@chayro - It’s a pretty good thread for other reasons too including musicology. The ’beat and hook’ formula fits with modern listening habits. We’ve all noted (I think) that music listening is background for other things, seldom an end to itself. So, having a beat (most of the modern pop I heard in the last few years was in the gym) and a hook every 8 seconds (instant gratification, hit the button again and again, filling up on empty calories) makes sense.
Musical taste is so subjective~ and it isn’t just age, background or culture. I trade listening notes, record tips, etc. with several people who are constant listeners and it’s like a Venn diagram- there are overlaps of varying degrees for each of us, but the bulk of what we "like" isn’t the same.
Does broadcast radio even have much significance any more with the ability to listen from a phone (whether plugged in, or blue-toothed, I guess, to a car, home system or on the go, with a playlist) or so-called Internet radio? (My wife had satellite radio in her car and I found it just as limited as heavy rotation top 20 type programming).
I actually dug Pandora for a while, mainly because of the "sound recording performance complement" model (driven by Section 114 of the U.S. Copyright Act). You’d plug in BB King and wind up hearing Skip James or Bukka White, introducing you to a range of similar but different performers and tracks. There were a few occasions back in the day where I’d hear something on the radio, hoping the jock would identify the track so I could go to Tower and buy the record. That part of the model still works in the Internet age-probably even better than before.
Musical taste is so subjective~ and it isn’t just age, background or culture. I trade listening notes, record tips, etc. with several people who are constant listeners and it’s like a Venn diagram- there are overlaps of varying degrees for each of us, but the bulk of what we "like" isn’t the same.
Does broadcast radio even have much significance any more with the ability to listen from a phone (whether plugged in, or blue-toothed, I guess, to a car, home system or on the go, with a playlist) or so-called Internet radio? (My wife had satellite radio in her car and I found it just as limited as heavy rotation top 20 type programming).
I actually dug Pandora for a while, mainly because of the "sound recording performance complement" model (driven by Section 114 of the U.S. Copyright Act). You’d plug in BB King and wind up hearing Skip James or Bukka White, introducing you to a range of similar but different performers and tracks. There were a few occasions back in the day where I’d hear something on the radio, hoping the jock would identify the track so I could go to Tower and buy the record. That part of the model still works in the Internet age-probably even better than before.
