The best way to counteract this alarming trend is by educating yourself and becoming a more knowledgeable musician so that great music can make a return. This is why I'm passionate about teaching and have created comprehensive music learning courses and software to support this process. Check out my Ultimate Bundle below if you're interested, which contains all four of my music programs. 📚The Beato Ultimate Bundle - $99 For All of My Courses: ⇢ rickbeato.com/ 📘- The Beato Book Interactive - $99.00 value 🎸- Beato Beginner Guitar - $159.00 value 👂- The Beato Ear Training Program - $99.00 value 🎸- The Quick Lessons Pro Guitar Course - $79.00 value …all for just $99.00 Get it here: rickbeato.com/
Mancuso hasn't brought anything new to the table- so he plays with his fingers instead of a pick. He's a virtuoso no doubt, but there's no innovation there.
Indeed: "Educating yourself and becoming a more knowledgeable musician so that great music can make a return" That is if you can be heard through all the noise out there!
Could you do a breakdown of Naked Eye’s Always Something There to Remind Me. I feel like this is nearly a perfect song. It also reminds me of Madonna’s Live to Tell. I would love to hear your take.
Thank you, Rick! I was not familiar with that particular Beethoven piece you mentioned. Listened to it all the way through. You made me feel guilty for not picking up my guitar for the last few months, too. Then I went outside to welcome my new neighbor to the RV park. He is the owner of the music store where I bought the guitar last year. I don't believe in coincidences. Perhaps the Big Guy is trying to tell me something. God bless REAL musicians.
The best demonstration of this for me was coming home from university one day and hearing a CD of Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances played by Martha Argarich and Alexandre Rabinovitch. It was completely new to me, and the drama of the music blew me away. Back at school, that was often in my Walkman when I was at the computer lab doing my homework.
It's something I've felt for a long time. Every time I discover a new artist I've never heard before it doesn't matter what era they're from. I never sat down and listened through Dark Side of the Moon until it was the 2010's but I loved it. I think people who are stuck listening to the same things they did before they turned 30 have stagnated. I can't imagine going through life not discovering new music, art, literature, etc.
Sometimes when one's relationship with music changes, they may appear a bit bitter in a sense towards newer audiences. It doesnt neccessarily mean someone's right or wrong. Someone who truly loved music more than the average person will almost always have something to say, because they felt more. Music was not just used as an ''occasional'' thing to them. Now if on the other hand you love music too much, usually it also means you are using it to cope with other aspects of your life you are unhappy with. Having said all that, i guess what iam trying to say is gatekeepers while annoying and obnoxious are just as valid as excited newcomers. Unless they actively try to push people away let them snob. Its only because they didnt have the foresight to know that given enough time, everything becomes jaded. Time is the only absolute thing in the universe. And it affects music too.
A lot of people are missing a lot of points these days. I’m guessing that social media has destroyed attention spans and critical thinking skills have suffered accordingly.
I would venture a guess that most of those remarks came from people that didn't even really listen to what Rick said. He's an old white guy on the internet, sadly that is enough to almost immediately invalidate his opinions to a lot of younger people.
@@BooksForever It’s ruined the average person’s appreciation, for any art. There are small groups, in every age group, who still try to go back and find where the music they love, actually comes from, was inspired by, or sampled from, if not strait up taken and put rap or new vocal over it, whether they keep the chorus or not, and/or it and the main melody/bass line, are the meat of the song. 😵💫
As I said before... nothing to do with age or generations... I was born on 1988 and I listen music from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and even some bands from the 2000's... Music is now ultra-procesed auto-tune mumbling t*ash... The last decade and a half has been God awfull 💩
@@KToll5784 sure, but then there's King Crimson. Jacob is not even eccentric, zany, or quirky. Just very lightly self-indulgent harmony-wise even though through his social media we know he is talented. But his music is just not it.
After seeing other rebuttal videos, watching this again back and fourth, the issues aren't as black and white and all sides have been making good points! What I really agree with Rick is that the "old man yelling at clouds" arguments and etc are lazy and some of those viewers aren't adding any value to the discussion.
“Progressives” are deeply conservative in their lack of open mindedness, fervent emotions, plus a total lack of critical thinking or allowance for a differing opinion. They are the antithesis of progression, and are absolutely regressive.
I agree and say this all the time. It's incredible how in some ways it makes my life easier and helps me find the info I need. But at the same time, it has dumbed down society and it's only getting worse. The rise of tech was incredibly exciting. I just don't know how we lost our way so badly as the years went by.
@@fisk0 googling "social media" more these days makes sense, especially considering how big of a buzzword that is in the news these days. You can't do anything without hearing somebody talking about what some politician or celebrity posted on "social media" or how it's affecting mental health blah blah blah, or what counts as social media. People want to find out what's up with that. Taking raw stats while disregarding nuance and context is not thinking critically. If people want to look up something about music, or listen to music, their search terms are likely to be much more specific and informed nowadays.
u are using google trends incorrectly, you should have used 'topic' instead of 'term' because the term searches are being conducted within streaming apps themselves. no one uses google in this manner anymore because most music has become consolidated on streaming platforms.
Both ways of searching result in the same outcome because nobody googles music anymore. Wheather its the music its self or information about music because like he said "streaming platforms have consolidated all the music"
@@kennethfisher7013 that's funny too. noone googles "music" anymore because why would anyone google music??? we all have our apps to listen to it that we've downloaded specifically to make listening to music easier. that's the whole point of having those apps...?
@@JacoWium Googling the word music to find music to listen to is something a non computer user would do. This is like Googling the word Google to open Google. If you want to search for music you go to a music provider and search there. Anyone Googling the word music in 2024 is more likely to be doing a book report on music than seeking something to listen to. I'd recommend asking your grandkids to explain it in terms you will understand if this still doesn't make sense to you.
But who cares? The majority is contended with being dumbened and their attention span being shorter. That's why the majority doesn't bother to read a thick book or watch a two hour long movie.
Why doesn't it apply to sport, where we see many young people that have done the hard yards and have reached a standard that's incredible. I believe music is the same, the laziness is people not putting in the effort to find them.
I was listening to the the Third Brandenburg during a work out. A younger guy comes over and asks what I am listening to. I said the Brandenburg. He looked puzzled Bach - classical music. I filled in the gap for him. His face wrinkled up. I look up at him and said - I have some classical that will get your attention - he just laughed. I pulled up the the 9th symphony (Yes - That ninth) - put on the second movement - gave him the ear buds and hit play. He froze in place - his eyes went unfocused. He didn't move for about 2 minutes. He tried to hand my buds back. I said - try this. I put on vivaldi's Winter - he froze again. He handed me the buds back and walked away. A while later he walked over with his phone in hand - What was that you played? Beethoven's ninth symphony - listen to all 4 movements, Vivaldi's Four Seasons - winter. There's 500 years of great music to try. Every time I see him now he asks for more recommendations. The kids know nothing about music but bless their souls when they actually listen - they are mesmerized.
From an old episode: Homer: "Hey, how come you never play your guitar anymore?" Bart: "I’ll tell you the truth, Dad. I wasn’t good at it right away, so I quit. I hope you’re not mad." Homer: "Son, come here. Of course I’m not mad. If something’s hard to do, then it’s not worth doing."
From the soapbox derby episode I think... Bart: "Dad, you taught me to win!" Homer: "When did I ever teach you that?" Bart: "Well, I picked it up somewhere." A favourite of mine
I’m 76…..your perspective on the intricacies of all genres of music is intellectual, extremely well researched, and passionately insightful. In other words……you be on top of it…..and that’s why I watch your content and learn for it every time I watch your videos. Music is ageless and so is your insightful deep dive understanding of music. Rock on, Rick.
Well researched?! No it's not, no one searches for "hip hop" on google, they go to spotify or some other app for that. He presumes that the world has stood still since 2004 and google is the only way anyone finds music.
Social media connects people, some of whom are ANTI-social. They get on social media to argue and criticize, take out their frustrations and anger. Strangers are being brought together hopefully to share common interests which is the case if you belong to a group with a common interest but at other times if you disagree or express an honest opinion about something you're raked across the coals.
I'm 43 and have a 17, 15, and two 12 year olds. Around the 3:25 mark you nailed what I've observed - Music isn't really an interest of my kids. I mean they know of some individual popular songs they encounter out in the wild, and they know the tune of a lot of video games, but they don't really have any focused interest in music like we did being teens in the 90s. We all had our list of bands and entire albums we were constantly listening to, and it was sort of a main topic you used to interface with other people our age. Learning what someone listened to was definitely in the top ten.
No worries, I started late too. You know why? Too much junk on the radio (we're talking nineties). I just needed someting that was different and interesting enough and had a certain intensity and drive that the mediocre palatable stuff didn't have. Enter heavy metal. And now I've been sold for 20 years and counting and not a genre bigot, even :p
41 here. I’m not a father, rather an uncle helping raise my sister’s son. He’s 15 now, and in no way shape or form interested in músic discovery from the past. All he listens to are video game ost’s that he rips from the gameplay. I can’t believe it lol.
@@yalu2 Yeah, I was a genre bigot until l met my wife. There’s certainly stuff that really does it for me but I stopped hating on other genres a long time ago. Consequently, I started discovering new music later because of that too.
@@adamgh0 Oh goodness... you couldn't be more correct. At least, I believe so - I haven't even gotten past the first boss yet. You know, the one that you encounter with all the cores and stuff, after you get past the stage with the electric zapper, and enemies that you have to duck under? Yes, that one.
That google search argument is bad, sorry. People don't search for music in google so much anymore cause there are specific apps to listen to music. All these services were not there back in the early 2000s. Also, you didn't really address any of the constructive criticism about your other video.
I think part of the problem is the price of concerts. At risk of saying "Back in my day", I could see 3 or 4 concerts a year as a teenager, and sharing an experience with a singer/band was one of the best ways to make a connection with them. How do you do that today, when concerts are now a luxury you save up for? With that comes the unfortunate consequence that you have to pick and choose who you see, so of course, you're going to see the band you already know. Who can afford to be a casual concertgoer? Today, I'm priced out of anything that I would've taken a chance on in the past. I can't even afford to buy tickets for people I've already made the connection with; how can I afford to make new ones?
That difference in price is partly capitalist profit making (let's not mislabel it 'profiteering') on the part of under-regulated corporations such as Live Nation, and partly because big gigs have become more like theatrical events with huge overheads on staging, staffing and other expenses that smaller gigs today, and even fairly big gigs in the past, don't incur. There are still plenty of mid-level and low-level gigs that are not so expensive when inflation is taken into account.
Very good point as I've had to forgo more than a few concert attendances for crazy high prices & vendor fees. (I love Roger Hodgson of Supertramp, never seen him nor Supertramp though the group was one of my favorite bands while in college in the late 70s but last time he came thru St. Louis you had to cough up $400 if you didn't commit otherwise sizable funds months in advance!)
Look no further than Open Mic nights and free in the park summer concerts. Just great music being performed. Come to Iowa and you will see, hear and experience the opportunities. I recently passed on the Eagles concert that came to our state, at around $600 a ticket for a less than mediocore seat, who needs that? Not me.
hey, you can still see great bands for 20$. I'm not going to 3-4 shows a week like I used to, now I can find the time and will to go to at least one show per month. I chose not to go to arenas where I must sit on my place like a dog
I despise that comment. "Haters gonna hate". Opinions are just that. Telling someone not to listen to certain comments is obsurd. We are suppose to ignore everyone and listen to you?
@@bradspringer2372yes exactly - this ain’t the real life, this is social media and if you’re a content creator, the reassurance is shown by numbers - not by negativity
Honestly, if anyone needs ricks videos to be explained to them, and they still doubt his intentions at that point, then they're probably too far gone imo.
@@Zotbot2329The real problem is being number 1 has become the same as someone else's number 1. That's the point he's trying to convey. In fact there are lots of people in their 20's & 30's who agree with points being made in this video. Further more if you want to go beyond the "music" industry, we can also throw the "movie" industry in the mix as well. There's a lack of creativity in both genres. Some modern or younger people you might want to checkout is Jesterbell video (The Biggest problem with modern movies) Ava Catherine (Modern pop music is boring) The Full Stack Creative video (Music is going to zero). No. It's not just the old man yelling in the clouds here. We have big issues in modern art. Check those out and get back with me and give me your opinion.
I would think that the different search results are compiled somehow to the specific categories that are shown. I don't know anyone who googles, or ever has googled, social media, art etc. either.
@sauliruottu5871 Trust that he's worked with some of the people that he was criticizing in this video. The Google search is just for the general idea of what's going on. Anyway, what he's saying is true. The entertainment industry, even going beyond just music, is in a bad place right now due to corporate greed.
@@lyndellwilliams5890 yeah, the entertainment industry.....the whole of media, seems toxic. So much bad, for the little good. I'd run, but I'd be smeared quickly.
The human condition is always to take the path of least resistance. Watching the world go by on social media on a smart phone is the very definition of “least resistance”, and that’s why people (all people, not just youngsters) don’t “practice” or learn to play instruments, “it’s too hard”, just like you said Rick. But to be fair, if the internet, smart phones and social media had been invented in the 1950’s, none of the great R+R bands of the 60’s+70’s would have ever gotten together, because all those teenagers would have been watching videos on their phones instead of playing guitars and drums, just like the kids of today.
I don't believe tiktok is the reason why kids supposedly supposedly have become less motivated to pick up an instrument. There always used to be books, comics, video games etc to give kids distraction with something that doesn't take much effort. If anything, it's become dirt cheap and relatively easy to record and release a track/album, the average 19 year old guitarist now has more processing power and instruments in his home studio than any professional music studio in the '60s/'70s.
Maybe the majority are wasting time on their phones, but there's still many that are hard working. Several sports have young people that are as good as anyone from the past. It has never been easier to learn than it is now, can buy a Rick Beato course, if he isn't too busy on social media😂
Great conception. And btw even cable TV wasn't that bad; and if that didn't have that negative of an effect, then that probably means that watching TH-cam videos all the way through doesn't either. So it's gotta be TikTok and TH-cam Shorts that ppl resort to.
Why continue to search for those terms on Google when people can search for them on Spotify? To view Google Analytics of those terms as such strong indicators of people's loss of interest in music seems to overlook a growing tendency to search for them on newer, music-specific platforms instead. Personally, I might only search for those genres to read about them, not to listen to them. This sort of thing was probably happening a lot more when device popularity started to take off. That being said, I myself have basically given up bothering to find modern music that I might enjoy, and I've listened to my favorites to death.
The graphs all show the most drastic decrease happening from 2004-2011ish then things decreasing more gradually. Spotify didn’t become widely used until around 2012. You could maybe contribute some of that decrease to iTunes coming onto the scene but google was used by everyone on the internet well before iTunes gained a large enough user base to cause that type of decrease. It’s also telling that just the term “music” drops. For the past 20 years you would still count on google for looking up music lessons, music stores, music videos, etc. While the way the internet has evolved definitely would throw some factors into the mix, I think it does back up Rick’s point pretty well. Just my take, but I think what you see is that as the internet and social media became a part of everyone’s lives, we all got a million and one ways to distract ourselves with more and more addicting dopamine dispensers. Someone who was bored in 1995 might turn to art or music for entertainment and hobbies. Now with smartphones and TH-cam and TikTok, the internet is the hobby. Instead of using it to explore new things we now just use it to consume what the algorithms serve up. It takes some effort to hunt for new music or stay up to date on what’s happening with music, even if it’s enjoyable effort. It takes no effort to scroll away on your phone and if you do want to listen to music, just let spotify recommend something to you and it plays in the background without ever really feeling a personal connection to it.
People here absolutely know nothing of what Ricky does right? Most of the data he uses prove his point is from Spotify, yeah I know in this particular video he used google well, maybe you should have watched more. But I guess young people are not into researching, or understanding, or anything at all to be honest. They surely love to pretend they have "informed opinions" about everything without actually having any idea of what they're doing. That is not new, young people always thought they knew everything about life... however, without modern google search and tiktok in my teens I didn't even consider being a genius, I knew I wasn't, I didn't watch 30 second videos telling me the whole truth about life 24/7, now everyone thinks they know quantum mechanics, psychology, music theory and astronomy, among all the rest of knowledge. In like 5 years (usually 11 to 16) you learned every single thing produced in 5 thousand years of history, seems legit.
@@raoniluna4091 My intentions were more along the lines of pointing out that, for people like me who haven't seen many of this guys videos, it might appear that he's saying that these analytics are proportional to people's consumption of music, which seems considerably inaccurate.
No explanations or clarifications were necessary, "Riccolini": Anyone who watches your channel knows you're as tech-savvy and 'au-courrant,' musically as anyone, as knowledgable as anyone, and not stuck in the past.
I'm concerned that everything in life has gone towards short snippets. It started with the news with sound bites but has really accelerated over the past few years with "shorts/tik tok" etc. I'm in my 50s and even I find myself getting caught up in the "Where's my next dopamine hit?" Can't commit to a movie, can barely commit to a TV show. I'm sure others can relate. But then, just occasionally I'll manage to take the time to read a book, listen to an album (as opposed to a Spotify playlist). And when I do, it rewards me with a calm you don't get from 15 second clips. Keep up the good fight Rick. 👍
@@trevor6513 I have definitely related and got so upset with myself that I deleted all social media but TH-cam, but even better eliminated all news period. Anything worth knowing will always trickle to you eventually. Otherwise we're constantly providing clicks. Just subscribe to a handful of channels that just talk about topics you enjoy and the rest can preach to the trees. I stay away from anything that may upset me to the point of anger. Life is too short for anger.
It is deeper than this. People are more isolated than ever before. Things have moved from listening to the radio at home with family and friends back in the 1920s to playing the new record with family and friends in the 1930-50s to driving around with friends with the radio on in the 1950-70s to today where spotify is a solo event or surfing internet with spotify on in the background alone. People used music as a media to meet and talk such as dance halls to concert trips to just hanging out. Now more people than ever are lonely and isolated. I dont' know if it is the immediate gratification that we have now or the hurry up rat race or depressing outlook of kids nowadays.
The Internet has really enabled us to isolate ourselves. COVID, of course, did not help. But the Internet has introduced me to Patrick Bartley, Snarky Puppy, Lake Street Dive, Monsieur Perine, The 8-bit Big Band, Super Soul Bros., David Marriott Jr., Charles Earland, Manami Matsumae, The Huntertones, The New Radicals, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Mathilde Gardien, the Montreal Video Game Orchestra, and the R&B version of The Crusaders. Plus... Strasbourg-St. Denis. And I've seen these folks live when I could. So it can enable great music to exist in ways that it never could before. TH-cam videos are becoming the definitive recordings of things.
to listen to music with others means that you need to find a common denominator of you all's tastes, which is not always successful. if you listen on your own, you can listen to whatever you want. with streaming platforms, musical tastes have become more personal than ever.
There's an even deeper reason beneath the isolation though: our souls. It's unnatural for human beings to avoid one another because we are created to be in community. Why are people wanting to be more isolated then? I believe the answer is because we have our heads filled with materialism, godlessness, and that generates lies and darkness. If you do that you will literally turn into Gollum. Tolkien knew what he was writing.
@@OdaKathe 90's had good music but it also began declining rapidly as we approached 2000. The 90's signaled the rise of self centered, pessimistic, thinking. That was a soul cancer that has now spread into everything. It has all but ruined art, especially music. Singing about ourselves is the most boring subject ever.
“What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly.” We used to have to wait for months for new content from our favourite artists, and when it finally came out, we had to go to a store and buy a physical object in order to hear that music. We invested so much more of our time and money, and we appreciated the value of it. With the advent of newer technology, people with a fraction of the talent can make and release music, and listeners can access it for a fraction of the price. Is it any wonder that people don’t care as much as they used to? Technology was supposed to democratize music; instead, it has merely cheapened it.
Wait "months"?!? We had to wait YEARS!!!! And then have the money to afford to buy the album and, hopefully, see them on tour. You can listen to everything now for a pittance versus you could listen to what you could afford to buy or could get as a copied cassette from a friend or snail mail tape trading. Those tapes were GOLD -- GOLD I TELLS YA! Yeah... I'm that old.
Very good post. The easy-come-easy-go principle. Some of the "new" music I discover & collect these days are via digital tech platforms. It's convenient, easy and cheap to do. Well, yippee yay. But it doesn't give me a millionth of the satisfaction I got during my childhood days, delivering newspapers at the cruellest, coldest, darkest hours of the morning on my bicycle, day after day, so I could finally buy that 7-single or album I coveted. I still have those albums. I've taken care of them, and playing them still warms my heart in ways that no streaming platform could ever hope to do. Some day after I've passed someone will throw them in the trash. But for me, those are the memories and experiences that make me feel wealthy. It is wealth in the head, which is far more valuable than wealth in the pocket.
This debate has shallow historical understanding. What about before the advent of industrialised musical distribution and recording technologies? How did people in, say, 14th century Peru value music compared to today? It wasn't available to buy, I suspect.
Well I ‘m an old man Rick, even by your standards (lol) . This is my first ever comment about anything on the Internet, but felt compelled after watching your video. You have addressed an issue that I am acutely aware of both with my offspring and everywhere else. I don’t live in the USA but what you describe seems to be universal. As both an ex musician and record producer I am saddened by the indifference to creative energy unless it comes from algorithmic canned intelligence. Enjoyment and fulfillment comes from endeavor and appreciation of what it takes to make something worthwhile. This is a lesson that most will never understand now, and I feel frustrated that the world has become exclusively focused on what’s in in for them without realising that in order to receive they also must give.
This man is yelling to other people that they are looking at his clouds the wrong way... Just let people enjoy what ever shape clouds just the way they want. But no. The people are seemingly wrong.
Rick.... The sky is falling. This has to be your best rant todate. My 17-year-old and I just had this conversation this weekend. The quality of music being produced is like canned meat ( spam ). You can survive on it but do you really want to eat it everyday. The music industry has turned into a fast food market. You can pick a number one you can pick a number two a number 3 for and so on but you can't get a good home cook meal and you can forget about fine dining. The quality that they'll give you is too crappy singers and they call it a combo.
@@dohanddonuts5716 Nah that's different. Sure, her music is "spam", but at this point her music barely even matters, people go see Taylor Swift she and the show are "the main event" the music itself is secondary. She just went to Sweden and people went absolutely crazy for her, she's not even that popular in Nordics yet people went insane for an American megastar. I almost never hear her being played in local pop radios and yet everyone was raving about her.
100% I’m a music teacher in Tampa no one practices at home I ask every lesson “what did you practice?” Not even my older students except for one she’s 75 and learning to play the drums but she’s a crazy exception haha
Im a 39 uear old and just bought a pair of sticks and a practice pad cause my dream is to learn drums eventually, so i needed to see this reminder that its possible
My Children practice mostly because They get results. if they can see growth they will practice..if they can feel pride in what they do they will p practice and they standout from other children or adults because they can actually play something
Alternative perspective on the declining search trends: The internet now compared to 2004 is much more consolidated and much less exploratory in how people use it, at least in the sense of the websites visited. People tend to stop searching for something broadly on Google when they have a preferred app or website that provides that thing. For example, the search popularity (in the US) for "video" peaked in 2013 and "youtube" peaked in 2014. This is despite the fact that people in the US spend much more time on TH-cam and online video now than they did in 2013-2014. Once people know where to go for videos on the internet, they don't need to search anymore.
@Jjj53214 you are dead right about that. The crashed American education system is wrecking/has wrecked millions of young lives, and is wrecking the future in the bargain. The country and the world will definitely suffer because of it.
@@rodmact6548Be careful with terms like “crashed educational system” A big red movement in this country has been deliberately ‘crashing it’ in order to push privatization and vouchers and god. The crash isnt because of teachers or putlic schools.
If it doesn’t produce capital for our overlords it won’t be taught in any serious way or promoted by the media so that there is demand for learning said skills. All that’s left of our society is endlessly expanding the economy so that people can live miserable lives in drab office buildings working towards the final 10 years of their life that they can’t even make the most of because they are too decrepit. Then out of frustration they say “get a real job” to anyone who doesn’t work towards this imaginary expansion and label them as selfish and arrogant.
I read a lot of comments on 80's videos by people born in the 90's and later, and even they say how much they love 80's music and vibe, and is more positive musically than today's top whatever chart.
I was born in 1999, and I have the same exact opinions that Rick expressed in his last video. What he said is just objectively true, and those that don't agree don't seem to have much knowledge and undesrtanding of music past their favourite ""artist"" with their cult like following today. They are narrow minded and never experienced good music.
If I was given a single song to listen for all my life, I'd choose "Don't stop Believin' " by Journey not the garbage we hear today. And I was born in the 2000's. 80's music just kicks regardless of when you were born.
The 80´s more positive than todays music ? I doubt that very much. Its the same C-G-Am-F cord progression in rock and pop then and now. Most annoying thing in 80´s are the vinyl records. They all sounded absolute crap for starters because of a combination of the mixing fashion ( Thin bass, gated drums, screaming mid range and vocal tracks mixed far away) If you are not U2 or any other mega-band blessed with good sound engineers and a good cutting house, they all sounded crap, well at least 85% did.
@@Funkywallot You left out D Minor, but seriously, Lyrically the vibe was more positive in the 80's and the music videos more colourful and optimistic. Smae is true of the 70's as well. Theres nothing comparable to those artists today. Its all thug life gangsta rap, and cicada trap beats. Where's the diversity that we had in the 80's? Nowhere! Movie Soundtracks? Zero. I was just watching REM LIve, name one artist today that is comparable to REM? No one! Todays music is stagnant
@@MichaelCRushno, it’s better to keep practicing and getting better to limit your bad performances. That way you won’t need the technology. It’s there to help but you shouldn’t depend on it.
maybe stop hyperfocusing on popular music and celebrate the vast array of less-popular, underground and/or barely known music. yeah "popular music sucks haha true statement i win" sure buddy, the fact that you concentrate more or less only on the top charts instead of giving lesser known artists a platform taints how you view the "current state of music". look, my point is they were shitty artists/band in the 40-50-60-70s, not everyone singing with a slighty jazz voice over a piano were music prodigies.
@@nectarinedreams7208 nah. I used to sit down and actively listen to albums with friends. We would talk about them as if we were watching a movie together. We would go see shows of the bands we were listening to because we loved the album, the music.
Rick, once again you hit the nail squarely on the head. my youngest daughter is 17 and although she does have a few contempory songs in her playlist, most of the songs she listens to are from the 1970's, 80's and 90's. there are even a few from the 1960's. from talking with friends about what their teen children are listening to, it seems that the parents with eclectic music tastes, that listen to their music through speakers so their kids hear it, have children who prefer to listen to old music rather than the charts. I think that speaks volumes about the quality of modern music compared to that of the past.
Yes, indeed. There are many young people posting on 50+ year old videos saying the music is way better than what they hear today. Kids wearing Beatles t-shirts, and what not. The positive flip side is that unlike us, young people have several decades of music at their fingertips. Only recently have I come across some music from before I was alive or old enough to remember that I really love.
Yeah, and a lot of young famous “musicians” are covering older songs nowadays, to get sales, rather than create their own great music, with great lyrics. They’re all reverting back to the old stuff! I wanna tell them to make their own damn music with great lyrics, and stop ruining great classic songs
@@EnvyBlu in a lot of cases it isn't down to the musicians. a lot of labels tell the artists what to make songs about. if they can't, the label gives them a song to record
Rick, I’m a teenager and you’re 100% right about social media and phones in general. I have realized Im addicted to it and need to stop. It drains creativity, and truly experiencing and enjoying life.
Social media IS a time suck. You can always get cell-minutes but not more life minutes. Use them well and as wisely as you can. At 63, it's not just time that's limited. One's energy, and resilience to keep at things is harder to maintain. God Bless.
I think his point is off the mark. He is pretending that social media is musicless, when in actuality, a lot of fans get a direct line to the musicians. As far as searching for music on Google, who even does that? If I am looking for music, I go to Apple Music, you know...to listen to music. He is using one metric to measure interest in music, but he completely ignores the more practical mediums to find music. It's like looking up Walmart fuel sales, seeing that it's low, then coming to the conclusion that people just aren't driving, when the fact is, most Walmarts don't sell fuel.
I was telling fellow musicians about the Led Zeppelin II story. I empathise completely. I’m trying to get my grandkids interested in what I’ve spent my life to learn. Prediction. They won’t nor neither will anyone. This is the same as the other way I spend my life. Building cars. Making things. These are lost arts. Thank you, dear Rick. I feel a kinship but I don’t know what the answers are. I can only remain to hope - while I enjoy myself continuing to learn and impress those who do not have a clue how to play, ride, build, ski, fix, create, write, invent, repair, improvise, hope, dream…
I'm an old guy who recently took up guitar again after 55 years and I am hooked on it. I practice and play every. It's a joy. My concern is that social media has become a cheap substitute for real life experiences. One of the greatest joys in life is the feeling of satisfaction one gets from overcoming a difficult task or experience. I have faith that as time goes by more and more people will recognize that there is more to life than what social media has to offer. Young people are very smart and most will eventually figure this out once they realize social media is using them for the purpose of someone else making money off their precious tiime.
Yep. Emotional intelligence is something you're not necessarily born with. The people That we can both refer to as them, they know that they like swiping up in social media, it feels good. Ever that's obviously a shallow experience, as it's consuming other people's content. The only contribution that they, the viewer have, is a fleeting emotional reaction. Emotional intelligence should but isn't because people are naive, should inform these viewers that they will feel desperate at some point, because their individuality is not properly represented by someone else's creation, especially not by the collection of social media posts fed to them by an algorithm. Speaking as a software engineer, I think I know about algorithms 🙂 I have emotions about algorithms that I have used and I have created 🙂 a bizarre convoluted form of art, but it's also art.
I was always super excited to show my instructor my progress from the previous week's practice. It would be embarrassing to go to a lesson - and not a cheap one either - without having practiced at all. Yikes.
@@jim5148My first guitar teacher made me play Barry Manilow songs (Mandy in particular) until he was satisfied with my feeling for the music. Oy vey. Be careful with who is teaching you. (This is a recovered memory, suppressed for a long time.) I’m better now.
The danger is that, like any addiction, by the time many people realise they are addicted, it has become very difficult to kick the habit. Drugs like heroin and cocaine carry a social stigma which can give enough shame to push people to seek help. Gambling and power are two addictions which are more difficult to identify, and much less stigmatised by society. Social media addiction has become almost a mark of being part of society, and those who disdain its use, are treated as the odd ones out. Another thing is that social media platforms spend billions designing their products to be as addictive as possible, and their wealth and influence means that they can block any policies which might cut into their profits. Music is now disseminated to a great extent by corporations who have NO interest in the music or the artists, therefore they go to great lengths to make the product as forgettable, anodyne and disposable as possible. This means they can replace one artist with another and the audience will hardly notice the difference. The same is true of many areas of 'The Creative Arts'. Many major films are only bankrolled if they are vehicles for franchises, sequels and spinoffs. musicals have become overblown commercial vehicles for merchandising and vast touring circuses.
I've gone through depression through the best part of my 40s and while I wouldn't attribute it only to social media, truth is during that time, I cut myself off from the things I used to love and live for before that. I got better since, therapy and all, but even more recently, I've started to examine my media consumption and started to make changes. More films, less shows, less social media. More reading, and a return to writing, my main passion. More listening to music as in really doing just that, listening to a new album, or rediscovering my collection... And I've even picked up the bass again and dedicate a minimum of 1 hour to practicing every day... Why am I saying all this? Well, turns out I've never felt healthier mentally. I feel like I put my brain under a lamp and thawed it. So my point is, yeah, listen to Rick's wise words, get off the social media and come back to life again, folks. Your mental health will thank you.
Amen. I’ve been struggling with low mood, and generally feeling ‘flat’. I was only listening to music on TH-cam, and not my extensive CD or vinyl collection, and I certainly wasn’t making music anymore (but I think the loss of a dear friend a few years ago who encouraged me to make music didn’t help). By chance I saw a poster offering the opportunity for me to join a male choir, which was being started from scratch. After 12 rehearsals we performed a concert. It’s been the most joyous thing I’ve been involved in for years. Last night I was singing sea shanties with the guys……..music as therapy, to lift mood, to affirm what it is to be alive - I can’t recommend it enough! Beats programming a computer anyday!
This is a great comment. Who cares what anyone else does or thinks? You can make and love music (or writing or whatever). It’s your life, live it your way.
@@Ozymandias1 I think all that really means is there will be a split in the music world, between A.I generated slop for the masses, and real musicians who make real music for music lovers. Even if all online platforms become completely overrun with A.I generated crap, there is still the offline world of live music, played by human beings.
It's not supposed to be like it once was though, not unless you're listening to recordings. Music changes over time, it's supposed to do that because it's a reflection of the minds of the times. Green Day's new album called Saviors doesn't sound like Black Flag because it isn't supposed to, it's a third of a century newer.
@@mountbrockenaren’t people discovering music via playlists and algorithms, and social media? That could explain why they feel less compelled to use Google. I work in digital media and the last 20yrs have seen a huge change in online behavior when it comes to search.
@@jordank.986 but certainly google searches would also reflect popularity of people's interests to where if they are finding new bands through streaming music services then Google searches would equally reflect said interest. But as Beato mentioned, social media is far more a search item than music.
Agree. I can’t imagine a time I EVER googled “music” or “pop music” as a search term. Rick is trying to make a point, but his method is horribly flawed. There’s a thousand ways to discover music - most of that traffic has been eaten by streaming services and google was NEVER a primary method of discovering new music.
@@Sinted the idea that searching "music" on google is how people discover new music also implies that searching up music gives you a bunch of different artists and songs that youve never heard before, when the reality is that it just brings you to streaming services, which are the things peope use anyways.
Maybe try to share some of your music with them? But I know it's so hard. Even adults are addicted to their phones. It's horrible. But don't give up! Keep finding good music out there. Or learn to make your own, if that is something that interests you.
I mean some people just don't care about music. It's not an important part of their life. My wife likes music, and sings along with things she hears on the radio, but she doesn't buy any music at all. Never has. She's never been to a music concert, she doesn't have a "favorite band". She consumes what she hears on the radio, or various songs I play for her that she enjoys. But she rarely knows the name of a band at all, outside of a small few. Meanwhile I've been buying albums since the late 80s, and going to concerts all over the place, and have the most intense emotional reactions to music, more than any other kind of media. To me music is DEEPLY important. But then a lot of my friends are like my wife, and just consume it casually. I don't think it's an "addicted to social media" thing, it's just that not everyone approaches music the same way. For some, it's their life's blood. The beat of the drums is the beat of their heart. For others....it's just a thing that they engage with sometimes.
@@happyninja42 Exactly. My mother went to one concert in her entire life, a Blue Rodeo show, and afterwards said to me that she understood what I had had been seeing it in all my life. Likewise, a girlfriend of mine once asked me why our band had to practice every week if we already knew all of the songs. The simple answer was that we wanted to learn more than enough for one set, but also because it was just fun. Some people just can't relate to other peoples' interests and that's okay.
@@happyninja42 Yes, there is that. There's also a difference between adults and teens/younger kids. That said, I'm GenX and I know most kids my age at that time loved music! I don't have much contact with teens these days, so I can only go by what other people say. And I do keep hearing that teens today are not as into music as kids used to be when I was that age. And darn, now I feel old again. 😆
I'm 71. I've never listened to as much music as I do now. I discover new music that I love every day, and yes, it's from all over the timestream. I am finding good music that is very recent but you have to look for it and give it a try. My children are in their 30s and 40s and we talk about a LOT of music and share what we've found. It is is hard to get my grandchildren (who are entering their teens) to even engage in this topic. Interestingly enough, those who will engage are those who have some difficult challenges in their lives, and have learned that music helps. A lot! Of course, it the same with reading. A whole generation is being lost to hyper short social media. And they have the attention span of nats. End old guy rant...
I was taking this seriously until the Google search trends part. That's... a shockingly bad argument. People still care about music, art, and video games. But they're not typing "music" into the Google search bar as often because there are dedicated music platforms and apps they use instead of Google. Same with video games; people aren't just typing "video games" into Google, not because nobody plays video games anymore, but because *the way we use Google has changed* since the 00s.
It all about environment. There are plenty it just everyone’s a little more spread out. Granted I can’t go round school asking people what their favourite karnivool song is or what style they think vangeilis is best at. However if I go to band after school or sit in the music department I hear people discussing which romantic era symphonies they’ve been listening to. Don’t worry if you feel alone. Chances are you just haven’t stumbled across the right people.
Music used to be a social scene. Now social networks are the "scene". There were grunge scenes, punk scenes, metal scenes, and every week we all looked forward to hanging out at the shows and seeing new bands. That's a big reason why music has lost popularity as social networking increased.
I was at a local mall today. I heard a guy say, “dead end” as we both hit the eastern most wall. I replied, “dead mall.” We spent about 40 minutes walking through the mall looking at closed shops… and very niche shops that were open but had zero customers. We reminisced about how the mall was once a mixture of social scenes and how it was the place to be if one had a social life. The highway traffic died down, so we parted ways. I was online using Prodigy and AOL in 1995; the information revolution wasn’t supposed to end up like this. I’m so happy that I am still able to strike up a conversation with a stranger at a mall… for now.
Excellent comment. Indeed, there were all these great music scenes in cities everywhere. It was a big part of the sense of community people had that has disappeared in so many other ways. Meanwhile, rates of depression and anxiety and feelings of isolation are going through the roof. It almost seems like we're forgetting what it means to be human.
It will be a "relief" of sorts when AI replaces these "sorry excuses"...since any of its "compositions" will--by default--be an improvement on what THEY'RE turning out!
And some of these tunes don't even have a mrlody,aside from a few repetive notes in the background. If I can't play it on my hammer dulcimer,it ain't music.
As much as want to agree with you on the music part, i disagree, there are tons of musicians who are super young - you even had a lot of them on your show and in this video- so saying people are not interested in music which is a universal constant that everyone is interested in is silly. Just because younger people have other distractions doesnt mean people arent. Lot of younger poeple have made great music and continue to. Again i want to agree that all new music is terrible, but i think the fact is only promoted pop music is terrible, actual musicians never see airplay or riches like musicians used to.
Hello i’m 17 and i have stuff to say. On social media, social media’s like youtube, people talk about music all the time and obsess about music and rank albums and talk about their favourite bands and artists and share recommendations, just because people aren’t actually googling music doesn’t mean people don’t care about music. people not practicing or putting enough work into a passion of theirs is an eternal issue - it’s not new, there are also loads of people who do put in work into what they want to do like there always has been. personally i’m learning guitar right now and i’ve played for an hour a day for half a year, and bass every day for 2 and a half before that. I enjoy your videos and find them interesting, and you completely have a point about many of the songs in the top charts being low quality, but to an extent there have always been forgettable, gimicky low quality songs in the charts. this comment is super long but i just think it’s ridiculous to say young people don’t have passions because all they do is sit on social media - a lot of social media is just surface level entertainment, but a lot of it is also used to explore their own passions and things they care about.
Well said, kid. I'm a seventy year old music teacher (and much inclined to agree with Rick's points) but you have made me sit up and listen with your own perspectives.
Right on! 48 here. TH-cam is LOADED with music listens and analysis. They have millions and millions of followers. Maybe the searches are down because the algorithms are tuned. Are kids Googling at all anymore? It almost seems like they would just search inside the app or site that they use.
Well said. 48 here. Thinking the same thing as I watched the video. Maybe google trends are not faithful to actual social behavior but I might be wrong, I dont know the method of those metrics.
I agree. the other thing to keep note of is that google in general is dying as a platform because of the way it pushes AI results and ads instead of information. People dont trust it to give them info anymore, so those kinds of discussions happen on social media instead, where you can talk to real people rather than automated search engines
You are one of the exceptions and are giving a knee-jerk reaction comment. I get it. Don't take it personally. Rick beato is correct. He is looking more at the big picture. I've been following him since his beginning, and I have learned volumes of knowledge. 😊
I teach public high school and can confirm- all the kids want is to watch short form videos. They would do it all day and night if they could. As a class project, they logged their phone hours over two weeks. After briefly digging into the data, I gave up on any true analysis because I was so depressed. 11 hours a day, 15, one girl did 17 hours in day. It is a drug and they are addicts. Of course art and music don't matter to them. Nothing does except the next video. I hope we are at the bottom with phones and social media, and that we can start getting them out of schools and out of kids brains. If we don't, it will not be just our culture that suffers, but our economy, our politics, and our democracy.
@@harrysuber4462 well of course. THAT part is true. All the other things Rick complains about, like how music is too easy to consume and create now and that it’s become completely valueless to society because we use the technology that is given to us instead of doing the hard way, and that music is getting worse now because of it, is absolute bullshit.
All so very true, social media is the worst thing to afflict the human race in decades, maybe even centuries. Rick uses music as the example but in fact it is virtually every worthy pursuit or endeavour that is suffering.
@@harrysuber4462 That is very disturbing. Some of them are spending half to 3/4 of their day looking at the phone. Not communicating, studying, reading, listening to music, or socializing. Since I presume they're living with their parents, there should be limits set on the time spent on the phone: a certain amount of time to be spent on studying and homework, chores, and also on recreation or enjoyable hobbies, besides being a slave to the phone. But the pattern has been set; parental lack of involvement is at least partly to blame.
Masterfully explained. On behalf of Generation X, Thank You, Professor 🙏 I will definitely be referring back to these excellent points when explaining these topics to my Applied Guitar Students!
Spot on Rick! I'm 62 as well and when I attended the Berklee College of Music in the Summer of 1981, I was encouraged by both staff and fellow students to practice TEN HOURS per day. There is a reason for that...natural talent or not, you will see extreme progress as a musician if you put in the time. You can even be kinda unfocused in your practice if you rock TEN hours per day and still make major progress. "As a musician, should at least put in 8 hours per day of practice...same amount of time as a person who flips burgers. At least do that much." -Steve Morse
@@MetalDeathHead Talent is just having a bit of a head start... Anyone can become good even in composition if they are patient and if they practice, in fact, anyone can become a real master, it can take years though... Writing a good tune is not magic, it's about learning theory, learning some principles and rules and being able to make things work... Hardest part is often writing the lyrics...
@@musicfriendly12 I dont buy that, being able to write a good song doesnt come from practise, you can be the best guitar player in the world and still not be able to write a good memorable catchy song, if you have it then you have it, simple as that, i agree about the lyrics though.
@@MetalDeathHeadand where do you get that assumption from? Obviously some people were able to make masterpieces with no knowledge but that doesn’t mean you can’t do too with a lot of practice. Talent can’t really be scientifically measured, so I have no idea why you are taking such an extreme stance. Practice and knowledge can be measured. At least strive at that.
For those looking to follow up on the "new to you" suggestions from Rick: 1. Matteo Mancuso (Italian guitarist known for his fingerstyle technique and unique arrangements) 2. Mateus Asato (Brazilian guitarist, known for his melodic and emotive playing style) 3. Mohini Dey (Indian bass guitarist, known for her virtuosic playing and collaborations with renowned musicians) 4. Tosin Abasi (Nigerian-American guitarist, known for his progressive metal band Animals As Leaders and his extended-range guitar playing) 5. Johann Sebastian Bach - Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046-1051 (a collection of six instrumental works, showcasing Baroque music at its finest) 6. Giacomo Puccini - Madama Butterfly, Op. 68 (a famous Italian opera about a tragic love story between a Japanese geisha and an American naval officer) 7. Ludwig van Beethoven - Missa Solemnis, Op. 123 (a monumental mass for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, considered one of Beethoven's greatest works) 8. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K. 550 (one of Mozart's most famous and emotionally powerful symphonies) 9. Charlie Parker - Ko Ko (a groundbreaking bebop jazz composition by the legendary saxophone player, known for its fast tempo and complex improvisations)
You hit it on the head when you said nobody wants to do the work. It's true-and not just in the music field. You see it everywhere. I tried teaching martial arts and NOBODY wants to put the work in to do it well-even the adults are lazy!! There's just no more drive anymore. The irresponsible use of social media has destroyed our society. Note that I said "IRRESPONSIBLE USE" of social media. There are good things that can happen on social media if it's utilized responsibly. TikTok has helped me grow as a martial artist because I feel obligated to post training material to my followers. This leads to improvement and growth in my training.
"The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne". Chaucer, Parlement of Foules. The thing about SM is it's training to instant gratification. It isn't that people don't want to work so much as they have no patience, no ability to wait, to delay. The effort and attention the spend on SM is astonishing. It should come with a health warning.
I call them, Gen E - the entitled generation. You heard it here first. Going from waiting for 5-10 days to pick up vacation snaps from the Fotomat, to digital cameras (let me see the 1.5 inch screen snap) to why bother with taking vids or pic except to post on my SM feed to show everyone that "I've been there!" @RickBeato you're 100% right. Music has been and always will be a part of my life...old, new, it doesn't matter
I would love your opinion: I'm 50 years old, I've been training martial arts (bjj) for the last 10 years. I go 4 days a week. I want to get good, but I'm also a middle aged hobbyist. I've done some local competitions and I even won one, but that was a few years ago and I mostly train for fun. Where do I fall on that spectrum?
I am the exact opposite where I cannot get myself to post on social media because of how soulless and boring it is. What's the fun in sharing things with people who you won't ever talk to or befriend?
As someone who loves music, being able to explore as much music as I want is the greatest thing ever to happen to me in my 50+ years. I can get on TH-cam or Spotify or whatever and listen to albums for hours and hours. And I've discovered so much great music, including older music from my generation that I previously missed. Also, as a drummer, I can learn all I want from watching Drumeo or other videos which is something I wish I had when I was 16. So I'm going to at least take this vast library of musical knowledge literally at my fingertips as a consolation to music as a hobby / profession not being as popular anymore. And perhaps in a generation or two, things will circle back to people wanting to make music again - and with all the knowledge that exists online for how to play and enjoy music, maybe our future musicians will be at the forefront of a renaissance of new music. Maybe we just need to let the digital dust settle for a while and then see who picks up the pieces.
once the generation that doesn't care about music has kids, music will become subversive and cool again, as their kids start Punk bands to piss them off.
and just because something is so easy in the ears of many, it means its automatically good. When people who have credentials talks about their field in ART and makes an observation, they arent talking about Good and Bad based on preference of individuals, which is the subjective part of any art. when they do, they are talking about the form of art of what makes it good or bad in the Artform itself, which is the objective part. Art has both subjective and Objective aspect. to claim it has no objectivity is to claim art has no form. it means anything can be what they are not. Out of tune is objective observation, thats not talking about how to justify the out of tune note to make it acceptable to the ears (which is subjective)
@@gregrodrigueziii8075 Very true. When i talk visual art, I am usually talking about the technical/conceptual issues, and problems with them...but others are like 'I like it!' and don't look further. Neither is wrong, but sometimes the cross-talk from experienced analysis from an artist and someone who is a layperson is odd, and gets heated...because I think there is a difference between artists talking about art from a knowledge standpoint, and someone who hasn't had the training and have never looked behind the curtain. Different places and approaches.
The first thing that needs to happen... Nation wide ban of cell phones in public schools!! I've been a high school music teacher at a charter school for 3 years now. We finally banned phones last school year. The interest I had in music in my classroom easily doubled if not tripled. I'll go over my rosters and get some solid numbers for ya. But, if we can get cell phones out of schools, it's a start. I would hope we could all agree they don't belong there. Rick, I love your channel!!
Seriously smart, I think we more key need to ban social media for kids under 16. Would do the nation from an educational, social benefit all the way up through even national security.
Banning cell phones is not going to solve the problem with today's youth. It is going to take solid parenting to hit the root of the problem. Many parents are not taking the time and effort to properly raise solid human beings.
Banning cellphones and/or technology systematically will not solve this; it's an authoritative and simplistic solution. I had a talk a few days ago with an older friend who has been a teacher for a couple decades now, and he was telling me how cellphones were seen as a threat to education when they first came around. However, some teachers quickly started noticing that, for example, kids could now google something and prove their teacher wrong. Contrary to this being a negative (like SOME conservative/authoritative teachers tend to believe), when used CORRECTLY (with good teachers who have the adequate pedagogical knowledge) this often leads to a much richer discourse where there's a dialog between students and teachers instead of the outdated idea of the "unquestionable teacher". What's the solution then? I don't know, it's not that simple. Perhaps more emphasis in philosophy, the arts or musical education/appreciation in early childhood could help. Most grown adults have never really sat down and given Bach a real listen, for example. If more people knew about the emotions music is able to evoke, perhaps they wouldn't be conditioned to the simplistic patterns we see in pop music today. Beware of simplistic solutions to complex sociological issues, as they can be ignorant at best or dangerous at their worst. Simplistic + authoritative worldviews have led politicians to spread hate, misinformation and death time and time again; and this relates to all areas of life. Always be suspicious of simple solutions.
@@Daxxxter99I get your point, but it’s not unreasonable to not allow cellphones during school when you’re supposed to be focused on other things. That’s not a total ban on communication. A lot of workplaces ban phones during those hours and it means people have to talk to each other face to face. It’s not any more authoritarian than requiring safety boots at a construction site.
Rick, Im a recently retired Computer Engineer from a Fortune 20 company . Im 69 years old and forgotten more tech than 90% of the country. I am an avid music lover and have watched your channel from DAY 1. Love your videos even though I do not play an instrument. Our generation grew up with so much amazing music and talent that I am so grateful to of lived during the past 70 years. You are so spot on with this video and you really hit the nail on the head. A good friend of mine told me a long time ago when Facebook first came out that social media would ruin the society. I told him at the time he needed to have an open mind and that I felt society would be just fine. Things always have a way of working out. But what you described is so true, and so sad at the same time. It’s obvious my friend was right because social media has ruined the younger generations and probably many more generations to come. The genie is out of the bottle and I don’t know how we put it back.
I'm a 71 yr old retired Computer Engineer and have actually had some misgivings about a career I used to think was magical. I failed to foresee the Pandora's box end result, and not just in music.
@@criscainemusic I know you’re being cheeky, but a solar storm taking out the entire Internet would result in the deaths of millions of people. Crazy how dependent we are on it.
Popular musicians that are great Tyler the creator Tame impala Kendrick lamar Mac demarco Cage the elephant JID Vince staples King gizzard and the lizard wizard Gorillaz Kali uchis Pusha T Danny brown Beach house MGMT Bruno mars When I was a kid id listen to music from any time period and never even really acknowledged whats old and whats new, you gotta be more open minded and not just stay in your little bubble
I wonder how much of those "okay boomer" comments are from those who know less about current music than Rick does. Those people would be eminently ignorable, except that any civilization that ignores its decline is doomed.
49 year old music teacher here. I love your videos. Please keep going. Finally we have a musician asking these famous musicians about music. If you want to see a wasted interview opportunity check out Arsenio interviewing Miles. Most of my students do actually practice but they are more distracted and overbooked with activities than they used to be. I think the relationship the public had with music changed with Napster. Once it became not only ok but people’s “right” to download musician”s work without paying anything music became devalued in people’s minds. It has never recovered.
What if we lived in a society in which our living requirements - food, shelter and so on - were provided without the need to spend money? Would musicians in that kind of society be right to demand payment for their services?
@@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx Obviously not, but this is not the case ATM. Since the introduction of royalties the musician's take has been in decline. We're being robed progressively and there's no turn in sight.
@@RobertJukicJRTV Devil's advocate here. First, not _only_ musicians are suffering a devaluation to their work in today's world; emergent technologies continue to displace all sorts of jobs, and that goes for creative jobs, too. Every hosting service from Etsy to TH-cam squeezes the creators who stand on its platform. That's the corporate nature. Quality is taking a back-seat in today's mass culture: people want more, not better. Second, abundance/market saturation do not devalue a product, service, or creation qualitatively; these can only reduce the product's visibility by displacement. If anything, an ocean makes every island that much more unique. And finally, property. The "right" of a person to copy (and listen to) music from an online source is only as absurd as the belief that one can own the "rights" to music in the first place. Music, once performed, becomes no longer the possession of the creator. It has already been sold; it becomes an abstraction, a disturbance in the air that a person can no longer control. Tell me, if your guitar playing makes me cry, but that wasn't your intention, did I 'misuse' your product? Before the Pirate Bay, I was stuck listening to the same old scratched-up CDs over and over. After that, my musical exposure increased by two orders of magnitude. As far as I can tell, not a single one of the performers I've listened to since then has been negatively affected by me in any other way than in their own mind. In contrast, I'm now in a better position to choose to support the musicians I truly love without having to make experimental purchases that end up supporting those I might not. And now that music is no longer 'free' (because corporations get to sell it to us in crumbs), performers now also have to deal with media sites who are using their content to gather advertising revenue in exchange for the distribution. Whether you're the one who's singing or listening, there's no free ride. Point is, if you didn't want to make the music to share, you shouldn't have released it in the first place; the successful musician's life is already way, way, disproportionate to that of any other successful artist, so count your stars to not have been born to end up like me-a successful carpenter.
@@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx Anything provided or created from other people's work should be paid for, whether that's food and shelter or music and art. If money didn't exist, that payment would likely be some kind of barter system. Nothing is free.
I agree about Napster. Friends would casually talk about how many songs they "ripped'. I'd tell them I always pay for my music because I don't want to steal from the musicians.
When was the last time you stepped foot into a grassroots venue, Rick? That's where the interesting, weird, inventive, "handmade" music scene lives. Not in the Spotify top 10.
They said the same thing about jazz, movies, comic books, rock n' roll, TV, video games, pagers, instant messaging, texting....we haven't had an attention span in generations or this is just alarmist BS and people just can't cope with the fact they're getting old
Ironically, the rant partially relates to how music prioritises clicks and likes over actually being good...but Rick will explain himself because it's good for clicks and likes. Of course, actual good content should get clicks and likes so I'm not criticising Rick at all, it just has an amusing irony.
What you said is right on. I am 72 and when I record, I play my instruments all the way through the whole song. I don't cut and paste. I play guitar everyday. I also play keyboards, bass, and mandolin. Sometimes I just sit down and start noodling on the guitar and almost always come up with an idea for a new song. I come up with lyrics in the shower. I compose Rock, Blues, Ballads, Folk, Celtic, Classical, Electronic, Country Rock, and Traditional Chinese music. Thank you for the video Rick.
i am 26 and i can't get one take right, even after 1:30 of repeating the same 36-bar part... on loop record that goes for singing or guitar... i should have practiced more for the last ten years and should practice more now. i really should. after a week of practice though i can frankenstein a take from two okay-ish takes...
@moliver_xxii The best way to get consistent is practicing, yes, but get out of the studio more and go play gigs. Nothing makes you a tighter musician more than playing live. Gigs will force you to build up your chops, and you will have fun and make a little dough on the side.
or maybe bad music nowadays is more apparent today because of the internet and all the crappy music back in your day got washed away with time cus no ones listening to it
You are SO onto something here. Something very important and bigger than music. Society is changing, and the widespread addiction to social media is frightening. It's affecting the quality of EVERYHING.
Absolutely! Furthermore its affected the way humans connect and share ideas. Its the death of the communal experience. We all used to discover new music through the radio, mtv and what not. Then the next day we would all talk about it. Or go to blockbuster to get the new movie and most people were watching the same things and we would all connect and discuss that. The closest thing I can even think of thats like that for younger people is stranger things. Basically now everything is fragmented. Its everything all at once all of the time. The only way to make big in music, movies, art now is to take something that already exists and make it better. No one wants to experience something new and whats worse is no one wants to create something new.
It takes society a generation or two to adapt to something like social media. The sky isn't falling, but a couple of generations will be a little messed up before it's figured out.
Music teacher here. You nailed it on every single point. There is some staggeringly bad music out there, if you could even call it music. Especially in the so-called ‘Pop’ charts. Computer generated and now even the vocals auto-tuned to robot-world. Devoid of humanity and ultimately depressing.
_Depressing_ is _le mot juste._ Not only is much of this stuff devoid of execution, it's also devoid of content. Even a well played blues has a lot of variations on those twelve bars. I've heard too many things that seem like an endless repetition of four simple bars in common time with only some changing of synth parameters passing for variation. Such dross hardly engages the mind or the heart.
@@christopheroliver148 And "content creators" have perpetuated the shitty music. They can't afford to pay royalties, so they use free "music." And it is CRAP.
@@fftuneswhere does he say that he is telling people what to listen reading comprehension truly indicates he is explaining his opinions. Don't be "that" person of which there are many millions who comment without understanding
I was at a Wynton Marsalis clinic and he said something that has stuck with me my whole life: "People don't know what they like; they like what they know."
Can't deny it. I'm a huge fan of blues, rock and metal. Of course. I grew up on that; my parents played the 50s and 60s classics, I watched the blues brothers religiously (that's just how kids are. Lol) and my sister introduced me to a lot of metal, grunge and alternative songs.
Absolutely. For example it's very difficult to properly judge how good an album is on the first listen. It takes several listens to settle on a rating.
That's why I don't buy Rick's argument that one can appreciate any good music, no matter what time it originates from. I believe one needs a background to appreciate a piece against. I'm sure classical music cannot be treated as "having never been heard before" since people in Rick's age group surely will have had some exposure to classical music. I don't like most modern music but then my parents didn't like the music I listened to as much as the music they listened to. Music is a language and what you like depends on what musical languages you speak.
don't think you understand exactly what you're looking at with those Google analytics, and why the numbers are the way that they are. take a second to think about what search density and variation looks like nowadays versus the genesis of search engines and you'll realize what's actually going on with the numbers
I am British, and the same age as you. I first started learning the drums. My father found a good drum teacher. He taught me to play military snare drum and how to read drum music. He told me if I could learn to play one drum, I could sort the rest out myself. I 'had' to practice every week. One time I hadn't practised, he knew immediately. He stopped me, and angrily threw me out, after two minutes. Telling me if it happened again he wouldn't teach me any more. I was terrified. Suffice to say, I practised like mad after that. When I was 19 I taught myself to play piano and guitar. I started playing gigs when I was 14 and have literally played thousands of gigs on all three instruments. I also set up and ran my own commercial recording studio for 20 years. Now I have a private studio and record my own compositions. Some instrumental and song songs. I post them on line and a new album is coming out soon. The ethos that was implanted in my head at a young age was to get as good on your instrument as possible. That idea, seems, for a lot of people, has changed. People need to get back to that idea.
Hmmm... it's interesting to me that instrumental competence is valuable as a commodity for, say, session playing, but it doesn't necessarily mean the musician is gifted as a composer or in other areas for which less- or un-trained performers shine. For example, Mike Garson, Bowie's pianist, showed his jazz-based brilliance in many albums and tours. But he seemed to fail completely to produce much music outside Bowie's orbit, as was the case for many other Bowie musicians who were equally talented as players. Same applies to many, many well-known members of backing bands.
Grinning from ear to ear here enjoying your rant Rick. Good to see the nicest man on TH-cam vent a little! Am simultaneously very sad to listen to the data you present as i know it's true. I'm 51 and relearning the drums after a 30 year break and am discovering the absolute joy of regular practice with its frustrations and moments of noticeable progress. It has changed my life on so many levels even if i never play publicly in the future. It's the process. Despite the demoralising statistics you've presented there's a part of me that will remain quietly optimistic that at some point down the road the masses will rediscover the joys of creating and learning how to play music with a minimum of technological assistance and a maximum of human and physical effort. 'You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.'❤
i'm the same. played in my teens, now back on it for 5 years and was 50 this year, I now understand how to practice and learn rudiments etc. I;m now getting somewhere with my playing. Evning enjoying the practice pad.
i dont know if youve paid attention recenetly but the "nicest man on youtube" has been a ranting dork that spazes out on things he does not like for.. months now!
@@krusher74That's great to hear. As a teenager I never bothered with the rudiments, or even lessons or a practice pad. Bought a kit when I was 15, played along to records and in a few covers bands. Basic rock stuff. I was OK but never great (for obvious reasons!). Gave up because I was stuck at a certain level and life took over. Since taking up the drums again last year ( a basic e-kit and a practice pad) I've already developed more than I ever did as a teenager. Approaching the kit with humility and patience, focusing on good technique and rudiments, and not putting any pressure on myself has made every practice session a pleasure. Aiming for a solid single and double-stroke roll as my goals for now. Not there yet but well on my way. Glad to hear you're enjoying your drums again. 👍👍
I was actually getting depressed that I wasn't getting any results from my practice routines. And now, I feel much better knowing that nobody seems to be even thinking of picking up an instrument these days. Thank you sir, this is great motivation for me!!!
As long as you want to learn you will. No idea why force kids to take music lessons if they don't have desire to play. If you don't want to do something even if you are forced you will stop sooner or later. And if they wanted to learn to play they wouldn't need music lessons. Internet is full of music lessons today.
Learning ebbs and flows, at least for me. I’m a mid level beginner guitarist that’s practices about an 1-2 hours a day 5 plus days a week. I’ll have an awesome day playing where it feels like I’m nailing everything. Then the next 3 days I’ll just suck. Then day 4 comes around and bam another great playing day. The key, don’t get discouraged, keep practicing and it will come. We all know the great guitarist on earth today still practice. So if they do and need too, so do I🤘
I dont mean to be mean but this is kinda cope. There are plenty of young people picking up stuff, and kids that can absolutely shred guitars or play drums like beasts.
@@thrpotatoasfgfejfidieiidkr7071 I have no doubt about that but I think those of us older than 40 know how it worked then and if some teen actually made hit song (because of being talented) in 80s people would fight to get that person and song to publish it and person would become famous and everyone would be hearing that song playing everywhere. Even 40+ years ago people "manufactured" stars and bands but real talent or young band that had few good songs were discovered mostly by radio DJs and people who went to underground clubs. You have TH-cam today and you could make great song and AI would never discover it ergo nobody would see it. And competition was fierce even before now it's whole world. So what used to be summer hit is now work of art. ANYWAY , DAMN YOU CLOUDS lol.
["Nuh uh -- my opinon is objective because I do Spotify top tens."] It doesn't matter how up to date you are if your tastes are the same. People aren't saying, "This guy doesn't know what he's talking about because he only listens to oldies." They're saying, "This guy can't find music he likes in the mainstream, so he thinks the quality of the medium itself has degraded," When there's no reason to think that. The only reason you would think that is if you drew a false equivalence between Spotify and other online services and radio or vinyl records. Sure, pop music now isn't pop music fifty years ago but that's because it's an evolving _buisness._ But _music_ is eternal because it's an art in the same way that fine art is a trashfire because it's exploited by the rich to dodge taxes but people are still producing great art.
As a guitar teacher and principal at a music school in Bavaria, I can say that TikTok and similar platforms are very popular with many of my students. Many of them watch short videos where musicians showcase their guitar skills. Often, they come to me with specific requests, wanting to learn what they saw on TikTok. Depending on the difficulty, I can either teach them the piece directly or they are motivated to practice diligently to master it eventually. However, it should also be noted that in Bavaria, many children and teenagers mainly learn an instrument in musically supportive households. At the same time, there is a large portion of students who only play their instrument during lessons. This has always been the case and is not just a phenomenon of the new media. (Dirk Olbrich)
I wish more people would see this comment, because you're really giving a much needed nuanced take. I've seen numerous comments by frustrated music teachers here about how kids don't take their instrument seriously "because of social media". There have always been kids who were signed up to music lessons by their parents without having any real intrinsic motivation to learn it. This is hardly a modern problem, but it's just very easy to blame social media as some kind of monolithic root of all evil. If someone has intrinsic motivation, these short videos can be a huge source of inspiration on top of the music they're already listening to!
Truth. I took tuba lessons in the 80's, and must admit that many times I sat in the chair dreading the lesson b/c I would soon be exposed as having put in ZERO practice time :-(
@@NTesla00 "in Bavaria, many children and teenagers mainly learn an instrument in musically supportive households." This is very true, for any household, anywhere.
I am almost 41 and I started taking piano lessons about 4 months ago. And it's freaking hard. Not just because I am older and learning and improving is way more work. But also because I just don't have the time or energy to play every day. I try to do it but most weeks I can only manage 30-45min three or four times. And it is frustrating and challenging but it also gives me another way to interact with music. This channel is actually a big part of why I started doing it. I wanted to learn more about music theory and thought that actually learning an instrument would help me. Which it kind of doesn't as it isn't really my teachers focus. When I was 35, I started taking vocal lessons because I always loved singing and I've always been really good at it. My teacher (who is an opera singer with a vocal teaching qualification) told me that I could have been an opera singer if I had started earlier. That would have been a miracle given how much I dislike opera and classical music in general. But singing is freaking hard. It it way more frustrating than playing the piano. You learn all those techniques for posture and breathing and diaphram support and where to push and where to relax. But if you are not really in tune with your body, it's almost impossible to keep track of all of it and make it your own. A fellow student back then was a ballerina and she was amazing. My teacher pointed out a mistake and she fixed it instantly. I was so jealous. in the end, it all comes back to the things our parents make us do in our youth and how they package it. I was forced to learn the guitar when I was 7 but all I ever wanted was to play piano - on the 5th floor of our rented flat back when E-Pianos weren't a thing. However: Part of that course was 45 minutes of music theory every week. My guitar teacher used to shake her head telling me that I was the only student in probably 10 years who absolutely hated playing the instrument (I also never practiced) but was so eager to do the theoretical stuff. Both my nephews had to learn an instrument and are still on it. One of them is very talented on the drums but he is literally what you pointed out: He's not really listening to music the way we were so there's no point in saying "How about you learn song XY?" And he seems to have no intrinsic motivation to get good, even if his drum teacher tells him that he is doing great and he could become really good...
Honestly the people that dont practice simply dont like the instrument enough. I have experienced this too with the piano and i wondered why i wasnt that good. I had been playing for 5 years. I came to this realization and thought i would give guitar a try, and now i absolutely fell in love with the instrument. I feel that some people say "i want to play and instrument" because they hear a song, or their friend plays an instrument, some people give it a try, practice and give up and their parents keep them in lessons because they dont say anything. Personally, i get that. But when you lack motivation that usually means its time to make some changes. At the point where i switched instruments, i realized it was the piano in which was pushing me away from music. Immediately when i began to play the guitar i was playing for hours. To this day i am playing sometimes 5-8 hours a day but i dont find myself making myself practice i just get lost in the music. Too everyone who doesnt practice try something new, learn from me i wasted a lot of time feeling like i could only play one instrument. To everyone, when you enjoy an instrument you progress fast so its not a waste of time and you will find motivation as you improve follow your dreams.
I have 4 kids. 2 of them are still taking piano lessons. My 16-year-old son finally buckled down and practiced "Fur Elise" by Beethoven when the teacher invited him to play it at her church as part of a concert. He worked and worked at it. The teacher wisely got him to do it. But my wife and I had to really whip him into shape. And the same is true for sports. I can't get my kids to practice at all. I sit for hours working on one song, and I enjoy the discipline of it. My kids see it, and when I play 3-hour shows, they know why. I put in the work. But getting them - intelligent, talented kids - to work hard on ANYTHING is next to impossible. Why? When i'm done work and come home, each kid is sequestered alone with their iPads in a room, doing mindless stuff. I think we should ban all devices from kids until they are 18. They are turning us into idiots.
guitartom wrote: "I think we should ban all devices from kids until they are 18. They are turning us into idiots." Do it. They are your children. Their wellbeing is your prerogative. Set some boundaries, enforce some discipline, be a parent.
@@userer4579But it isn’t just kids. Most adults are equally addicted. Grazing on mindless news sites isn’t that different between grazing on mindless video games and TH-cam videos. I find it odd that all these devices aren’t leading to more creativity. I mean, in your pocket you have a multitrack studio, a film editing lab etc and what do most people do? Nothing.
@@userer4579 I did keep my kids off of electronic devices, except for the laptops needed for school. The result: I am listening to my college age son play guitar at this moment and my college age daughter is creating jewelry for her Etsy shop. And now I'm hopping off TH-cam to get some yardwork done. Can't be a hypocrite, right?
My best friend in high school, Joey Lynch, was a gifted musician. He played guitar, piano, trumpet, trombone, and if necessary could fake it on bass and drums. He wrote and arranged music, too. He also had a decent singing voice and was very good at harmonies. How did he do all this? Because he WORKED. He PRACTICED his craft, and he took pride in it. I always admired him. I was even a little envious of him. I never learned to play an instrument. Now I'm 64 and I regret it. Joey passed away several years ago at age 58. I still miss him. I miss his music. Joey was the real deal.
His work ethic, at that age, was inspired by his discovery that he had was gifted--he had talent. Of course it takes tons of hard work and practice, But nothing inspires that like finding out you have the ear, the dexterity, the memory, the mind, the passion...the talent.
He also had a massive amount of talent. I could play most of the brass and most percussion. I learned because my main instrument was Tuba and I had a lot of extra time. I just never had the hands for strings or piano. I had good theory and got accepted to Berkeley in Boston but couldn't afford it. I didn't have massive talent but had a good amount, a good ear and solid arranging. I wish I had guitar or piano chops. I let my tech slip though. Now I need to learn to use this new stuff and make some songs happen. Joey a good guy to hang with? Bet he was.
Good friend of mine in college, during the eighties, was a natural. Coming from a family of classical musicians, he was a gifted piano player and would decipher bass and drum parts so that I and our less talented musician friends could play with him. A few years later he would be playing at lounge bars and jazz clubs during his spare time. Today he is a banker in Luxembourg and we frequently share Rick Beato's videos, as we both love watching them.
There's a principle in digital creation, (especially around procedurally generated content) where eventually, oversaturation of ANYTHING turns it into white noise. Music is too easy to create now. Since garageband, autotune, vocaloid etc, everybody can create music. The over-accessibility is a factor too. Movies used to be an event, the whole gang would look forward to going to the cinema as a group, now we stare at our thousand options on Netflix and say "ugh, there's nothing to watch." "Familiarity breeds contempt" and "Absence makes the heart grow fonder". These two old phrases speak of this phenomenon distinctly.
Funnily enough vocaloid music is created by musicians and one of them is Kenshi Yonezu, probably the most popular singer in Japan in the last few years. And while I am not too fond of Vocaloids this piece of news took me by surprise because I know Yonezu as a full fledged singer and composer.
What is the fix? Whar amount of artistic expression from people is the right amount so we get better artistic expression to enjoy? I'm not saying I totally disagree with your comment, but it offers little to none in terms of viewing this new situation and taking a better course that benefits everyone. You're comment is pretty much this much is too much, but do we now limit people from making music and art? Only good artists can make art?
@@ZeroG84 no, it's not about limiting people - it's about people knowing their limits. Nowadays it's: you can be anything but the truth is - you can't. Now with new toys people are being convinced they can be as good at doing something as people who dedicated their life to a given subject. There certainly is going to be more of this stuff - but not necessarily better ones.
@@mitabpraga7487 I mean... aphorisms are merely descriptive, not prescriptive. As for breeding, all you need to do is "f**k around and find out", right? 😉
the sheer irony of a man arguing against being lazy with easy-to-use tech while also using Google Trends to make the laziest statistical analysis ever. Like mannn, I don't necessarily disagree with a lot of your takes from the last video, but wow this is a bad follow up video.
I'm 70, a first generation Beatles fan having seen them "live" on Ed Sullivan in Feb '64. It dictated a life as a working musician and happy to say, I'm still working, making a better living today than ever before (knock on wood). Rick is a hero and one of my regular "go to" channels on TH-cam. This video is the truth, as are ALL of his videos. I've lived the American Dream, being born in S. California '53 so I have perspective not only as a musician but as a Sociology major in College. Our culture is in decline..some would say freefall. Don't believe I've ever chimed in before but this video got me going..;-) Rick, please keep doing what you're doing!
Old man musician here. A young friend of mine said he chose making music with computer programs because it was the easiest and fastest way to create actual music. He has ALL instruments at his disposal and the computer plays them for him. Learning an instrument is too much effort and time for the instant reward TikTok generation, and it's just ONE instrument. Then you have to find other people to play with. And now he's starting to use AI where he doesn't even have to program anything, he just types in a bunch of words and it pumps out a song in that style. I fear for the future of music as a creative art.
17 year old producer here, I can play keys, drums, bass and guitar all to an extent where I can play live. But I still use plugins for certain instruments like drums because it's so much easier to set up and I literally cannot afford 10 mics needed to mic up a kit Also some genres lean towards much more sample based instrumentation that relies on this Check out some more modern music outside of the mainstream
Im from Italy, so I’m talking by my perspective. Luckily in my country I’m noticing more and more students in their teens and even younger ones are starting to practice again and approaching to music like in the past. I’m 53, lately I watched a show in a pub where few bands of the local music school were on stage. Well they performed great and I got so very enthusiastic by watching and listening to them talking about music, future plans ,forming new bands. It reminded of my teenage past and that was great… As Italian guy, I believe we should be grateful to Maneskin, many young Italian people are starting to play and practice rock because of them.
I notice the exact same thing in Portugal. Lost of kids learning, and listening to music with passion. And I see a good portion of youngsters interested in actual music, not just today's mainstream crap. Honestly it looks like interest in music among the younger generations has been growing in the last few years.
3:06 Okay so I can understand lot of this video and don’t want to fall into the “Old people bad” line of thinking, but this is the one section where I think the generational divide explains a lot. Google trends doesn’t cover how many times things related to a topic is searched, it tells you how many times **a specific term** was searched (and I know that because you can literally see under Music is says “search term”). As a Gen Z guy, no one in my generation googles broad keywords like “music”, “art”, or “Video Games” to try and find more of those media categories. Instead, we search for new stuff on the services that provide them, like Spotify or Steam (both of which are showing a steady increase in google trends over time, proving the exact opposite of your point). Even then, as a younger person my experience is definitely not that my generation can’t get into music because it’s “too boring”. It’s the exact opposite really; platforms like Spotify, TH-cam, and yes, even TikTok have made it easier than ever for people to find those non-mainstream songs that appeal to you specifically. While I think there’s a lot to be said about how TikTok has changed the priorities of music (IMO generally for the worse), “People aren’t getting into music because it’s boring” just feels like a biased conclusion made by someone who dislikes the current pop scene. TLDR: instead of showing that “kids don’t care about music”, those graphs show a shift in how people use the internet.
Yeah, however, there were people back then who said THAT music from that time was already part of the decline. And it most definitely was, you have a sentimental attachment to that time frame. Music from the 90s was mostly crap.
25 here, and I have witnessed the same exact trend.. There is nothing this guy needs to apologize for, he shared his opinion, which (in my opinion) is objectively true hahah!
I have been a private music teacher for 30 years and your stance on this matter can be 100% confirmed by me. I spent a lot of my time being frustrated with this larger part of this new generation that just does not seem to ever get to the point of appreciating what one’s personal effort can turn into, which is the priceless jewel of merit. You can actually do something as you progress along this journey of study and development. And that what you can do is actually larger than the sum of its parts and also contains you. You do not lose ‘you when you invest in the way you express yourself. You become 101% of it. And whether that is about music or arts or whatever, the results are all the same. When I was 10, I could not imagine being able to do something when I was 15 but I practiced for it and it happened. Reaching that was the biggest gift. And much much much more bigger than I could ever imagine. And it had actually hurt to practice, but I just couldn’t give up. I wanted to be able to do this thing so I practiced. Now what I have in return is incomparable in size to the suffering of learning. Now I know that this hurt is turning into something good I want to hurt more in that same fashion. It is a good hurt! And somehow getting through the mental blockade that that brings with it is something that this generation is largely missing. That is such a shame because that thing is at the core of the greatest gift in life; maturing. Taking responsibility for this is your gift to you and it pays itself back 101%.
We are the last generation who lived withOUT mobile phones (or even computers). Our kids are born into this digital environment and their only guidance is an outside/foreign experience, us! Their kids are going to be doomed.
No work, No reward. Being void of a sense of accomplishment is no way to be proud or to live. What's the point in it? Or is it just to be entertained??!!
@@denfranke4464 I get what you’re saying but the truth is that you were the exception to the rule. Every generation has millions of kids taking music lessons and a small fraction actually put in the time and effort to work on it. My uncle sold and repaired used instruments for five decades and it was always the same. He would sell an instrument and end up buying it back within a year or less, cleaning it, then reselling it. Was the entire backbone of his income and there’s nothing different about it today.
Young people now crave the immediate reward of dopamine they get from computer games, and social media. Sitting patiently with a musical instrument, concentrating on learning a piece of music, or a technique just doesn't deliver the upfront hit of dopamine they're after.
It's like how videos on TH-cam became more based on trends and what other people are doing instead of making original content or honest videos based on the deepest interests and desires of the individual.
@@Sanzen Never said that it didn't still exist fam, however, it would be hard to argue what I described didn't become the norm, but there is something to be said about the influence of the algorithm as you mention.
You are taking anecdotal evidence and extrapolating out to an assumption. Also if you only look at pop music you are automatically making an assumption about a pretty narrow band of music. There is so much great music out there and you’re talking about roughly 2-3% of it. Yes that 2-3% is awful but why are you focused on ONLY that music? Amazing records from amazing artists are out there and it takes old school work to find it. You gotta go out and see live music and talk to young people. I know you work with many artists and young ppl they are practicing and totally focused on their craft. It’s about using your voice to celebrate the ones you love.
I'm a bit saddened that you felt you had to explain yourself, Rick. We appreciate your tremendous knowledge and experience. Haters are going to hate no matter what.
I just came home from a summer piano performance of my son's school. 30 kids, all in varying stages of musical development. Maybe three or four practice when not in a lesson with their teacher. My son, on the other hand, practices four hours a day, every day, all year. Needless to say he played last because he's the best in the bunch. He also teaches. Other parents came up afterwards, eager to know his "secret". There isn't one. It's just work. As the great wide receiver Jerry Rice said, “Today I will do what others won't, so tomorrow I can do what others can't.”
That sums it all up. No secret, just work. and ANYONE "CAN" do it, but most will not. That's why I can fairly confidently say "It's not natural talent...just time put into the craft".
ay maybe give him a day off a week, i know you want him to succeed but my parents were like that and I dont touch anything anymore because i had a breakdown from stress
@@BB-848-VAC You do not break down because of too much work. You break down because you are not satisfied with your results. That is what creates stress. In music and everything else. But sure, it can be nice to rest now and then. Do something else. But also, doing something else can be a bad habit, usually called procrastination. Not doing what you need to do but something else. And procrastination also causes stress. Because, you are not practicing enough to reach any interesting goals.
This comment isn't about the quality of popular music, or the lack thereof, but rather that I take issue with the statement that it's too easy to make music. For me, the ease of getting into recording has been the number one factor in improving my technical skills on the guitar. Even more than joining a jam band. The ability to easily record my playing, analyse it, and improve it has been a total game changer for me. My rhythm, timing, phrasing, and just general understanding of music theory have all gone way up in the year since I first started trying to write songs. For me, writing music, even bad music, is the best way to get better at it. For me, the most depressing thing was the time I spent two weeks writing, recording and mixing a new song, only for my friend to generate some AI crap in a few minutes that sounded a thousand times better than what I did. But like John Henry and his hammer, I decided that I was going to do whatever it takes to beat the machine.
Ok so social media is big and music/art is down on google trends....what do you think people are hearing on social media???? People are not only hearing new music and being exposed to new genres they never would've discovered but also, selling their art, promoting their music, etc
The best way to counteract this alarming trend is by educating yourself and becoming a more knowledgeable musician so that great music can make a return. This is why I'm passionate about teaching and have created comprehensive music learning courses and software to support this process. Check out my Ultimate Bundle below if you're interested, which contains all four of my music programs.
📚The Beato Ultimate Bundle - $99 For All of My Courses: ⇢ rickbeato.com/
📘- The Beato Book Interactive - $99.00 value
🎸- Beato Beginner Guitar - $159.00 value
👂- The Beato Ear Training Program - $99.00 value
🎸- The Quick Lessons Pro Guitar Course - $79.00 value
…all for just $99.00
Get it here: rickbeato.com/
These courses are the best music education on the internet. No question
Mancuso hasn't brought anything new to the table- so he plays with his fingers instead of a pick. He's a virtuoso no doubt, but there's no innovation there.
Indeed: "Educating yourself and becoming a more knowledgeable musician so that great music can make a return" That is if you can be heard through all the noise out there!
Could you do a breakdown of Naked Eye’s Always Something There to Remind Me. I feel like this is nearly a perfect song. It also reminds me of Madonna’s Live to Tell. I would love to hear your take.
Thank you, Rick! I was not familiar with that particular Beethoven piece you mentioned. Listened to it all the way through. You made me feel guilty for not picking up my guitar for the last few months, too. Then I went outside to welcome my new neighbor to the RV park. He is the owner of the music store where I bought the guitar last year. I don't believe in coincidences. Perhaps the Big Guy is trying to tell me something. God bless REAL musicians.
“If it’s new to you, it’s new.” Truer words were never spoken. I’ve argued with music snobs too much about this.
The best demonstration of this for me was coming home from university one day and hearing a CD of Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances played by Martha Argarich and Alexandre Rabinovitch. It was completely new to me, and the drama of the music blew me away. Back at school, that was often in my Walkman when I was at the computer lab doing my homework.
It's something I've felt for a long time. Every time I discover a new artist I've never heard before it doesn't matter what era they're from. I never sat down and listened through Dark Side of the Moon until it was the 2010's but I loved it.
I think people who are stuck listening to the same things they did before they turned 30 have stagnated. I can't imagine going through life not discovering new music, art, literature, etc.
word
Sometimes when one's relationship with music changes, they may appear a bit bitter in a sense towards newer audiences. It doesnt neccessarily mean someone's right or wrong. Someone who truly loved music more than the average person will almost always have something to say, because they felt more. Music was not just used as an ''occasional'' thing to them. Now if on the other hand you love music too much, usually it also means you are using it to cope with other aspects of your life you are unhappy with.
Having said all that, i guess what iam trying to say is gatekeepers while annoying and obnoxious are just as valid as excited newcomers. Unless they actively try to push people away let them snob. Its only because they didnt have the foresight to know that given enough time, everything becomes jaded.
Time is the only absolute thing in the universe. And it affects music too.
So so true! Argh... Music snobs are so frustrating. Music haters tell you what not to listen to. Music lovers just love music. Period.
I'm really happy for my neighbour's kid. I can hear him practising his drums and keyboard almost every day. I can hear him improving too
Congratulations, you no longer have to sell the house.
@@quezquez3084 🤣
Better than having Jimmie rex wiseman jr or ericaguitarbebe as a neighbour 😂
Give him a compliment if you can.
Nice. The kid has his first fan :)
A lot of people missed the point of your video, Rick. 🥺
Spotify top 10 is bs. 😂 Spotify doesn't play all the artists
A lot of people are missing a lot of points these days. I’m guessing that social media has destroyed attention spans and critical thinking skills have suffered accordingly.
I would venture a guess that most of those remarks came from people that didn't even really listen to what Rick said. He's an old white guy on the internet, sadly that is enough to almost immediately invalidate his opinions to a lot of younger people.
@@BooksForever
It’s ruined the average person’s appreciation, for any art.
There are small groups, in every age group, who still try to go back and find where the music they love, actually comes from, was inspired by, or sampled from, if not strait up taken and put rap or new vocal over it, whether they keep the chorus or not, and/or it and the main melody/bass line, are the meat of the song. 😵💫
As I said before... nothing to do with age or generations...
I was born on 1988 and I listen music from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and even some bands from the 2000's...
Music is now ultra-procesed auto-tune mumbling t*ash...
The last decade and a half has been God awfull 💩
Rick, you said the magic word: "work". Creativity demands work.
Work also needs creativity. Look at Jacob Collier. A prodigy in all aspects of theory yet his music is just...
@@joesosa41Yeah, Jacob Collier relies way too much on being eccentric and zany and quirky.
@@KToll5784 sure, but then there's King Crimson. Jacob is not even eccentric, zany, or quirky. Just very lightly self-indulgent harmony-wise even though through his social media we know he is talented. But his music is just not it.
You don't say !
After seeing other rebuttal videos, watching this again back and fourth, the issues aren't as black and white and all sides have been making good points! What I really agree with Rick is that the "old man yelling at clouds" arguments and etc are lazy and some of those viewers aren't adding any value to the discussion.
This. Well said 🤝
Being triggered by the truth is a very common theme nowadays. It's closely related to snowflake syndrome!
Wrong
@@tallyrc found the gen z test tube baby
“Progressives” are deeply conservative in their lack of open mindedness, fervent emotions, plus a total lack of critical thinking or allowance for a differing opinion. They are the antithesis of progression, and are absolutely regressive.
The internet is the best and worst thing to happen to humanity simultaneously in it's existence.
I agree and say this all the time. It's incredible how in some ways it makes my life easier and helps me find the info I need. But at the same time, it has dumbed down society and it's only getting worse. The rise of tech was incredibly exciting. I just don't know how we lost our way so badly as the years went by.
Agree also. And also say this often. A gift and a curse to humanity.
Nothing wrong with the Internet. It's the people that suck.
@@DisgruntledDoomeryeah but let’s not pretend the internet has creatured issues from humans we wouldn’t have seen otherwise
What a dualism, eh?
Who googles "music" lmao
Not even people Rick's age do that anymore
That coming right after bragging about being more tech savvy than the commenters is hilarious.
Apparently 25% of people who did so back then
well, who googles "social media"? Apparently more people do.
@@fisk0 googling "social media" more these days makes sense, especially considering how big of a buzzword that is in the news these days. You can't do anything without hearing somebody talking about what some politician or celebrity posted on "social media" or how it's affecting mental health blah blah blah, or what counts as social media. People want to find out what's up with that. Taking raw stats while disregarding nuance and context is not thinking critically.
If people want to look up something about music, or listen to music, their search terms are likely to be much more specific and informed nowadays.
u are using google trends incorrectly, you should have used 'topic' instead of 'term' because the term searches are being conducted within streaming apps themselves. no one uses google in this manner anymore because most music has become consolidated on streaming platforms.
Just used google trends and searched music as a "topic" exactly the same results genius! Wish I could include a screen shot.
@@secondclone60 That's funny. OutOfPrint was too lazy to even look up by "topic" before commenting.
Both ways of searching result in the same outcome because nobody googles music anymore. Wheather its the music its self or information about music because like he said "streaming platforms have consolidated all the music"
@@kennethfisher7013 that's funny too. noone googles "music" anymore because why would anyone google music??? we all have our apps to listen to it that we've downloaded specifically to make listening to music easier. that's the whole point of having those apps...?
@@JacoWium Googling the word music to find music to listen to is something a non computer user would do. This is like Googling the word Google to open Google. If you want to search for music you go to a music provider and search there. Anyone Googling the word music in 2024 is more likely to be doing a book report on music than seeking something to listen to. I'd recommend asking your grandkids to explain it in terms you will understand if this still doesn't make sense to you.
The reason your recent videos have gained so much attention is because you are, in fact, correct
But who cares? The majority is contended with being dumbened and their attention span being shorter. That's why the majority doesn't bother to read a thick book or watch a two hour long movie.
And he's posting on social media to finish the loop 😅
Why doesn't it apply to sport, where we see many young people that have done the hard yards and have reached a standard that's incredible. I believe music is the same, the laziness is people not putting in the effort to find them.
He is in fact _technically correct_ - the best kind of correct! ( Thank you, Hermes 😁)
I was listening to the the Third Brandenburg during a work out. A younger guy comes over and asks what I am listening to. I said the Brandenburg. He looked puzzled Bach - classical music. I filled in the gap for him. His face wrinkled up. I look up at him and said - I have some classical that will get your attention - he just laughed. I pulled up the the 9th symphony (Yes - That ninth) - put on the second movement - gave him the ear buds and hit play. He froze in place - his eyes went unfocused. He didn't move for about 2 minutes. He tried to hand my buds back. I said - try this. I put on vivaldi's Winter - he froze again.
He handed me the buds back and walked away. A while later he walked over with his phone in hand - What was that you played?
Beethoven's ninth symphony - listen to all 4 movements, Vivaldi's Four Seasons - winter. There's 500 years of great music to try.
Every time I see him now he asks for more recommendations.
The kids know nothing about music but bless their souls when they actually listen - they are mesmerized.
Teach 'em!❤
give him ride of the Valkyries
@@FrankFerret Bach Tocata and fuge in D minor
And then the whole gym applauded
You went for the jugular on that ones, beautiful.
Timeless Masterpieces.
From an old episode:
Homer: "Hey, how come you never play your guitar anymore?"
Bart: "I’ll tell you the truth, Dad. I wasn’t good at it right away, so I quit. I hope you’re not mad."
Homer: "Son, come here. Of course I’m not mad. If something’s hard to do, then it’s not worth doing."
Sad, but increasingly true.
"Life is just one crushing defeat after another until you finally wish Flanders was dead."
Simpsons were scary right. AGAIN.
From the soapbox derby episode I think...
Bart: "Dad, you taught me to win!"
Homer: "When did I ever teach you that?"
Bart: "Well, I picked it up somewhere."
A favourite of mine
Wow, that's very sad! Homer is a great example of how to be a horrible Dad.
I’m 76…..your perspective on the intricacies of all genres of music is intellectual, extremely well researched, and passionately insightful. In other words……you be on top of it…..and that’s why I watch your content and learn for it every time I watch your videos. Music is ageless and so is your insightful deep dive understanding of music. Rock on, Rick.
Well researched?! No it's not, no one searches for "hip hop" on google, they go to spotify or some other app for that. He presumes that the world has stood still since 2004 and google is the only way anyone finds music.
Social media is the least social thing ever. False branding! It should be called junk. Becuase that is what it is.
😊
Junk media
It’s Orwellian doublespeak. It’s the antithesis of anything social.
spot on!
Social media connects people, some of whom are ANTI-social. They get on social media to argue and criticize, take out their frustrations and anger. Strangers are being brought together hopefully to share common interests which is the case if you belong to a group with a common interest but at other times if you disagree or express an honest opinion about something you're raked across the coals.
I'm 43 and have a 17, 15, and two 12 year olds. Around the 3:25 mark you nailed what I've observed - Music isn't really an interest of my kids. I mean they know of some individual popular songs they encounter out in the wild, and they know the tune of a lot of video games, but they don't really have any focused interest in music like we did being teens in the 90s. We all had our list of bands and entire albums we were constantly listening to, and it was sort of a main topic you used to interface with other people our age. Learning what someone listened to was definitely in the top ten.
No worries, I started late too. You know why? Too much junk on the radio (we're talking nineties). I just needed someting that was different and interesting enough and had a certain intensity and drive that the mediocre palatable stuff didn't have. Enter heavy metal. And now I've been sold for 20 years and counting and not a genre bigot, even :p
Streaming platforms have removed the social aspect of recorded music, in the same way that the demise of transmitted TV has for TV shows.
41 here. I’m not a father, rather an uncle helping raise my sister’s son. He’s 15 now, and in no way shape or form interested in músic discovery from the past. All he listens to are video game ost’s that he rips from the gameplay. I can’t believe it lol.
@@yalu2 Yeah, I was a genre bigot until l met my wife. There’s certainly stuff that really does it for me but I stopped hating on other genres a long time ago. Consequently, I started discovering new music later because of that too.
My daughter practices piano 1 hr everyday. News flash, SHE HAS NO CELLPHONE. she actually enjoys practice, why? she has talent, and no cellphone. 🤔
"Playing video games takes work" feels like such a weird statement but it's like completely true
You can get paid for playing a video game. Let that sink in.
The grind of going up the levels is like a day job for some people.
@@aliensporebomb It is for Contra, I can tell you that.
@@adamgh0 Oh goodness... you couldn't be more correct. At least, I believe so - I haven't even gotten past the first boss yet. You know, the one that you encounter with all the cores and stuff, after you get past the stage with the electric zapper, and enemies that you have to duck under? Yes, that one.
When my daughter says "I'd rather watch someone else play it". :facepalm: Hit the nail on the head.
That google search argument is bad, sorry. People don't search for music in google so much anymore cause there are specific apps to listen to music. All these services were not there back in the early 2000s. Also, you didn't really address any of the constructive criticism about your other video.
I think part of the problem is the price of concerts. At risk of saying "Back in my day", I could see 3 or 4 concerts a year as a teenager, and sharing an experience with a singer/band was one of the best ways to make a connection with them. How do you do that today, when concerts are now a luxury you save up for? With that comes the unfortunate consequence that you have to pick and choose who you see, so of course, you're going to see the band you already know. Who can afford to be a casual concertgoer? Today, I'm priced out of anything that I would've taken a chance on in the past. I can't even afford to buy tickets for people I've already made the connection with; how can I afford to make new ones?
That difference in price is partly capitalist profit making (let's not mislabel it 'profiteering') on the part of under-regulated corporations such as Live Nation, and partly because big gigs have become more like theatrical events with huge overheads on staging, staffing and other expenses that smaller gigs today, and even fairly big gigs in the past, don't incur. There are still plenty of mid-level and low-level gigs that are not so expensive when inflation is taken into account.
Very good point as I've had to forgo more than a few concert attendances for crazy high prices & vendor fees. (I love Roger Hodgson of Supertramp, never seen him nor Supertramp though the group was one of my favorite bands while in college in the late 70s but last time he came thru St. Louis you had to cough up $400 if you didn't commit otherwise sizable funds months in advance!)
Look no further than Open Mic nights and free in the park summer concerts. Just great music being performed. Come to Iowa and you will see, hear and experience the opportunities. I recently passed on the Eagles concert that came to our state, at around $600 a ticket for a less than mediocore seat, who needs that? Not me.
The next best thing we can also do is support our local musicians/ shows at a fraction of the cost of those hefty big concerts
hey, you can still see great bands for 20$. I'm not going to 3-4 shows a week like I used to, now I can find the time and will to go to at least one show per month. I chose not to go to arenas where I must sit on my place like a dog
Haters gonna hate! Don't listen to them, Rick!
I despise that comment. "Haters gonna hate". Opinions are just that. Telling someone not to listen to certain comments is obsurd. We are suppose to ignore everyone and listen to you?
Haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate
Haters suck @ss
@@bradspringer2372yes exactly - this ain’t the real life, this is social media and if you’re a content creator, the reassurance is shown by numbers - not by negativity
Honestly, if anyone needs ricks videos to be explained to them, and they still doubt his intentions at that point, then they're probably too far gone imo.
People don't seem to realize that "you're just old" or "you just don't get it" don't constitute arguments.
Technically we are all getting older, so the logic is air-tight
Same as answering with "because"... "Because" is not an answer, it's the prerequisite to an answer.
@@Porcuspine360 Perhaps the premise is air-tight but the conclusion is not.
Argumentum Ad Hominem. I think these "arguments" are called that way.
This was exactly my reaction Corn. The middle aged or old arguments are used to avoid real conversations about a topic.
Rick who tf googles music to begin with? That point you tried to make is ridiculous
That's true, the business model has pert near reverted to the 80's..if your coey's have the moulah?, (there are more ways than 1, to be number 1).
@@Zotbot2329The real problem is being number 1 has become the same as someone else's number 1. That's the point he's trying to convey. In fact there are lots of people in their 20's & 30's who agree with points being made in this video. Further more if you want to go beyond the "music" industry, we can also throw the "movie" industry in the mix as well. There's a lack of creativity in both genres. Some modern or younger people you might want to checkout is Jesterbell video (The Biggest problem with modern movies) Ava Catherine (Modern pop music is boring) The Full Stack Creative video (Music is going to zero). No. It's not just the old man yelling in the clouds here. We have big issues in modern art. Check those out and get back with me and give me your opinion.
I would think that the different search results are compiled somehow to the specific categories that are shown. I don't know anyone who googles, or ever has googled, social media, art etc. either.
@sauliruottu5871 Trust that he's worked with some of the people that he was criticizing in this video. The Google search is just for the general idea of what's going on. Anyway, what he's saying is true. The entertainment industry, even going beyond just music, is in a bad place right now due to corporate greed.
@@lyndellwilliams5890 yeah, the entertainment industry.....the whole of media, seems toxic. So much bad, for the little good. I'd run, but I'd be smeared quickly.
The human condition is always to take the path of least resistance. Watching the world go by on social media on a smart phone is the very definition of “least resistance”, and that’s why people (all people, not just youngsters) don’t “practice” or learn to play instruments, “it’s too hard”, just like you said Rick. But to be fair, if the internet, smart phones and social media had been invented in the 1950’s, none of the great R+R bands of the 60’s+70’s would have ever gotten together, because all those teenagers would have been watching videos on their phones instead of playing guitars and drums, just like the kids of today.
So who is making those videos if everyone is too busy watching them?
I don't believe tiktok is the reason why kids supposedly supposedly have become less motivated to pick up an instrument. There always used to be books, comics, video games etc to give kids distraction with something that doesn't take much effort. If anything, it's become dirt cheap and relatively easy to record and release a track/album, the average 19 year old guitarist now has more processing power and instruments in his home studio than any professional music studio in the '60s/'70s.
Exactly.
Maybe the majority are wasting time on their phones, but there's still many that are hard working. Several sports have young people that are as good as anyone from the past. It has never been easier to learn than it is now, can buy a Rick Beato course, if he isn't too busy on social media😂
Great conception. And btw even cable TV wasn't that bad; and if that didn't have that negative of an effect, then that probably means that watching TH-cam videos all the way through doesn't either. So it's gotta be TikTok and TH-cam Shorts that ppl resort to.
Why continue to search for those terms on Google when people can search for them on Spotify? To view Google Analytics of those terms as such strong indicators of people's loss of interest in music seems to overlook a growing tendency to search for them on newer, music-specific platforms instead. Personally, I might only search for those genres to read about them, not to listen to them. This sort of thing was probably happening a lot more when device popularity started to take off. That being said, I myself have basically given up bothering to find modern music that I might enjoy, and I've listened to my favorites to death.
The graphs all show the most drastic decrease happening from 2004-2011ish then things decreasing more gradually. Spotify didn’t become widely used until around 2012. You could maybe contribute some of that decrease to iTunes coming onto the scene but google was used by everyone on the internet well before iTunes gained a large enough user base to cause that type of decrease. It’s also telling that just the term “music” drops. For the past 20 years you would still count on google for looking up music lessons, music stores, music videos, etc. While the way the internet has evolved definitely would throw some factors into the mix, I think it does back up Rick’s point pretty well. Just my take, but I think what you see is that as the internet and social media became a part of everyone’s lives, we all got a million and one ways to distract ourselves with more and more addicting dopamine dispensers. Someone who was bored in 1995 might turn to art or music for entertainment and hobbies. Now with smartphones and TH-cam and TikTok, the internet is the hobby. Instead of using it to explore new things we now just use it to consume what the algorithms serve up. It takes some effort to hunt for new music or stay up to date on what’s happening with music, even if it’s enjoyable effort. It takes no effort to scroll away on your phone and if you do want to listen to music, just let spotify recommend something to you and it plays in the background without ever really feeling a personal connection to it.
Consuming music and having interest in music are not the same thing
You're confused but you've got the spirit
People here absolutely know nothing of what Ricky does right? Most of the data he uses prove his point is from Spotify, yeah I know in this particular video he used google well, maybe you should have watched more. But I guess young people are not into researching, or understanding, or anything at all to be honest. They surely love to pretend they have "informed opinions" about everything without actually having any idea of what they're doing. That is not new, young people always thought they knew everything about life... however, without modern google search and tiktok in my teens I didn't even consider being a genius, I knew I wasn't, I didn't watch 30 second videos telling me the whole truth about life 24/7, now everyone thinks they know quantum mechanics, psychology, music theory and astronomy, among all the rest of knowledge. In like 5 years (usually 11 to 16) you learned every single thing produced in 5 thousand years of history, seems legit.
@@raoniluna4091 My intentions were more along the lines of pointing out that, for people like me who haven't seen many of this guys videos, it might appear that he's saying that these analytics are proportional to people's consumption of music, which seems considerably inaccurate.
No explanations or clarifications were necessary, "Riccolini": Anyone who watches your channel knows you're as tech-savvy and 'au-courrant,' musically as anyone, as knowledgable as anyone, and not stuck in the past.
I'm concerned that everything in life has gone towards short snippets. It started with the news with sound bites but has really accelerated over the past few years with "shorts/tik tok" etc. I'm in my 50s and even I find myself getting caught up in the "Where's my next dopamine hit?" Can't commit to a movie, can barely commit to a TV show. I'm sure others can relate. But then, just occasionally I'll manage to take the time to read a book, listen to an album (as opposed to a Spotify playlist). And when I do, it rewards me with a calm you don't get from 15 second clips. Keep up the good fight Rick. 👍
You are exactly right. Same here.
Totally agreed in every way from a guy 20 years younger
Try to keep your comments to 40 characters or less in the future
Attention deficit
@@trevor6513 I have definitely related and got so upset with myself that I deleted all social media but TH-cam, but even better eliminated all news period. Anything worth knowing will always trickle to you eventually. Otherwise we're constantly providing clicks. Just subscribe to a handful of channels that just talk about topics you enjoy and the rest can preach to the trees. I stay away from anything that may upset me to the point of anger. Life is too short for anger.
It is deeper than this. People are more isolated than ever before. Things have moved from listening to the radio at home with family and friends back in the 1920s to playing the new record with family and friends in the 1930-50s to driving around with friends with the radio on in the 1950-70s to today where spotify is a solo event or surfing internet with spotify on in the background alone. People used music as a media to meet and talk such as dance halls to concert trips to just hanging out. Now more people than ever are lonely and isolated. I dont' know if it is the immediate gratification that we have now or the hurry up rat race or depressing outlook of kids nowadays.
The Internet has really enabled us to isolate ourselves. COVID, of course, did not help. But the Internet has introduced me to Patrick Bartley, Snarky Puppy, Lake Street Dive, Monsieur Perine, The 8-bit Big Band, Super Soul Bros., David Marriott Jr., Charles Earland, Manami Matsumae, The Huntertones, The New Radicals, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Mathilde Gardien, the Montreal Video Game Orchestra, and the R&B version of The Crusaders. Plus... Strasbourg-St. Denis. And I've seen these folks live when I could. So it can enable great music to exist in ways that it never could before. TH-cam videos are becoming the definitive recordings of things.
to listen to music with others means that you need to find a common denominator of you all's tastes, which is not always successful. if you listen on your own, you can listen to whatever you want. with streaming platforms, musical tastes have become more personal than ever.
Nice job completely skipping the 90s-2000s
There's an even deeper reason beneath the isolation though: our souls. It's unnatural for human beings to avoid one another because we are created to be in community. Why are people wanting to be more isolated then? I believe the answer is because we have our heads filled with materialism, godlessness, and that generates lies and darkness. If you do that you will literally turn into Gollum. Tolkien knew what he was writing.
@@OdaKathe 90's had good music but it also began declining rapidly as we approached 2000. The 90's signaled the rise of self centered, pessimistic, thinking. That was a soul cancer that has now spread into everything. It has all but ruined art, especially music. Singing about ourselves is the most boring subject ever.
“What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly.”
We used to have to wait for months for new content from our favourite artists, and when it finally came out, we had to go to a store and buy a physical object in order to hear that music. We invested so much more of our time and money, and we appreciated the value of it.
With the advent of newer technology, people with a fraction of the talent can make and release music, and listeners can access it for a fraction of the price. Is it any wonder that people don’t care as much as they used to?
Technology was supposed to democratize music; instead, it has merely cheapened it.
Kinda like what Marxism/Socialism/Communism does to human life in general...
Wait "months"?!? We had to wait YEARS!!!! And then have the money to afford to buy the album and, hopefully, see them on tour. You can listen to everything now for a pittance versus you could listen to what you could afford to buy or could get as a copied cassette from a friend or snail mail tape trading. Those tapes were GOLD -- GOLD I TELLS YA! Yeah... I'm that old.
Very good post. The easy-come-easy-go principle.
Some of the "new" music I discover & collect these days are via digital tech platforms. It's convenient, easy and cheap to do. Well, yippee yay. But it doesn't give me a millionth of the satisfaction I got during my childhood days, delivering newspapers at the cruellest, coldest, darkest hours of the morning on my bicycle, day after day, so I could finally buy that 7-single or album I coveted.
I still have those albums. I've taken care of them, and playing them still warms my heart in ways that no streaming platform could ever hope to do. Some day after I've passed someone will throw them in the trash. But for me, those are the memories and experiences that make me feel wealthy. It is wealth in the head, which is far more valuable than wealth in the pocket.
This debate has shallow historical understanding. What about before the advent of industrialised musical distribution and recording technologies? How did people in, say, 14th century Peru value music compared to today? It wasn't available to buy, I suspect.
TBH, I think it’s largely due to a reduced attention span. I wonder what the figures on book reading or even movie watching is like?
Well I ‘m an old man Rick, even by your standards (lol) . This is my first ever comment about anything on the Internet, but felt compelled after watching your video. You have addressed an issue that I am acutely aware of both with my offspring and everywhere else. I don’t live in the USA but what you describe seems to be universal. As both an ex musician and record producer I am saddened by the indifference to creative energy unless it comes from algorithmic canned intelligence. Enjoyment and fulfillment comes from endeavor and appreciation of what it takes to make something worthwhile. This is a lesson that most will never understand now, and I feel frustrated that the world has become exclusively focused on what’s in in for them without realising that in order to receive they also must give.
Great comment!
preach!
Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
Excellent comment so true !
Just because an old man is yelling at clouds, it doesn’t mean he's wrong.
As another old man, I agree - clouds got it coming. They're the worst.
This man is yelling to other people that they are looking at his clouds the wrong way...
Just let people enjoy what ever shape clouds just the way they want. But no. The people are seemingly wrong.
@@mikewhitfield2994 Today's clouds just don't cloud the same way. Ever since McJagger told everyone to get off of his.
@@mikewhitfield2994 Apparently they're filled with data. Just not the same as in the old days.
All Clouds Are Bastards 😅
Rick.... The sky is falling.
This has to be your best rant todate.
My 17-year-old and I just had this conversation this weekend.
The quality of music being produced is like canned meat ( spam ). You can survive on it but do you really want to eat it everyday.
The music industry has turned into a fast food market. You can pick a number one you can pick a number two a number 3 for and so on but you can't get a good home cook meal and you can forget about fine dining. The quality that they'll give you is too crappy singers and they call it a combo.
So what you are saying is Taylor music is spam.
@@dohanddonuts5716
Nah that's different. Sure, her music is "spam", but at this point her music barely even matters, people go see Taylor Swift she and the show are "the main event" the music itself is secondary.
She just went to Sweden and people went absolutely crazy for her, she's not even that popular in Nordics yet people went insane for an American megastar. I almost never hear her being played in local pop radios and yet everyone was raving about her.
@ToveriJuri She isn't played on the radio? Tell me what it's like? It sounds wonderful.
@@dohanddonuts5716
Not as great as you think it is... Turns out she's not the only one making "spam".
Not being able to find quality music is a skill issue.
100% I’m a music teacher in Tampa no one practices at home I ask every lesson “what did you practice?” Not even my older students except for one she’s 75 and learning to play the drums but she’s a crazy exception haha
THERE'S STILL HOPE FOR ME! Oh, a 75 year old learning to play drums? That makes me SO HAPPY!
Im a 39 uear old and just bought a pair of sticks and a practice pad cause my dream is to learn drums eventually, so i needed to see this reminder that its possible
@@dayglodoggy yeah man I’ve taught all ages it’s not about age!
My Children practice mostly because They get results. if they can see growth they will practice..if they can feel pride in what they do they will p practice and they standout from other children or adults because they can actually play something
Techno sorcery is a thing. Welcome to the last of the last days. Jesus is saying in July 2024 "Follow ME"
Alternative perspective on the declining search trends: The internet now compared to 2004 is much more consolidated and much less exploratory in how people use it, at least in the sense of the websites visited. People tend to stop searching for something broadly on Google when they have a preferred app or website that provides that thing. For example, the search popularity (in the US) for "video" peaked in 2013 and "youtube" peaked in 2014. This is despite the fact that people in the US spend much more time on TH-cam and online video now than they did in 2013-2014. Once people know where to go for videos on the internet, they don't need to search anymore.
THIS!!! People don't search for hiphop on google they use spotify or apple music
The decline in art and music appreciation is partly a function of the decreased emphasis in those subjects in public education.
That was my first inclination too. I didn't know people's interest had changed so, it's like music and art have been abandoned
@Jjj53214 you are dead right about that. The crashed American education system is wrecking/has wrecked millions of young lives, and is wrecking the future in the bargain. The country and the world will definitely suffer because of it.
its a decline in attention spans.
@@rodmact6548Be careful with terms like “crashed educational system” A big red movement in this country has been deliberately ‘crashing it’ in order to push privatization and vouchers and god. The crash isnt because of teachers or putlic schools.
If it doesn’t produce capital for our overlords it won’t be taught in any serious way or promoted by the media so that there is demand for learning said skills. All that’s left of our society is endlessly expanding the economy so that people can live miserable lives in drab office buildings working towards the final 10 years of their life that they can’t even make the most of because they are too decrepit. Then out of frustration they say “get a real job” to anyone who doesn’t work towards this imaginary expansion and label them as selfish and arrogant.
I read a lot of comments on 80's videos by people born in the 90's and later,
and even they say how much they love 80's music and vibe,
and is more positive musically than today's top whatever chart.
I was born in 1999, and I have the same exact opinions that Rick expressed in his last video. What he said is just objectively true, and those that don't agree don't seem to have much knowledge and undesrtanding of music past their favourite ""artist"" with their cult like following today. They are narrow minded and never experienced good music.
Everything is better than today’s music
If I was given a single song to listen for all my life, I'd choose "Don't stop Believin' " by Journey not the garbage we hear today. And I was born in the 2000's. 80's music just kicks regardless of when you were born.
The 80´s more positive than todays music ? I doubt that very much. Its the same C-G-Am-F cord progression in rock and pop then and now.
Most annoying thing in 80´s are the vinyl records. They all sounded absolute crap for starters because of a combination of the mixing fashion ( Thin bass, gated drums, screaming mid range and vocal tracks mixed far away) If you are not U2 or any other mega-band blessed with good sound engineers and a good cutting house, they all sounded crap, well at least 85% did.
@@Funkywallot You left out D Minor,
but seriously,
Lyrically the vibe was more positive in the 80's and the music videos more colourful and optimistic.
Smae is true of the 70's as well.
Theres nothing comparable to those artists today.
Its all thug life gangsta rap, and cicada trap beats.
Where's the diversity that we had in the 80's?
Nowhere!
Movie Soundtracks?
Zero.
I was just watching REM LIve, name one artist today that is comparable to REM?
No one!
Todays music is stagnant
"Using technology to fix bad performances."
PERFECT
Using technology for lack of talent as well.
if that was the case no one would be touring
But isn't this a good thing? Is it better to leave a bad performance...bad?
@@ezekielplumb4008 I suspect they're using the technology during the 'live' performance as well.
@@MichaelCRushno, it’s better to keep practicing and getting better to limit your bad performances. That way you won’t need the technology. It’s there to help but you shouldn’t depend on it.
maybe stop hyperfocusing on popular music and celebrate the vast array of less-popular, underground and/or barely known music. yeah "popular music sucks haha true statement i win" sure buddy, the fact that you concentrate more or less only on the top charts instead of giving lesser known artists a platform taints how you view the "current state of music".
look, my point is they were shitty artists/band in the 40-50-60-70s, not everyone singing with a slighty jazz voice over a piano were music prodigies.
Music has become something that happens in the background while your attention is on something else.
Not unlike...driving.... 🥶
Always has been, for the most part.
There have always been "lounge music" but the level to which music has become irrelevant is off the charts...
@@nectarinedreams7208 nah. I used to sit down and actively listen to albums with friends. We would talk about them as if we were watching a movie together. We would go see shows of the bands we were listening to because we loved the album, the music.
@@edru i did the same. loved those times!
Rick, once again you hit the nail squarely on the head.
my youngest daughter is 17 and although she does have a few contempory songs in her playlist, most of the songs she listens to are from the 1970's, 80's and 90's. there are even a few from the 1960's.
from talking with friends about what their teen children are listening to, it seems that the parents with eclectic music tastes, that listen to their music through speakers so their kids hear it, have children who prefer to listen to old music rather than the charts.
I think that speaks volumes about the quality of modern music compared to that of the past.
Yes, indeed. There are many young people posting on 50+ year old videos saying the music is way better than what they hear today. Kids wearing Beatles t-shirts, and what not. The positive flip side is that unlike us, young people have several decades of music at their fingertips. Only recently have I come across some music from before I was alive or old enough to remember that I really love.
Yeah, and a lot of young famous “musicians” are covering older songs nowadays, to get sales, rather than create their own great music, with great lyrics. They’re all reverting back to the old stuff! I wanna tell them to make their own damn music with great lyrics, and stop ruining great classic songs
@@EnvyBlu in a lot of cases it isn't down to the musicians. a lot of labels tell the artists what to make songs about. if they can't, the label gives them a song to record
Rick, I’m a teenager and you’re 100% right about social media and phones in general. I have realized Im addicted to it and need to stop. It drains creativity, and truly experiencing and enjoying life.
Social media IS a time suck. You can always get cell-minutes but not more life minutes. Use them well and as wisely as you can. At 63, it's not just time that's limited. One's energy, and resilience to keep at things is harder to maintain. God Bless.
Did you watch this on your phone?
@@p.aaronjones4174 Yes. It sucks the life right out of your soul.
I'm 3x as old and I have the same problem.
I think his point is off the mark. He is pretending that social media is musicless, when in actuality, a lot of fans get a direct line to the musicians. As far as searching for music on Google, who even does that? If I am looking for music, I go to Apple Music, you know...to listen to music. He is using one metric to measure interest in music, but he completely ignores the more practical mediums to find music. It's like looking up Walmart fuel sales, seeing that it's low, then coming to the conclusion that people just aren't driving, when the fact is, most Walmarts don't sell fuel.
I was telling fellow musicians about the Led Zeppelin II story. I empathise completely. I’m trying to get my grandkids interested in what I’ve spent my life to learn. Prediction. They won’t nor neither will anyone. This is the same as the other way I spend my life. Building cars. Making things. These are lost arts. Thank you, dear Rick. I feel a kinship but I don’t know what the answers are. I can only remain to hope - while I enjoy myself continuing to learn and impress those who do not have a clue how to play, ride, build, ski, fix, create, write, invent, repair, improvise, hope, dream…
I'm an old guy who recently took up guitar again after 55 years and I am hooked on it. I practice and play every. It's a joy. My concern is that social media has become a cheap substitute for real life experiences. One of the greatest joys in life is the feeling of satisfaction one gets from overcoming a difficult task or experience. I have faith that as time goes by more and more people will recognize that there is more to life than what social media has to offer. Young people are very smart and most will eventually figure this out once they realize social media is using them for the purpose of someone else making money off their precious tiime.
Yep.
Emotional intelligence is something you're not necessarily born with.
The people That we can both refer to as them, they know that they like swiping up in social media, it feels good.
Ever that's obviously a shallow experience, as it's consuming other people's content. The only contribution that they, the viewer have, is a fleeting emotional reaction.
Emotional intelligence should but isn't because people are naive, should inform these viewers that they will feel desperate at some point, because their individuality is not properly represented by someone else's creation, especially not by the collection of social media posts fed to them by an algorithm.
Speaking as a software engineer, I think I know about algorithms 🙂 I have emotions about algorithms that I have used and I have created 🙂 a bizarre convoluted form of art, but it's also art.
I was always super excited to show my instructor my progress from the previous week's practice. It would be embarrassing to go to a lesson - and not a cheap one either - without having practiced at all. Yikes.
@@jim5148My first guitar teacher made me play Barry Manilow songs (Mandy in particular) until he was satisfied with my feeling for the music. Oy vey. Be careful with who is teaching you. (This is a recovered memory, suppressed for a long time.) I’m better now.
You cracked it ' 100% right
The danger is that, like any addiction, by the time many people realise they are addicted, it has become very difficult to kick the habit. Drugs like heroin and cocaine carry a social stigma which can give enough shame to push people to seek help. Gambling and power are two addictions which are more difficult to identify, and much less stigmatised by society.
Social media addiction has become almost a mark of being part of society, and those who disdain its use, are treated as the odd ones out. Another thing is that social media platforms spend billions designing their products to be as addictive as possible, and their wealth and influence means that they can block any policies which might cut into their profits.
Music is now disseminated to a great extent by corporations who have NO interest in the music or the artists, therefore they go to great lengths to make the product as forgettable, anodyne and disposable as possible. This means they can replace one artist with another and the audience will hardly notice the difference.
The same is true of many areas of 'The Creative Arts'. Many major films are only bankrolled if they are vehicles for franchises, sequels and spinoffs. musicals have become overblown commercial vehicles for merchandising and vast touring circuses.
I've gone through depression through the best part of my 40s and while I wouldn't attribute it only to social media, truth is during that time, I cut myself off from the things I used to love and live for before that. I got better since, therapy and all, but even more recently, I've started to examine my media consumption and started to make changes. More films, less shows, less social media. More reading, and a return to writing, my main passion. More listening to music as in really doing just that, listening to a new album, or rediscovering my collection... And I've even picked up the bass again and dedicate a minimum of 1 hour to practicing every day... Why am I saying all this? Well, turns out I've never felt healthier mentally. I feel like I put my brain under a lamp and thawed it. So my point is, yeah, listen to Rick's wise words, get off the social media and come back to life again, folks. Your mental health will thank you.
Amen. I’ve been struggling with low mood, and generally feeling ‘flat’. I was only listening to music on TH-cam, and not my extensive CD or vinyl collection, and I certainly wasn’t making music anymore (but I think the loss of a dear friend a few years ago who encouraged me to make music didn’t help). By chance I saw a poster offering the opportunity for me to join a male choir, which was being started from scratch. After 12 rehearsals we performed a concert. It’s been the most joyous thing I’ve been involved in for years. Last night I was singing sea shanties with the guys……..music as therapy, to lift mood, to affirm what it is to be alive - I can’t recommend it enough! Beats programming a computer anyday!
Couldn't agree more.
This is a great comment. Who cares what anyone else does or thinks? You can make and love music (or writing or whatever). It’s your life, live it your way.
Neuroscientists will tell you: You rewired your brain
As a musician, the current state of music is heartbreaking. I don't know that it will EVER be like it once was.
It won't and music will be taken over by AI, it is already happening and AI will get better year by year as more money is thrown at it.
@@Ozymandias1 I think all that really means is there will be a split in the music world, between A.I generated slop for the masses, and real musicians who make real music for music lovers.
Even if all online platforms become completely overrun with A.I generated crap, there is still the offline world of live music, played by human beings.
@@bluesrocker91Human beings, who stare at the screen of their smartphones most of the time
It's not supposed to be like it once was though, not unless you're listening to recordings. Music changes over time, it's supposed to do that because it's a reflection of the minds of the times. Green Day's new album called Saviors doesn't sound like Black Flag because it isn't supposed to, it's a third of a century newer.
@The-Lard310 It doesn't have to be a pub or a club. You can play an impromptu live set in a park.
How again is search volume on Google a measure of interest? People discover music in other ways.
Please enlighten us on how these alternative ways to discovering new music eclipse google searches.
@@mountbrockenaren’t people discovering music via playlists and algorithms, and social media? That could explain why they feel less compelled to use Google. I work in digital media and the last 20yrs have seen a huge change in online behavior when it comes to search.
@@jordank.986 but certainly google searches would also reflect popularity of people's interests to where if they are finding new bands through streaming music services then Google searches would equally reflect said interest. But as Beato mentioned, social media is far more a search item than music.
Agree. I can’t imagine a time I EVER googled “music” or “pop music” as a search term. Rick is trying to make a point, but his method is horribly flawed.
There’s a thousand ways to discover music - most of that traffic has been eaten by streaming services and google was NEVER a primary method of discovering new music.
@@Sinted the idea that searching "music" on google is how people discover new music also implies that searching up music gives you a bunch of different artists and songs that youve never heard before, when the reality is that it just brings you to streaming services, which are the things peope use anyways.
I'm a teenager and I do care about music. But all my friends don't and they're addicted to social media😔
Maybe try to share some of your music with them? But I know it's so hard. Even adults are addicted to their phones. It's horrible. But don't give up! Keep finding good music out there. Or learn to make your own, if that is something that interests you.
I'm in your same situation, and the only people I know my age, seem to not have the ability to respect and appreciate good music.
I mean some people just don't care about music. It's not an important part of their life. My wife likes music, and sings along with things she hears on the radio, but she doesn't buy any music at all. Never has. She's never been to a music concert, she doesn't have a "favorite band". She consumes what she hears on the radio, or various songs I play for her that she enjoys. But she rarely knows the name of a band at all, outside of a small few. Meanwhile I've been buying albums since the late 80s, and going to concerts all over the place, and have the most intense emotional reactions to music, more than any other kind of media. To me music is DEEPLY important. But then a lot of my friends are like my wife, and just consume it casually. I don't think it's an "addicted to social media" thing, it's just that not everyone approaches music the same way. For some, it's their life's blood. The beat of the drums is the beat of their heart. For others....it's just a thing that they engage with sometimes.
@@happyninja42 Exactly. My mother went to one concert in her entire life, a Blue Rodeo show, and afterwards said to me that she understood what I had had been seeing it in all my life. Likewise, a girlfriend of mine once asked me why our band had to practice every week if we already knew all of the songs. The simple answer was that we wanted to learn more than enough for one set, but also because it was just fun. Some people just can't relate to other peoples' interests and that's okay.
@@happyninja42 Yes, there is that. There's also a difference between adults and teens/younger kids.
That said, I'm GenX and I know most kids my age at that time loved music! I don't have much contact with teens these days, so I can only go by what other people say. And I do keep hearing that teens today are not as into music as kids used to be when I was that age.
And darn, now I feel old again.
😆
I'm 71. I've never listened to as much music as I do now. I discover new music that I love every day, and yes, it's from all over the timestream. I am finding good music that is very recent but you have to look for it and give it a try. My children are in their 30s and 40s and we talk about a LOT of music and share what we've found. It is is hard to get my grandchildren (who are entering their teens) to even engage in this topic. Interestingly enough, those who will engage are those who have some difficult challenges in their lives, and have learned that music helps. A lot! Of course, it the same with reading. A whole generation is being lost to hyper short social media. And they have the attention span of nats. End old guy rant...
I'm the same age as you, and say ditto ditto ditto.
I'm an old(er) woman and I agree with everything you've said. I'm even making my own music - old school! Now get off my lawn, ya damn kids!!!
Theres kids on your lawn? How did you do that, is there a pokemon go stop or really good wifi reception there?
I can relate to EVERY piece of this!!!!
old(er) Ha!
Wouldn't kids have to be outside to be on your lawn? Sorry to call you on that.
@@jim5148 it's metaphorical speech, lol!
I was taking this seriously until the Google search trends part. That's... a shockingly bad argument. People still care about music, art, and video games. But they're not typing "music" into the Google search bar as often because there are dedicated music platforms and apps they use instead of Google. Same with video games; people aren't just typing "video games" into Google, not because nobody plays video games anymore, but because *the way we use Google has changed* since the 00s.
Less and less people truly care about music. Check back in 20 years to see if people are randomly singing songs from today. It's disposable.
@@timphelan2873People still care about music, just look at the drama around Jennifer Lopez Justin Timberlake and Taylor Swift.
In my age of 16, there's really hard to find people in my age who actually know what music is.😢
It all about environment. There are plenty it just everyone’s a little more spread out. Granted I can’t go round school asking people what their favourite karnivool song is or what style they think vangeilis is best at. However if I go to band after school or sit in the music department I hear people discussing which romantic era symphonies they’ve been listening to. Don’t worry if you feel alone. Chances are you just haven’t stumbled across the right people.
If people dance or sing this is the MUSIC. That's it. Cut the crap
@@bloodromance4776 Did you even watch the video? Apparently it was too long for you...
@@eTengu No, he was on Tik-Tok...
Even my 16 yo who grew up with everything from classical to metal listens to crap sped up music and trap😂😂😂
Music used to be a social scene. Now social networks are the "scene". There were grunge scenes, punk scenes, metal scenes, and every week we all looked forward to hanging out at the shows and seeing new bands. That's a big reason why music has lost popularity as social networking increased.
I was at a local mall today. I heard a guy say, “dead end” as we both hit the eastern most wall. I replied, “dead mall.” We spent about 40 minutes walking through the mall looking at closed shops… and very niche shops that were open but had zero customers. We reminisced about how the mall was once a mixture of social scenes and how it was the place to be if one had a social life. The highway traffic died down, so we parted ways.
I was online using Prodigy and AOL in 1995; the information revolution wasn’t supposed to end up like this. I’m so happy that I am still able to strike up a conversation with a stranger at a mall… for now.
Yep. Kids don't want to emulate musicians anymore, they want to emulate social media personalities.
Excellent comment. Indeed, there were all these great music scenes in cities everywhere. It was a big part of the sense of community people had that has disappeared in so many other ways.
Meanwhile, rates of depression and anxiety and feelings of isolation are going through the roof. It almost seems like we're forgetting what it means to be human.
@@USMiner Music is still a social scene, like how people are obsessed with musicians' personal lives and love affairs.
@@longstops1430 First world problem. Kids don't want to emulate anybody but themselves.
It’s about time someone called out these piss poor “ musicians” for their crappy tunes. Give em Hell Rick. 👍👍👍
I am absolutely certain that this was NOT his point.
It will be a "relief" of sorts when AI replaces these "sorry excuses"...since any of its "compositions" will--by default--be an improvement on what THEY'RE turning out!
@@SpaceTimeManipulatorSTM Have a sense of humor.
And some of these tunes don't even have a mrlody,aside from a few repetive notes in the background. If I can't play it on my hammer dulcimer,it ain't music.
As much as want to agree with you on the music part, i disagree, there are tons of musicians who are super young - you even had a lot of them on your show and in this video- so saying people are not interested in music which is a universal constant that everyone is interested in is silly. Just because younger people have other distractions doesnt mean people arent. Lot of younger poeple have made great music and continue to. Again i want to agree that all new music is terrible, but i think the fact is only promoted pop music is terrible, actual musicians never see airplay or riches like musicians used to.
Hello i’m 17 and i have stuff to say. On social media, social media’s like youtube, people talk about music all the time and obsess about music and rank albums and talk about their favourite bands and artists and share recommendations, just because people aren’t actually googling music doesn’t mean people don’t care about music. people not practicing or putting enough work into a passion of theirs is an eternal issue - it’s not new, there are also loads of people who do put in work into what they want to do like there always has been. personally i’m learning guitar right now and i’ve played for an hour a day for half a year, and bass every day for 2 and a half before that. I enjoy your videos and find them interesting, and you completely have a point about many of the songs in the top charts being low quality, but to an extent there have always been forgettable, gimicky low quality songs in the charts. this comment is super long but i just think it’s ridiculous to say young people don’t have passions because all they do is sit on social media - a lot of social media is just surface level entertainment, but a lot of it is also used to explore their own passions and things they care about.
Well said, kid. I'm a seventy year old music teacher (and much inclined to agree with Rick's points) but you have made me sit up and listen with your own perspectives.
Right on! 48 here. TH-cam is LOADED with music listens and analysis. They have millions and millions of followers. Maybe the searches are down because the algorithms are tuned. Are kids Googling at all anymore? It almost seems like they would just search inside the app or site that they use.
Well said. 48 here. Thinking the same thing as I watched the video. Maybe google trends are not faithful to actual social behavior but I might be wrong, I dont know the method of those metrics.
I agree. the other thing to keep note of is that google in general is dying as a platform because of the way it pushes AI results and ads instead of information. People dont trust it to give them info anymore, so those kinds of discussions happen on social media instead, where you can talk to real people rather than automated search engines
You are one of the exceptions and are giving a knee-jerk reaction comment. I get it. Don't take it personally. Rick beato is correct. He is looking more at the big picture. I've been following him since his beginning, and I have learned volumes of knowledge. 😊
I teach public high school and can confirm- all the kids want is to watch short form videos. They would do it all day and night if they could. As a class project, they logged their phone hours over two weeks. After briefly digging into the data, I gave up on any true analysis because I was so depressed. 11 hours a day, 15, one girl did 17 hours in day. It is a drug and they are addicts. Of course art and music don't matter to them. Nothing does except the next video. I hope we are at the bottom with phones and social media, and that we can start getting them out of schools and out of kids brains. If we don't, it will not be just our culture that suffers, but our economy, our politics, and our democracy.
We're already there. Just look at the last presidential debate...
Our schools don't allow children to use their phones during the day. Phones get confiscated if anyone is caught using one during school hours.
@@harrysuber4462 well of course. THAT part is true.
All the other things Rick complains about, like how music is too easy to consume and create now and that it’s become completely valueless to society because we use the technology that is given to us instead of doing the hard way, and that music is getting worse now because of it, is absolute bullshit.
All so very true, social media is the worst thing to afflict the human race in decades, maybe even centuries. Rick uses music as the example but in fact it is virtually every worthy pursuit or endeavour that is suffering.
@@harrysuber4462 That is very disturbing. Some of them are spending half to 3/4 of their day looking at the phone. Not communicating, studying, reading, listening to music, or socializing. Since I presume they're living with their parents, there should be limits set on the time spent on the phone: a certain amount of time to be spent on studying and homework, chores, and also on recreation or enjoyable hobbies, besides being a slave to the phone. But the pattern has been set; parental lack of involvement is at least partly to blame.
Masterfully explained. On behalf of Generation X, Thank You, Professor 🙏
I will definitely be referring back to these excellent points when explaining these topics to my Applied Guitar Students!
Spot on Rick! I'm 62 as well and when I attended the Berklee College of Music in the Summer of 1981, I was encouraged by both staff and fellow students to practice TEN HOURS per day. There is a reason for that...natural talent or not, you will see extreme progress as a musician if you put in the time. You can even be kinda unfocused in your practice if you rock TEN hours per day and still make major progress. "As a musician, should at least put in 8 hours per day of practice...same amount of time as a person who flips burgers. At least do that much." -Steve Morse
doesnt matter if you practise 15 hours a day if you dont have talent and cant write a good song
@@MetalDeathHead Talent is just having a bit of a head start... Anyone can become good even in composition if they are patient and if they practice, in fact, anyone can become a real master, it can take years though... Writing a good tune is not magic, it's about learning theory, learning some principles and rules and being able to make things work... Hardest part is often writing the lyrics...
@@musicfriendly12 I dont buy that, being able to write a good song doesnt come from practise, you can be the best guitar player in the world and still not be able to write a good memorable catchy song, if you have it then you have it, simple as that, i agree about the lyrics though.
@@MetalDeathHeadand where do you get that assumption from? Obviously some people were able to make masterpieces with no knowledge but that doesn’t mean you can’t do too with a lot of practice. Talent can’t really be scientifically measured, so I have no idea why you are taking such an extreme stance. Practice and knowledge can be measured. At least strive at that.
@@TsotneUsharidze im just saying there are people who are very good at their instrument but cant write a good song.
For those looking to follow up on the "new to you" suggestions from Rick:
1. Matteo Mancuso (Italian guitarist known for his fingerstyle technique and unique arrangements)
2. Mateus Asato (Brazilian guitarist, known for his melodic and emotive playing style)
3. Mohini Dey (Indian bass guitarist, known for her virtuosic playing and collaborations with renowned musicians)
4. Tosin Abasi (Nigerian-American guitarist, known for his progressive metal band Animals As Leaders and his extended-range guitar playing)
5. Johann Sebastian Bach - Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046-1051 (a collection of six instrumental works, showcasing Baroque music at its finest)
6. Giacomo Puccini - Madama Butterfly, Op. 68 (a famous Italian opera about a tragic love story between a Japanese geisha and an American naval officer)
7. Ludwig van Beethoven - Missa Solemnis, Op. 123 (a monumental mass for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, considered one of Beethoven's greatest works)
8. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K. 550 (one of Mozart's most famous and emotionally powerful symphonies)
9. Charlie Parker - Ko Ko (a groundbreaking bebop jazz composition by the legendary saxophone player, known for its fast tempo and complex improvisations)
How did you download my playlist...?
I wish that I could copy and paste your list. But, TH-cam won't let me..... Dawn internet!😀
🎉❤🎉 Yesss
@@MJ-xk5tsscreenshot it!
Screenshot for later 😊
You hit it on the head when you said nobody wants to do the work. It's true-and not just in the music field. You see it everywhere. I tried teaching martial arts and NOBODY wants to put the work in to do it well-even the adults are lazy!! There's just no more drive anymore. The irresponsible use of social media has destroyed our society. Note that I said "IRRESPONSIBLE USE" of social media. There are good things that can happen on social media if it's utilized responsibly. TikTok has helped me grow as a martial artist because I feel obligated to post training material to my followers. This leads to improvement and growth in my training.
What a fantastic post . I could not agree more .
"The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne". Chaucer, Parlement of Foules. The thing about SM is it's training to instant gratification. It isn't that people don't want to work so much as they have no patience, no ability to wait, to delay. The effort and attention the spend on SM is astonishing. It should come with a health warning.
I call them, Gen E - the entitled generation. You heard it here first. Going from waiting for 5-10 days to pick up vacation snaps from the Fotomat, to digital cameras (let me see the 1.5 inch screen snap) to why bother with taking vids or pic except to post on my SM feed to show everyone that "I've been there!" @RickBeato you're 100% right. Music has been and always will be a part of my life...old, new, it doesn't matter
I would love your opinion: I'm 50 years old, I've been training martial arts (bjj) for the last 10 years. I go 4 days a week. I want to get good, but I'm also a middle aged hobbyist. I've done some local competitions and I even won one, but that was a few years ago and I mostly train for fun. Where do I fall on that spectrum?
I am the exact opposite where I cannot get myself to post on social media because of how soulless and boring it is. What's the fun in sharing things with people who you won't ever talk to or befriend?
As someone who loves music, being able to explore as much music as I want is the greatest thing ever to happen to me in my 50+ years. I can get on TH-cam or Spotify or whatever and listen to albums for hours and hours. And I've discovered so much great music, including older music from my generation that I previously missed. Also, as a drummer, I can learn all I want from watching Drumeo or other videos which is something I wish I had when I was 16.
So I'm going to at least take this vast library of musical knowledge literally at my fingertips as a consolation to music as a hobby / profession not being as popular anymore. And perhaps in a generation or two, things will circle back to people wanting to make music again - and with all the knowledge that exists online for how to play and enjoy music, maybe our future musicians will be at the forefront of a renaissance of new music. Maybe we just need to let the digital dust settle for a while and then see who picks up the pieces.
I remember buying the Dave weckl and Dennis chambers videos at Sam ash😂
once the generation that doesn't care about music has kids, music will become subversive and cool again, as their kids start Punk bands to piss them off.
Just because something is difficult to play, doesn't automatically make it good.
This, It's why I despise most jazz, making it overcomplex which is easy vs a simple melody which is really hard to write.
and just because something is so easy in the ears of many, it means its automatically good. When people who have credentials talks about their field in ART and makes an observation, they arent talking about Good and Bad based on preference of individuals, which is the subjective part of any art. when they do, they are talking about the form of art of what makes it good or bad in the Artform itself, which is the objective part. Art has both subjective and Objective aspect. to claim it has no objectivity is to claim art has no form. it means anything can be what they are not. Out of tune is objective observation, thats not talking about how to justify the out of tune note to make it acceptable to the ears (which is subjective)
@@gregrodrigueziii8075 Very true. When i talk visual art, I am usually talking about the technical/conceptual issues, and problems with them...but others are like 'I like it!' and don't look further.
Neither is wrong, but sometimes the cross-talk from experienced analysis from an artist and someone who is a layperson is odd, and gets heated...because I think there is a difference between artists talking about art from a knowledge standpoint, and someone who hasn't had the training and have never looked behind the curtain. Different places and approaches.
@@realfingertrouble 100%
@realfingertrouble very little jazz is overcomplicated, you're just basing your opinion on stereotypes
Pls keep doing what you do regardless of...❤
The first thing that needs to happen... Nation wide ban of cell phones in public schools!! I've been a high school music teacher at a charter school for 3 years now. We finally banned phones last school year. The interest I had in music in my classroom easily doubled if not tripled. I'll go over my rosters and get some solid numbers for ya. But, if we can get cell phones out of schools, it's a start. I would hope we could all agree they don't belong there. Rick, I love your channel!!
Amen.
Seriously smart, I think we more key need to ban social media for kids under 16. Would do the nation from an educational, social benefit all the way up through even national security.
Banning cell phones is not going to solve the problem with today's youth. It is going to take solid parenting to hit the root of the problem. Many parents are not taking the time and effort to properly raise solid human beings.
Banning cellphones and/or technology systematically will not solve this; it's an authoritative and simplistic solution. I had a talk a few days ago with an older friend who has been a teacher for a couple decades now, and he was telling me how cellphones were seen as a threat to education when they first came around. However, some teachers quickly started noticing that, for example, kids could now google something and prove their teacher wrong. Contrary to this being a negative (like SOME conservative/authoritative teachers tend to believe), when used CORRECTLY (with good teachers who have the adequate pedagogical knowledge) this often leads to a much richer discourse where there's a dialog between students and teachers instead of the outdated idea of the "unquestionable teacher".
What's the solution then? I don't know, it's not that simple. Perhaps more emphasis in philosophy, the arts or musical education/appreciation in early childhood could help. Most grown adults have never really sat down and given Bach a real listen, for example. If more people knew about the emotions music is able to evoke, perhaps they wouldn't be conditioned to the simplistic patterns we see in pop music today.
Beware of simplistic solutions to complex sociological issues, as they can be ignorant at best or dangerous at their worst. Simplistic + authoritative worldviews have led politicians to spread hate, misinformation and death time and time again; and this relates to all areas of life.
Always be suspicious of simple solutions.
@@Daxxxter99I get your point, but it’s not unreasonable to not allow cellphones during school when you’re supposed to be focused on other things. That’s not a total ban on communication. A lot of workplaces ban phones during those hours and it means people have to talk to each other face to face. It’s not any more authoritarian than requiring safety boots at a construction site.
Rick, Im a recently retired Computer Engineer from a Fortune 20 company . Im 69 years old and forgotten more tech than 90% of the country. I am an avid music lover and have watched your channel from DAY 1. Love your videos even though I do not play an instrument. Our generation grew up with so much amazing music and talent that I am so grateful to of lived during the past 70 years. You are so spot on with this video and you really hit the nail on the head. A good friend of mine told me a long time ago when Facebook first came out that social media would ruin the society. I told him at the time he needed to have an open mind and that I felt society would be just fine. Things always have a way of working out. But what you described is so true, and so sad at the same time. It’s obvious my friend was right because social media has ruined the younger generations and probably many more generations to come. The genie is out of the bottle and I don’t know how we put it back.
That's an easy one... solar storm taking out the internet... 😉 And then... back to the roots.
I'm a 71 yr old retired Computer Engineer and have actually had some misgivings about a career I used to think was magical. I failed to foresee the Pandora's box end result, and not just in music.
@@anesthetizedangel4845 And that means what exactly now? Of course things don't always get better. But what does it have to do with Boomers?
@@criscainemusic I know you’re being cheeky, but a solar storm taking out the entire Internet would result in the deaths of millions of people. Crazy how dependent we are on it.
@@anesthetizedangel4845 interesting, I didn't see the part where anyone said things might get better.....
Popular musicians that are great
Tyler the creator
Tame impala
Kendrick lamar
Mac demarco
Cage the elephant
JID
Vince staples
King gizzard and the lizard wizard
Gorillaz
Kali uchis
Pusha T
Danny brown
Beach house
MGMT
Bruno mars
When I was a kid id listen to music from any time period and never even really acknowledged whats old and whats new, you gotta be more open minded and not just stay in your little bubble
Rick you are very open minded and people should respect that. People who insult you because of your age is a disgrace.
I wonder how much of those "okay boomer" comments are from those who know less about current music than Rick does. Those people would be eminently ignorable, except that any civilization that ignores its decline is doomed.
49 year old music teacher here. I love your videos. Please keep going. Finally we have a musician asking these famous musicians about music. If you want to see a wasted interview opportunity check out Arsenio interviewing Miles. Most of my students do actually practice but they are more distracted and overbooked with activities than they used to be. I think the relationship the public had with music changed with Napster. Once it became not only ok but people’s “right” to download musician”s work without paying anything music became devalued in people’s minds. It has never recovered.
What if we lived in a society in which our living requirements - food, shelter and so on - were provided without the need to spend money? Would musicians in that kind of society be right to demand payment for their services?
@@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx Obviously not, but this is not the case ATM. Since the introduction of royalties the musician's take has been in decline. We're being robed progressively and there's no turn in sight.
@@RobertJukicJRTV Devil's advocate here. First, not _only_ musicians are suffering a devaluation to their work in today's world; emergent technologies continue to displace all sorts of jobs, and that goes for creative jobs, too. Every hosting service from Etsy to TH-cam squeezes the creators who stand on its platform. That's the corporate nature. Quality is taking a back-seat in today's mass culture: people want more, not better.
Second, abundance/market saturation do not devalue a product, service, or creation qualitatively; these can only reduce the product's visibility by displacement. If anything, an ocean makes every island that much more unique.
And finally, property. The "right" of a person to copy (and listen to) music from an online source is only as absurd as the belief that one can own the "rights" to music in the first place. Music, once performed, becomes no longer the possession of the creator. It has already been sold; it becomes an abstraction, a disturbance in the air that a person can no longer control. Tell me, if your guitar playing makes me cry, but that wasn't your intention, did I 'misuse' your product?
Before the Pirate Bay, I was stuck listening to the same old scratched-up CDs over and over. After that, my musical exposure increased by two orders of magnitude. As far as I can tell, not a single one of the performers I've listened to since then has been negatively affected by me in any other way than in their own mind. In contrast, I'm now in a better position to choose to support the musicians I truly love without having to make experimental purchases that end up supporting those I might not.
And now that music is no longer 'free' (because corporations get to sell it to us in crumbs), performers now also have to deal with media sites who are using their content to gather advertising revenue in exchange for the distribution. Whether you're the one who's singing or listening, there's no free ride. Point is, if you didn't want to make the music to share, you shouldn't have released it in the first place; the successful musician's life is already way, way, disproportionate to that of any other successful artist, so count your stars to not have been born to end up like me-a successful carpenter.
@@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx Anything provided or created from other people's work should be paid for, whether that's food and shelter or music and art.
If money didn't exist, that payment would likely be some kind of barter system. Nothing is free.
I agree about Napster. Friends would casually talk about how many songs they "ripped'. I'd tell them I always pay for my music because I don't want to steal from the musicians.
A Brandenburg Concerto shoutout...kick ass!
It's a shame how unimportant music is to people these days.
When was the last time you stepped foot into a grassroots venue, Rick? That's where the interesting, weird, inventive, "handmade" music scene lives. Not in the Spotify top 10.
Social media has legit killed our attention span
tl;dr
Downvoted for good measure
Attention span? Look, a squirrel!
It’s also diluted artistic quality.
They said the same thing about jazz, movies, comic books, rock n' roll, TV, video games, pagers, instant messaging, texting....we haven't had an attention span in generations
or this is just alarmist BS and people just can't cope with the fact they're getting old
@@-Ricky_Spanish-You’re completely wrong. The tech companies have designed the apps to be addictive.
Don’t explain yourself Rick, you’re right.
Ironically, the rant partially relates to how music prioritises clicks and likes over actually being good...but Rick will explain himself because it's good for clicks and likes.
Of course, actual good content should get clicks and likes so I'm not criticising Rick at all, it just has an amusing irony.
What you said is right on. I am 72 and when I record, I play my instruments all the way through the whole song. I don't cut and paste. I play guitar everyday. I also play keyboards, bass, and mandolin. Sometimes I just sit down and start noodling on the guitar and almost always come up with an idea for a new song. I come up with lyrics in the shower. I compose Rock, Blues, Ballads, Folk, Celtic, Classical, Electronic, Country Rock, and Traditional Chinese music. Thank you for the video Rick.
i am 26 and i can't get one take right, even after 1:30 of repeating the same 36-bar part... on loop record
that goes for singing or guitar... i should have practiced more for the last ten years and should practice more now. i really should. after a week of practice though i can frankenstein a take from two okay-ish takes...
@moliver_xxii The best way to get consistent is practicing, yes, but get out of the studio more and go play gigs. Nothing makes you a tighter musician more than playing live. Gigs will force you to build up your chops, and you will have fun and make a little dough on the side.
Right on! I'm 60 and I feel younger in spirit today than I ever did when I was young in - body. 🙂
@@nachyomoney3598 So true.
or maybe bad music nowadays is more apparent today because of the internet and all the crappy music back in your day got washed away with time cus no ones listening to it
You are SO onto something here. Something very important and bigger than music. Society is changing, and the widespread addiction to social media is frightening. It's affecting the quality of EVERYHING.
Society is collapsing.
Absolutely! Furthermore its affected the way humans connect and share ideas. Its the death of the communal experience. We all used to discover new music through the radio, mtv and what not. Then the next day we would all talk about it. Or go to blockbuster to get the new movie and most people were watching the same things and we would all connect and discuss that. The closest thing I can even think of thats like that for younger people is stranger things. Basically now everything is fragmented. Its everything all at once all of the time. The only way to make big in music, movies, art now is to take something that already exists and make it better. No one wants to experience something new and whats worse is no one wants to create something new.
It takes society a generation or two to adapt to something like social media. The sky isn't falling, but a couple of generations will be a little messed up before it's figured out.
Music teacher here. You nailed it on every single point. There is some staggeringly bad music out there, if you could even call it music. Especially in the so-called ‘Pop’ charts. Computer generated and now even the vocals auto-tuned to robot-world. Devoid of humanity and ultimately depressing.
_Depressing_ is _le mot juste._ Not only is much of this stuff devoid of execution, it's also devoid of content. Even a well played blues has a lot of variations on those twelve bars. I've heard too many things that seem like an endless repetition of four simple bars in common time with only some changing of synth parameters passing for variation. Such dross hardly engages the mind or the heart.
@@christopheroliver148 And "content creators" have perpetuated the shitty music. They can't afford to pay royalties, so they use free "music." And it is CRAP.
@@christopheroliver148 while i agree there's a lot of shitty music out there, who are you to decide for others what to like or not.
@@fftunes He did said it was just his opinion.
@@fftuneswhere does he say that he is telling people what to listen reading comprehension truly indicates he is explaining his opinions. Don't be "that" person of which there are many millions who comment without understanding
I was at a Wynton Marsalis clinic and he said something that has stuck with me my whole life: "People don't know what they like; they like what they know."
It applies to other subjects, too. I've heard that quote from TV Producers, Restaurant owners, and others as well.
Dang , that good !
Can't deny it. I'm a huge fan of blues, rock and metal. Of course. I grew up on that; my parents played the 50s and 60s classics, I watched the blues brothers religiously (that's just how kids are. Lol) and my sister introduced me to a lot of metal, grunge and alternative songs.
Absolutely. For example it's very difficult to properly judge how good an album is on the first listen. It takes several listens to settle on a rating.
That's why I don't buy Rick's argument that one can appreciate any good music, no matter what time it originates from. I believe one needs a background to appreciate a piece against. I'm sure classical music cannot be treated as "having never been heard before" since people in Rick's age group surely will have had some exposure to classical music. I don't like most modern music but then my parents didn't like the music I listened to as much as the music they listened to. Music is a language and what you like depends on what musical languages you speak.
don't think you understand exactly what you're looking at with those Google analytics, and why the numbers are the way that they are. take a second to think about what search density and variation looks like nowadays versus the genesis of search engines and you'll realize what's actually going on with the numbers
I don't think I understand. But I would like to I know. Would you care to explain?
I am British, and the same age as you. I first started learning the drums. My father found a good drum teacher. He taught me to play military snare drum and how to read drum music. He told me if I could learn to play one drum, I could sort the rest out myself. I 'had' to practice every week. One time I hadn't practised, he knew immediately. He stopped me, and angrily threw me out, after two minutes. Telling me if it happened again he wouldn't teach me any more. I was terrified. Suffice to say, I practised like mad after that. When I was 19 I taught myself to play piano and guitar. I started playing gigs when I was 14 and have literally played thousands of gigs on all three instruments. I also set up and ran my own commercial recording studio for 20 years. Now I have a private studio and record my own compositions. Some instrumental and song songs. I post them on line and a new album is coming out soon. The ethos that was implanted in my head at a young age was to get as good on your instrument as possible. That idea, seems, for a lot of people, has changed. People need to get back to that idea.
Hmmm... it's interesting to me that instrumental competence is valuable as a commodity for, say, session playing, but it doesn't necessarily mean the musician is gifted as a composer or in other areas for which less- or un-trained performers shine. For example, Mike Garson, Bowie's pianist, showed his jazz-based brilliance in many albums and tours. But he seemed to fail completely to produce much music outside Bowie's orbit, as was the case for many other Bowie musicians who were equally talented as players. Same applies to many, many well-known members of backing bands.
How much do you love the music of Morrisey?
Grinning from ear to ear here enjoying your rant Rick. Good to see the nicest man on TH-cam vent a little! Am simultaneously very sad to listen to the data you present as i know it's true. I'm 51 and relearning the drums after a 30 year break and am discovering the absolute joy of regular practice with its frustrations and moments of noticeable progress. It has changed my life on so many levels even if i never play publicly in the future. It's the process. Despite the demoralising statistics you've presented there's a part of me that will remain quietly optimistic that at some point down the road the masses will rediscover the joys of creating and learning how to play music with a minimum of technological assistance and a maximum of human and physical effort. 'You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.'❤
i'm the same. played in my teens, now back on it for 5 years and was 50 this year, I now understand how to practice and learn rudiments etc. I;m now getting somewhere with my playing. Evning enjoying the practice pad.
i dont know if youve paid attention recenetly but the "nicest man on youtube" has been a ranting dork that spazes out on things he does not like for.. months now!
@@krusher74That's great to hear. As a teenager I never bothered with the rudiments, or even lessons or a practice pad. Bought a kit when I was 15, played along to records and in a few covers bands. Basic rock stuff. I was OK but never great (for obvious reasons!). Gave up because I was stuck at a certain level and life took over. Since taking up the drums again last year ( a basic e-kit and a practice pad) I've already developed more than I ever did as a teenager. Approaching the kit with humility and patience, focusing on good technique and rudiments, and not putting any pressure on myself has made every practice session a pleasure. Aiming for a solid single and double-stroke roll as my goals for now. Not there yet but well on my way. Glad to hear you're enjoying your drums again. 👍👍
I was actually getting depressed that I wasn't getting any results from my practice routines. And now, I feel much better knowing that nobody seems to be even thinking of picking up an instrument these days. Thank you sir, this is great motivation for me!!!
As long as you want to learn you will. No idea why force kids to take music lessons if they don't have desire to play. If you don't want to do something even if you are forced you will stop sooner or later. And if they wanted to learn to play they wouldn't need music lessons. Internet is full of music lessons today.
Learning ebbs and flows, at least for me. I’m a mid level beginner guitarist that’s practices about an 1-2 hours a day 5 plus days a week. I’ll have an awesome day playing where it feels like I’m nailing everything. Then the next 3 days I’ll just suck. Then day 4 comes around and bam another great playing day. The key, don’t get discouraged, keep practicing and it will come. We all know the great guitarist on earth today still practice. So if they do and need too, so do I🤘
@@weets69good work bro
I dont mean to be mean but this is kinda cope. There are plenty of young people picking up stuff, and kids that can absolutely shred guitars or play drums like beasts.
@@thrpotatoasfgfejfidieiidkr7071 I have no doubt about that but I think those of us older than 40 know how it worked then and if some teen actually made hit song (because of being talented) in 80s people would fight to get that person and song to publish it and person would become famous and everyone would be hearing that song playing everywhere. Even 40+ years ago people "manufactured" stars and bands but real talent or young band that had few good songs were discovered mostly by radio DJs and people who went to underground clubs. You have TH-cam today and you could make great song and AI would never discover it ergo nobody would see it. And competition was fierce even before now it's whole world. So what used to be summer hit is now work of art. ANYWAY , DAMN YOU CLOUDS lol.
["Nuh uh -- my opinon is objective because I do Spotify top tens."]
It doesn't matter how up to date you are if your tastes are the same. People aren't saying,
"This guy doesn't know what he's talking about because he only listens to oldies."
They're saying,
"This guy can't find music he likes in the mainstream, so he thinks the quality of the medium itself has degraded," When there's no reason to think that. The only reason you would think that is if you drew a false equivalence between Spotify and other online services and radio or vinyl records. Sure, pop music now isn't pop music fifty years ago but that's because it's an evolving _buisness._ But _music_ is eternal because it's an art in the same way that fine art is a trashfire because it's exploited by the rich to dodge taxes but people are still producing great art.
Enjoy your five likes, because I guarantee your specious comment received 100 times more down thumbs. 😂
As a guitar teacher and principal at a music school in Bavaria, I can say that TikTok and similar platforms are very popular with many of my students. Many of them watch short videos where musicians showcase their guitar skills. Often, they come to me with specific requests, wanting to learn what they saw on TikTok. Depending on the difficulty, I can either teach them the piece directly or they are motivated to practice diligently to master it eventually.
However, it should also be noted that in Bavaria, many children and teenagers mainly learn an instrument in musically supportive households. At the same time, there is a large portion of students who only play their instrument during lessons. This has always been the case and is not just a phenomenon of the new media.
(Dirk Olbrich)
I can only agree with that; however, it is questionable whether the advantages of TikTok outweigh the disadvantages.
I wish more people would see this comment, because you're really giving a much needed nuanced take.
I've seen numerous comments by frustrated music teachers here about how kids don't take their instrument seriously "because of social media". There have always been kids who were signed up to music lessons by their parents without having any real intrinsic motivation to learn it. This is hardly a modern problem, but it's just very easy to blame social media as some kind of monolithic root of all evil. If someone has intrinsic motivation, these short videos can be a huge source of inspiration on top of the music they're already listening to!
Truth. I took tuba lessons in the 80's, and must admit that many times I sat in the chair dreading the lesson b/c I would soon be exposed as having put in ZERO practice time :-(
@@NTesla00 "in Bavaria, many children and teenagers mainly learn an instrument in musically supportive households." This is very true, for any household, anywhere.
I am almost 41 and I started taking piano lessons about 4 months ago. And it's freaking hard. Not just because I am older and learning and improving is way more work. But also because I just don't have the time or energy to play every day. I try to do it but most weeks I can only manage 30-45min three or four times. And it is frustrating and challenging but it also gives me another way to interact with music.
This channel is actually a big part of why I started doing it. I wanted to learn more about music theory and thought that actually learning an instrument would help me. Which it kind of doesn't as it isn't really my teachers focus.
When I was 35, I started taking vocal lessons because I always loved singing and I've always been really good at it. My teacher (who is an opera singer with a vocal teaching qualification) told me that I could have been an opera singer if I had started earlier. That would have been a miracle given how much I dislike opera and classical music in general.
But singing is freaking hard. It it way more frustrating than playing the piano. You learn all those techniques for posture and breathing and diaphram support and where to push and where to relax. But if you are not really in tune with your body, it's almost impossible to keep track of all of it and make it your own. A fellow student back then was a ballerina and she was amazing. My teacher pointed out a mistake and she fixed it instantly. I was so jealous.
in the end, it all comes back to the things our parents make us do in our youth and how they package it. I was forced to learn the guitar when I was 7 but all I ever wanted was to play piano - on the 5th floor of our rented flat back when E-Pianos weren't a thing.
However: Part of that course was 45 minutes of music theory every week. My guitar teacher used to shake her head telling me that I was the only student in probably 10 years who absolutely hated playing the instrument (I also never practiced) but was so eager to do the theoretical stuff.
Both my nephews had to learn an instrument and are still on it. One of them is very talented on the drums but he is literally what you pointed out: He's not really listening to music the way we were so there's no point in saying "How about you learn song XY?" And he seems to have no intrinsic motivation to get good, even if his drum teacher tells him that he is doing great and he could become really good...
This is such an important point. I for one, will no longer watch TH-cam shorts. (And I’m not on TikTok or Instagram.)
Ditto.Can't stand shorts and not mentally depleted enough to tolerate tik tok.
You might be yelling at clouds, but dem clouds sure as hell need to be yelled at.
He's yelling at people, saying that we are looking at his clouds the wrong way.
Honestly the people that dont practice simply dont like the instrument enough. I have experienced this too with the piano and i wondered why i wasnt that good. I had been playing for 5 years. I came to this realization and thought i would give guitar a try, and now i absolutely fell in love with the instrument. I feel that some people say "i want to play and instrument" because they hear a song, or their friend plays an instrument, some people give it a try, practice and give up and their parents keep them in lessons because they dont say anything. Personally, i get that. But when you lack motivation that usually means its time to make some changes. At the point where i switched instruments, i realized it was the piano in which was pushing me away from music. Immediately when i began to play the guitar i was playing for hours. To this day i am playing sometimes 5-8 hours a day but i dont find myself making myself practice i just get lost in the music. Too everyone who doesnt practice try something new, learn from me i wasted a lot of time feeling like i could only play one instrument. To everyone, when you enjoy an instrument you progress fast so its not a waste of time and you will find motivation as you improve follow your dreams.
I have 4 kids. 2 of them are still taking piano lessons. My 16-year-old son finally buckled down and practiced "Fur Elise" by Beethoven when the teacher invited him to play it at her church as part of a concert. He worked and worked at it. The teacher wisely got him to do it. But my wife and I had to really whip him into shape. And the same is true for sports. I can't get my kids to practice at all. I sit for hours working on one song, and I enjoy the discipline of it. My kids see it, and when I play 3-hour shows, they know why. I put in the work. But getting them - intelligent, talented kids - to work hard on ANYTHING is next to impossible. Why? When i'm done work and come home, each kid is sequestered alone with their iPads in a room, doing mindless stuff. I think we should ban all devices from kids until they are 18. They are turning us into idiots.
Agree. It is a legitimate addiction.
Unfortunately for humanity, this ship has sailed, my friend.
guitartom wrote: "I think we should ban all devices from kids until they are 18. They are turning us into idiots."
Do it. They are your children. Their wellbeing is your prerogative. Set some boundaries, enforce some discipline, be a parent.
@@userer4579But it isn’t just kids. Most adults are equally addicted. Grazing on mindless news sites isn’t that different between grazing on mindless video games and TH-cam videos. I find it odd that all these devices aren’t leading to more creativity. I mean, in your pocket you have a multitrack studio, a film editing lab etc and what do most people do? Nothing.
@@userer4579 I did keep my kids off of electronic devices, except for the laptops needed for school. The result: I am listening to my college age son play guitar at this moment and my college age daughter is creating jewelry for her Etsy shop. And now I'm hopping off TH-cam to get some yardwork done. Can't be a hypocrite, right?
My best friend in high school, Joey Lynch, was a gifted musician. He played guitar, piano, trumpet, trombone, and if necessary could fake it on bass and drums. He wrote and arranged music, too. He also had a decent singing voice and was very good at harmonies. How did he do all this? Because he WORKED. He PRACTICED his craft, and he took pride in it. I always admired him. I was even a little envious of him. I never learned to play an instrument. Now I'm 64 and I regret it. Joey passed away several years ago at age 58. I still miss him. I miss his music. Joey was the real deal.
His work ethic, at that age, was inspired by his discovery that he had was gifted--he had talent. Of course it takes tons of hard work and practice, But nothing inspires that like finding out you have the ear, the dexterity, the memory, the mind, the passion...the talent.
I'm sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing...❤
He also had a massive amount of talent. I could play most of the brass and most percussion. I learned because my main instrument was Tuba and I had a lot of extra time. I just never had the hands for strings or piano. I had good theory and got accepted to Berkeley in Boston but couldn't afford it. I didn't have massive talent but had a good amount, a good ear and solid arranging. I wish I had guitar or piano chops. I let my tech slip though. Now I need to learn to use this new stuff and make some songs happen. Joey a good guy to hang with? Bet he was.
It’s never too late to start. And the fun part is, you make the most noticeable progress in the first few years.
Good friend of mine in college, during the eighties, was a natural. Coming from a family of classical musicians, he was a gifted piano player and would decipher bass and drum parts so that I and our less talented musician friends could play with him. A few years later he would be playing at lounge bars and jazz clubs during his spare time. Today he is a banker in Luxembourg and we frequently share Rick Beato's videos, as we both love watching them.
There's a principle in digital creation, (especially around procedurally generated content) where eventually, oversaturation of ANYTHING turns it into white noise. Music is too easy to create now. Since garageband, autotune, vocaloid etc, everybody can create music.
The over-accessibility is a factor too. Movies used to be an event, the whole gang would look forward to going to the cinema as a group, now we stare at our thousand options on Netflix and say "ugh, there's nothing to watch."
"Familiarity breeds contempt" and "Absence makes the heart grow fonder". These two old phrases speak of this phenomenon distinctly.
Funnily enough vocaloid music is created by musicians and one of them is Kenshi Yonezu, probably the most popular singer in Japan in the last few years. And while I am not too fond of Vocaloids this piece of news took me by surprise because I know Yonezu as a full fledged singer and composer.
PREACH!
What is the fix? Whar amount of artistic expression from people is the right amount so we get better artistic expression to enjoy?
I'm not saying I totally disagree with your comment, but it offers little to none in terms of viewing this new situation and taking a better course that benefits everyone.
You're comment is pretty much this much is too much, but do we now limit people from making music and art? Only good artists can make art?
@@ZeroG84 no, it's not about limiting people - it's about people knowing their limits. Nowadays it's: you can be anything but the truth is - you can't. Now with new toys people are being convinced they can be as good at doing something as people who dedicated their life to a given subject. There certainly is going to be more of this stuff - but not necessarily better ones.
@@mitabpraga7487 I mean... aphorisms are merely descriptive, not prescriptive. As for breeding, all you need to do is "f**k around and find out", right? 😉
the sheer irony of a man arguing against being lazy with easy-to-use tech while also using Google Trends to make the laziest statistical analysis ever. Like mannn, I don't necessarily disagree with a lot of your takes from the last video, but wow this is a bad follow up video.
I'm 70, a first generation Beatles fan having seen them "live" on Ed Sullivan in Feb '64. It dictated a life as a working musician and happy to say, I'm still working, making a better living today than ever before (knock on wood). Rick is a hero and one of my regular "go to" channels on TH-cam. This video is the truth, as are ALL of his videos. I've lived the American Dream, being born in S. California '53 so I have perspective not only as a musician but as a Sociology major in College. Our culture is in decline..some would say freefall. Don't believe I've ever chimed in before but this video got me going..;-) Rick, please keep doing what you're doing!
You saw the Beatles live? Luckyyyyyyyy!🥰 Rick Beato Rocks!
Old man musician here. A young friend of mine said he chose making music with computer programs because it was the easiest and fastest way to create actual music. He has ALL instruments at his disposal and the computer plays them for him. Learning an instrument is too much effort and time for the instant reward TikTok generation, and it's just ONE instrument. Then you have to find other people to play with.
And now he's starting to use AI where he doesn't even have to program anything, he just types in a bunch of words and it pumps out a song in that style. I fear for the future of music as a creative art.
😮😥
That's horrendous and soulless. God help us.
Kind of like an electric guitar in comparison to a violin or saxophone.
17 year old producer here, I can play keys, drums, bass and guitar all to an extent where I can play live. But I still use plugins for certain instruments like drums because it's so much easier to set up and I literally cannot afford 10 mics needed to mic up a kit
Also some genres lean towards much more sample based instrumentation that relies on this
Check out some more modern music outside of the mainstream
By definition a musician is someone who performs live music for an audience for a living. Using a computer to create music is not the same.
Im from Italy, so I’m talking by my perspective. Luckily in my country I’m noticing more and more students in their teens and even younger ones are starting to practice again and approaching to music like in the past. I’m 53, lately I watched a show in a pub where few bands of the local music school were on stage. Well they performed great and I got so very enthusiastic by watching and listening to them talking about music, future plans ,forming new bands. It reminded of my teenage past and that was great… As Italian guy, I believe we should be grateful to Maneskin, many young Italian people are starting to play and practice rock because of them.
My secret indulgence is big Italian pop from the seventies: great arrangements and vocals. People like Drupi and Tozzi (I know, I know).
I notice the exact same thing in Portugal.
Lost of kids learning, and listening to music with passion. And I see a good portion of youngsters interested in actual music, not just today's mainstream crap.
Honestly it looks like interest in music among the younger generations has been growing in the last few years.
3:06 Okay so I can understand lot of this video and don’t want to fall into the “Old people bad” line of thinking, but this is the one section where I think the generational divide explains a lot.
Google trends doesn’t cover how many times things related to a topic is searched, it tells you how many times **a specific term** was searched (and I know that because you can literally see under Music is says “search term”). As a Gen Z guy, no one in my generation googles broad keywords like “music”, “art”, or “Video Games” to try and find more of those media categories. Instead, we search for new stuff on the services that provide them, like Spotify or Steam (both of which are showing a steady increase in google trends over time, proving the exact opposite of your point).
Even then, as a younger person my experience is definitely not that my generation can’t get into music because it’s “too boring”. It’s the exact opposite really; platforms like Spotify, TH-cam, and yes, even TikTok have made it easier than ever for people to find those non-mainstream songs that appeal to you specifically. While I think there’s a lot to be said about how TikTok has changed the priorities of music (IMO generally for the worse), “People aren’t getting into music because it’s boring” just feels like a biased conclusion made by someone who dislikes the current pop scene.
TLDR: instead of showing that “kids don’t care about music”, those graphs show a shift in how people use the internet.
Believe me, I'm 39 and I've been saying that music has been on a steep decline since the late '90s/early 2000s when I was a teenager.
There is only so many different songs they can come up with. They are running out.
Check out Billy Strings!
Yeah, however, there were people back then who said THAT music from that time was already part of the decline. And it most definitely was, you have a sentimental attachment to that time frame. Music from the 90s was mostly crap.
25 here, and I have witnessed the same exact trend.. There is nothing this guy needs to apologize for, he shared his opinion, which (in my opinion) is objectively true hahah!
Disco is what did it for me
I have been a private music teacher for 30 years and your stance on this matter can be 100% confirmed by me. I spent a lot of my time being frustrated with this larger part of this new generation that just does not seem to ever get to the point of appreciating what one’s personal effort can turn into, which is the priceless jewel of merit. You can actually do something as you progress along this journey of study and development. And that what you can do is actually larger than the sum of its parts and also contains you. You do not lose ‘you when you invest in the way you express yourself. You become 101% of it. And whether that is about music or arts or whatever, the results are all the same.
When I was 10, I could not imagine being able to do something when I was 15 but I practiced for it and it happened. Reaching that was the biggest gift. And much much much more bigger than I could ever imagine. And it had actually hurt to practice, but I just couldn’t give up. I wanted to be able to do this thing so I practiced. Now what I have in return is incomparable in size to the suffering of learning. Now I know that this hurt is turning into something good I want to hurt more in that same fashion. It is a good hurt! And somehow getting through the mental blockade that that brings with it is something that this generation is largely missing. That is such a shame because that thing is at the core of the greatest gift in life; maturing. Taking responsibility for this is your gift to you and it pays itself back 101%.
We are the last generation who lived withOUT mobile phones (or even computers).
Our kids are born into this digital environment and their only guidance is an outside/foreign experience, us!
Their kids are going to be doomed.
No work, No reward. Being void of a sense of accomplishment is no way to be proud or to live. What's the point in it? Or is it just to be entertained??!!
This is the result of "everyone gets a medal" mentality.
@@denfranke4464 I get what you’re saying but the truth is that you were the exception to the rule. Every generation has millions of kids taking music lessons and a small fraction actually put in the time and effort to work on it. My uncle sold and repaired used instruments for five decades and it was always the same. He would sell an instrument and end up buying it back within a year or less, cleaning it, then reselling it. Was the entire backbone of his income and there’s nothing different about it today.
Young people now crave the immediate reward of dopamine they get from computer games, and social media. Sitting patiently with a musical instrument, concentrating on learning a piece of music, or a technique just doesn't deliver the upfront hit of dopamine they're after.
There’s no vibrancy as a whole. When the business was eviscerated, the menu got slim. People don’t care because music has been devalued.
It's like how videos on TH-cam became more based on trends and what other people are doing instead of making original content or honest videos based on the deepest interests and desires of the individual.
@@Sanzen Never said that it didn't still exist fam, however, it would be hard to argue what I described didn't become the norm, but there is something to be said about the influence of the algorithm as you mention.
You are taking anecdotal evidence and extrapolating out to an assumption. Also if you only look at pop music you are automatically making an assumption about a pretty narrow band of music. There is so much great music out there and you’re talking about roughly 2-3% of it. Yes that 2-3% is awful but why are you focused on ONLY that music? Amazing records from amazing artists are out there and it takes old school work to find it. You gotta go out and see live music and talk to young people. I know you work with many artists and young ppl they are practicing and totally focused on their craft. It’s about using your voice to celebrate the ones you love.
I'm a bit saddened that you felt you had to explain yourself, Rick. We appreciate your tremendous knowledge and experience. Haters are going to hate no matter what.
Don't be...there are plenty out there that needed to hear this.
I just came home from a summer piano performance of my son's school. 30 kids, all in varying stages of musical development. Maybe three or four practice when not in a lesson with their teacher. My son, on the other hand, practices four hours a day, every day, all year. Needless to say he played last because he's the best in the bunch. He also teaches. Other parents came up afterwards, eager to know his "secret". There isn't one. It's just work. As the great wide receiver Jerry Rice said, “Today I will do what others won't, so tomorrow I can do what others can't.”
Yes, that's the magic!!
That sums it all up. No secret, just work. and ANYONE "CAN" do it, but most will not. That's why I can fairly confidently say "It's not natural talent...just time put into the craft".
ay maybe give him a day off a week, i know you want him to succeed but my parents were like that and I dont touch anything anymore because i had a breakdown from stress
@@BB-848-VAC 😁, as a musician I can tell you from experience , nobody’s forcing him . ✌️🙏🕊️
@@BB-848-VAC You do not break down because of too much work. You break down because you are not satisfied with your results. That is what creates stress. In music and everything else. But sure, it can be nice to rest now and then. Do something else. But also, doing something else can be a bad habit, usually called procrastination. Not doing what you need to do but something else. And procrastination also causes stress. Because, you are not practicing enough to reach any interesting goals.
This comment isn't about the quality of popular music, or the lack thereof, but rather that I take issue with the statement that it's too easy to make music.
For me, the ease of getting into recording has been the number one factor in improving my technical skills on the guitar. Even more than joining a jam band. The ability to easily record my playing, analyse it, and improve it has been a total game changer for me. My rhythm, timing, phrasing, and just general understanding of music theory have all gone way up in the year since I first started trying to write songs.
For me, writing music, even bad music, is the best way to get better at it.
For me, the most depressing thing was the time I spent two weeks writing, recording and mixing a new song, only for my friend to generate some AI crap in a few minutes that sounded a thousand times better than what I did. But like John Henry and his hammer, I decided that I was going to do whatever it takes to beat the machine.
Ok so social media is big and music/art is down on google trends....what do you think people are hearing on social media???? People are not only hearing new music and being exposed to new genres they never would've discovered but also, selling their art, promoting their music, etc