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Live Acts vs. Streaming Acts: The Disconnect


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From Music Industry Blog:

 

20% of the top 25 Spotify artists (February 2019) are hip hop artists, compared to 12% of the top global touring acts. Meanwhile, rock represents just 12% of the top 25 Spotify artists but 28% of the top live artists. This disconnect between what people are streaming and what they are paying to see live is a potential fault line between two sides of the global music business. Live has always been a lagging indicator of taste, with artists live careers peaking later than their recorded careers. It is small surprise that the average age of the top 25 Spotify artists is 34, while for live it is 55.

 

Actually it IS a surprise to me that the average age of the top touring acts is 55 (although admittedly, the Stones skew the average :) ). That's pretty old...and when you think that the main recommendation for people who don't make money from streaming is to play live, where does that leave younger acts?

 

Rock is ancient, true...well over half a century old. But hip-hop is no spring chicken either, if you consider Cool Herc and his ilk kicking it off in the mid-70s. EDM has been around just as long, if you consider Kraftwerk as the seminal EDM source.

 

Where are the new musical genres? Is someone like Billie Eilish the start of weirdness as a genre, or just a blip?

 

 

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It would be interesting to watch the trend over time. I think there has been a recent spike in reunion tours and the like. If not for that, I think you would see a general trend away from live performance. The younger generation is more likely to go watch a DJ hit play and wave his hands in the are.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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It would be interesting to watch the trend over time. I think there has been a recent spike in reunion tours and the like. If not for that, I think you would see a general trend away from live performance. The younger generation is more likely to go watch a DJ hit play and wave his hands in the air.

 

Tread carefully about DJs :) ...they don't have traditional instrument skills to be sure, and some are indeed just button-pushers. But I've seen some really good DJs who've make my jaw drop because they're so fluid with their gear, know how to read a crowd and interact, and don't make a single mistake. As I say to my musician friends who diss DJs, "Okay, you go on stage at 3 AM and try to keep 5,000 Germans whacked out on ecstasy engaged for the next four hours...and you can't make a single mistake. Then let me know how easy it is." I have no trouble holding my own on stage with a guitar and mic, but frankly, in some ways I find DJing much more challenging because of the precision that's required.

 

Think of DJs as performing engineers/arrangers, not traditional musicians, and the concept makes more sense :)

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...and you can't make a single mistake. :)

 

Which mistake is more prevalent, not pushing the button or not waiving your hands in the air?

 

That said, their audiences are voting with their dollars I guess at a higher rate than musicians audiences are. So you cant knock success.

 

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...and you can't make a single mistake. :)

 

Which mistake is more prevalent, not pushing the button or not waiving your hands in the air?

 

Not pushing the button. If you miss beat-matching two tracks and have a tempo train wreck, the audience will not be happy.

 

I think one point people miss about DJs is they're not there to create a concert, their gig is to create an experience. Knowing what to play, when to play it, and how to play it, is crucial. The degree of interaction between DJ and audience is something that it seems a lot of rock groups have forgotten... saying "HELLLOOOOOO DETROIT!!" is not the same thing. :)

 

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It would be interesting to watch the trend over time. I think there has been a recent spike in reunion tours and the like. If not for that, I think you would see a general trend away from live performance. The younger generation is more likely to go watch a DJ hit play and wave his hands in the air.

 

Tread carefully about DJs :) ...they don't have traditional instrument skills to be sure, and some are indeed just button-pushers. But I've seen some really good DJs who've make my jaw drop because they're so fluid with their gear, know how to read a crowd and interact, and don't make a single mistake. As I say to my musician friends who diss DJs, "Okay, you go on stage at 3 AM and try to keep 5,000 Germans whacked out on ecstasy engaged for the next four hours...and you can't make a single mistake. Then let me know how easy it is." I have no trouble holding my own on stage with a guitar and mic, but frankly, in some ways I find DJing much more challenging because of the precision that's required.

 

Think of DJs as performing engineers/arrangers, not traditional musicians, and the concept makes more sense :)

 

I actually agree 100%. But even in DJ's I've seen a trend away from the "live performance". There are for sure some extremely talented DJ's that do far more than push buttons. I wouldn't classify them as musicians, per se, but maybe performing producers? That's the good ones.

 

Getting back to the crowd, I'm afraid that they don't know the difference.

 

 

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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