OT: Is the old way better?

[Jaydumo20]

On a music standpoint, artists simply don’t have to grind as much anymore to earn a deal.

Previously, if you were a legit artist you had to prove you can actually make great music to earn a deal and they developed you as an artist.

Today they are looking for viral sensations and don’t invest in artist development as much anymore.

Streams are causing artists to make less money than ever while not cultivating real fan bases to be able to tour with… it’s a completely broken system.

This is very accurate. There will be no more legends made. At least we got to see them. And can still listen to them whenever we want.

 

[QDOG5]

I have only myself to blame but I don’t listen to full albums like I used to. Bitd we had a bunch of guys who would listen to a new album together. We’d pass the album jacket around and read the liner notes. And then someone would pull their weed out their pocket and use the jacket to de-seed the weed. Album jackets were great for that.

 

[HuskyHawk]

On a music standpoint, artists simply don’t have to grind as much anymore to earn a deal.

Previously, if you were a legit artist you had to prove you can actually make great music to earn a deal and they developed you as an artist.

Today they are looking for viral sensations and don’t invest in artist development as much anymore.

Streams are causing artists to make less money than ever while not cultivating real fan bases to be able to tour with… it’s a completely broken system.

It's really astonishing how accurate this song was.

 

[NEforceUConn]

Well someone has to add this, it’s p3

 

[HCCForever]

I have only myself to blame but I don’t listen to full albums like I used to. Bitd we had a bunch of guys who would listen to a new album together. We’d pass the album jacket around and read the liner notes. And then someone would pull their weed out their pocket and use the jacket to de-seed the weed. Album jackets were great for that.

Albums or frisbees. Sounds like my UConn years in Wright B.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Social media has created a compare culture where they always are being force fed trends and have to choose not if they follow, but what to follow. It’s social suicide if you think differently.

But bucking social media trends feels so good!

As someone who has worked hard over the last decade or so towards improvement my mindfulness/single-task/presence/what you will, social media, IMO, is the #1 killjoy.

Comparison is the #1 that crushes contentment/happiness, and I've noticed a huge correlation of my mood in relation to how much time I spend on Instagram (I don't have FaceBook), but I'm sure some of you have noticed that it got markedly worse when it added TikTok-esque capabilities.

On a music standpoint, artists simply don’t have to grind as much anymore to earn a deal.

Previously, if you were a legit artist you had to prove you can actually make great music to earn a deal and they developed you as an artist.

Today they are looking for viral sensations and don’t invest in artist development as much anymore.

Streams are causing artists to make less money than ever while not cultivating real fan bases to be able to tour with… it’s a completely broken system.

That and it's getting harder and harder for artists to make a living...where can an artist without financial backing work and even afford a cheap apartment? I remember about 10-15 years the band Beach House shared a quote how Baltimore is one of the few cities that has a thriving art scene where an artist can actually afford to live.

My wife has been a studio artist for over 20 years now, but she feels so much freedom in the creation of her work because her art making does not need to be a reliable source of income for our family. We're both teachers and while she might sell a few pieces a year, she doesn't feel that pressure to sell/promote/advertise that working artists in the area need to do. It's gotten to the point that the highest grossing selling artists in the NYC/Northeast are almost entirely backed by investors, and those investors take a major cut in sales. Art sales isn't about skill, it's about who is represented because the people who can afford art are mostly told what to buy.

 

[Jaydumo20]

But bucking social media trends feels so good!

As someone who has worked hard over the last decade or so towards improvement my mindfulness/single-task/presence/what you will, social media, IMO, is the #1 killjoy.

Comparison is the #1 that crushes contentment/happiness, and I've noticed a huge correlation of my mood in relation to how much time I spend on Instagram (I don't have FaceBook), but I'm sure some of you have noticed that it got markedly worse when it added TikTok-esque capabilities.


That and it's getting harder and harder for artists to make a living...where can an artist without financial backing work and even afford a cheap apartment? I remember about 10-15 years the band Beach House shared a quote how Baltimore is one of the few cities that has a thriving art scene where an artist can actually afford to live.

My wife has been a studio artist for over 20 years now, but she feels so much freedom in the creation of her work because her art making does not need to be a reliable source of income for our family. We're both teachers and while she might sell a few pieces a year, she doesn't feel that pressure to sell/promote/advertise that working artists in the area need to do. It's gotten to the point that the highest grossing selling artists in the NYC/Northeast are almost entirely backed by investors, and those investors take a major cut in sales. Art sales isn't about skill, it's about who is represented because the people who can afford art are mostly told what to buy.

Neil Degrasse Tyson has predicted that the internet is going the way of spam and junk mail. Just a flood of ads and click bait nonsense we have to sift through. In turn many of us will revert to human interaction and the check-for-dagger all wrist handshake.

 

[Waquoit]

I have only myself to blame but I don’t listen to full albums like I used to. Bitd we had a bunch of guys who would listen to a new album together. We’d pass the album jacket around and read the liner notes. And then someone would pull their weed out their pocket and use the jacket to de-seed the weed. Album jackets were great for that.

Same here, maybe I'd listen to an entire album at the beach once in awhile. But since I bought my first turntable a year ago, I'm back to playing entire sides and albums. It's worth it, I'm having a blast. Lots of good stuff in the dollar boxes.

 

[HW611]

Art sales isn't about skill, it's about who is represented because the people who can afford art are mostly told what to buy.

Unfortunately, I think this is true in almost all areas of art these days. Even in music.

 

[husky8273]

Albums or frisbees. Sounds like my UConn years in Wright B.

got 1 PE credit at UConn for Ultimate Frisbee

 

[bdbdbdbd]

It's really astonishing how accurate this song was.

A similar sentiment:
Handmics Killed Country Music

 

[storrsroars]

I have only myself to blame but I don’t listen to full albums like I used to. Bitd we had a bunch of guys who would listen to a new album together. We’d pass the album jacket around and read the liner notes. And then someone would pull their weed out their pocket and use the jacket to de-seed the weed. Album jackets were great for that.

I've always wondered how many people actually rolled a spliff with the giant rolling paper that came with Cheech & Chong's Big Bambu album.

 

[Ewekon]

This could be like 8 different threads.

1) College sports was dying. Players needed some form of compensation. That said, there was something about getting a freshman and watching him 4 years that you rarely ever get anymore.

2) Football was way better. But not healthy so some rules changed there. And when the money got so big, you needed to protect the investments.

3) The 3 pointer has killed the sport of basketball.

4) This is the one I'll sound like a boomer on. Getting your paycheck or allowance, riding your bike to a record store, looking through the stacks, coming home and listening to a classic album start to finish, reading the liner notes. That's something kids will never experience.

5) TV was definitely NOT better before streaming. Streaming, non-network services have given us Breaking Bad, Sopranos, Game of Thrones, etc. Nothing before streaming compares to that level of product.

Number 4. That's what my perfect day was.

 

[Kathy]

This is very accurate. There will be no more legends made. At least we got to see them. And can still listen to them whenever we want.

Still legends being made in Europe. Lots of new material - fan bases are rabid over there. That's why I go every year.

 

[Dove]

I have only myself to blame but I don’t listen to full albums like I used to. Bitd we had a bunch of guys who would listen to a new album together. We’d pass the album jacket around and read the liner notes. And then someone would pull their weed out their pocket and use the jacket to de-seed the weed. Album jackets were great for that.

"This morning I smoked dem stems.

Yeah, that's the kind of shape I'm in."

 

[husky429]

I have made a real conscious effort in the last couple years to listen to full albums or at minimum not skip any songs on my playlists. Makes a huge difference in my mood.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

My body was definitely better in the old days than it is now, so that is one thing that has gotten worse.

 

[uconnfan68]

Tomatoes.

Probably have to be onlder than 60 to appreciate this, but tomatoes used to taste way better.

Need to get locally grown.

 

[CTBasketball]

Bar scene and just running into people out was significantly better back in the day.

Music is the obvious one. Way worse now.

Cars are less reliable now and harder to work on. Everything’s plastic and you need a degree in Electrical Engineering to debug.

Hartford was better back in the day.

Politics and just normal conversation was way better. Water cooler talk too. Now I have to watch over my back if I upset anyone at work by saying something that isolates someone.

 

[Hungryhusky99]

Was college bball better before NIL? - Hard 100% no

Might be your worst take ever

 

[Improviser]

Cars are less reliable now and harder to work on

Not sure on that reliability comment, and they may be harder to work on if you self-repair your car, but competent dealers have diagnostic tools now that never existed years ago.

Cars have a lot more safety features (backup cameras, blind spot detectors, automatic slowing or stopping if you get too close to another car or if you are backing out and getting close to an object) If truth be told, you can get a lot of these features installed on older models aftermarket at Attention to Detail in Middletown or any similar place out of state.

 

[Excalibur]

Car engines are as reliable as ever. It's all the ancillary stuff that fails.

As for streaming, I think it's wrong to lump in Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad etc. Breaking Bad concluded around the same time Netflix produced their first house show. Sopranos was done 7 years before that. For a short period after the streaming services started producing their own show, the content was great, but there is now nothing that comes close to approaching any of Sopranos/Breaking Bad/Mad Men/early GoT/Wire. The model now seems to be pay big $$ for star power and skimp on writing. The result is mass-produced junk with big names. More options/quantity, less quality.

 

[navery12]

Might be your worst take ever

I enjoy watching athletes who are getting compensated for the value they bring to schools, maybe that's a hot take

 

[Chin Diesel]

I have made a real conscious effort in the last couple years to listen to full albums or at minimum not skip any songs on my playlists. Makes a huge difference in my mood.

I almost always play albums when I am working out.

 

[Jaydumo20]

Car engines are as reliable as ever. It's all the ancillary stuff that fails.

As for streaming, I think it's wrong to lump in Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad etc. Breaking Bad concluded around the same time Netflix produced their first house show. Sopranos was done 7 years before that. For a short period after the streaming services started producing their own show, the content was great, but there is now nothing that comes close to approaching any of Sopranos/Breaking Bad/Mad Men/early GoT/Wire. The model now seems to be pay big $$ for star power and skimp on writing. The result is mass-produced junk with big names. More options/quantity, less quality.

There is some good TV out on streaming platforms and some good music being made but I found something interesting:

During the pandemic the most binge watched show was Friends. And it seems by a lot (+ 30 million streams over the next competitor)
Sopranos and the office (both pre-streaming shows ) were top 3 as well.

Also, I live in Nashville and when you go to bars to hear live music the vast majority of songs you'll hear is pre-2000s. Ive also played in many of these bands and nobody requests any new music. Even the drunk kids in their 20s

 

[mussels]

So what’s better ?

Smoke free bars, airplanes, movie theaters etc. Probably have to be older to appreciate how widespread smoking was, and how you and your clothes absolutely reeked after spending a night in a bar.

 

[mussels]

Need to get locally grown.

Its not where they’re grown. Over the last few decades tomatoes have been engineered for looks, shelf life and durability during transport. In the process many of the traits producing good flavor (sugar content and various aromatic compounds) got removed.

Go to your local farm stand, grow them yourself, and they still don’t taste like they used to.

 

[Jaydumo20]

So what’s better ?

Smoke free bars, airplanes, movie theaters etc. Probably have to be older to appreciate how widespread smoking was, and how you and your clothes absolutely reeked after spending a night in a bar.

100% that's better. There are a few smoking bars around nashville and I can't even believe we used to tolerate that.

Also, any bar now offers a bunch of different alcohol brands and microbrews. I remember in the late 90s when I used to go to a bar and get an....Amstel light??? Is that even around anymore?

 

[CL82]

White collar jobs were better before bosses could reasonably expect to reach us 24/7.

It's funny to in see every technological leap the false need for immediacy that it creates.

 

[HW611]

Remember when real hate existed in baseball and this Yankees Red Sox rivalry?



Don’t even think sports has any real rivalries these days.