movement in popular music was back in the mid aughts when Good Charlotte, Yellowcard, The Used, Panic! and all those other interchangeable bands were slaying. 

Yeah, the ramifications of this blow. Thankfully for me I have no streaming device haha I just buy CDs from the library for a quarter and load it onto my computer  I think my mother actually uses streaming which makes me more old school lolol

 

but yeah, especially for rap and hip hop this blows because that's already sample heavy as a genre. Pop is only going to get worse, but hopefully the limitations inspire creativity as the saying goes!

[freebit 6,240]

On 9/28/2017 at 6:56 PM, Ziggy said:

Yeah, the ramifications of this blow. Thankfully for me I have no streaming device haha I just buy CDs from the library for a quarter and load it onto my computer  I think my mother actually uses streaming which makes me more old school lolol

 

but yeah, especially for rap and hip hop this blows because that's already sample heavy as a genre. Pop is only going to get worse, but hopefully the limitations inspire creativity as the saying goes!

That part at the end of the article where it says the first 30 seconds of a song could become an artform in itself intrigues me. I was just thinking the other day (in a thread of what producers we all want like for LG6), and Bloodpop could potentially do something interesting with her by both utilizing and subverting the new "rules" of the streaming era of pop. Something needs to wake up the sleepy, whispery era of music.

[ProdigyARTPOP 3,910]

Streaming in actuality is only good for record labels, because it’s the only way “they” will see revenue, but in every other format it’s despicable, it kills the ability to find and encounter different genres of music and different artists, because all that will become either a hit or a culturally relevant song is the songs that are streaming juggernauts, leaving newer artists and creatively inclined albums/songs/artists to struggle even more. 

yes “it’s the future of music”

only becuase like everything else, it’s at your fingertips now, but in actuality it kills what music is supposed to be about .

but i guess 

[Zaskar 3,962]

Video Killed the Radio Star, Pt. 2: Streaming Killed the CD Sales 

[Ziggy 12,010]

6 hours ago, freebit said:

That part at the end of the article where it says the first 30 seconds of a song could become an artform in itself intrigues me. I was just thinking the other day (in a thread of what producers we all want like for LG6), and Bloodpop could potentially do something interesting with her by both utilizing and subverting the new "rules" of the streaming era of pop. Something needs to wake up the sleepy, whispery era of music.

The funny thing is, I think Gaga already largely has that covered just by how she writes. Take BR for instance. It starts loud and proud with one of the songs' biggest hooks right out the gate. Same goes for PI or A-YO. Granted this works to varying success (PI), but my point is that Gaga generally starts her songs with something grand and memorable already. Even songs that aren't "single-designed" like Bad Kids or Government Hooker do this. So if she needs some tweaking, I think that she's very blessed in that it shouldn't have to be all that much.