Navigating the Sea of New Music Releases
"Noteworthy" is an ongoing conversation about new music and music trends, because no algorithm can replace word-of-mouth recommendations.
When I was a kid in the 90s, the number of new albums released per year was between 5,000 and 7,000. Nowadays, that amount is released every week. And mind you, the “album era”—as it’s now being called—is over. In our streaming-centric, “influencer”-driven world of bite-sized attention spans, the single has replaced the album in importance. And about 120,000 individual tracks are uploaded to music streaming services every day. Is it any wonder then that, despite the number tools at our disposal for finding good new music, it can still be difficult to sift through the sea of recent releases?
Toward solving this problem, I launched “Noteworthy” as a column a little over a year ago, spotlighting great music (mostly new, some old). Then, I transitioned it to YouTube, where I also began analyzing music industry trends. Starting out, I expected to hear only crickets for a while, but the viewer response was immediate, enormous, and overwhelmingly positive. My first video received more than 10,000 views within the first week, with hundreds of comments. Many were brief words of praise, but others were essay-length responses, many of which posed interesting questions for further investigation. Some of these became seeds for further videos. In this way, commenters have not only helped shape the content of the channel, they’ve also generously suggested music for me to check out. (No algorithm can repalce word-of-mouth recommendations.) In short order, we’ve developed a community of thoughtful people interested in music and music trends.
I’ve heard from some in this community, though, that they like the content of my videos but prefer reading over watching. So I’m rebooting my column here on Substack—with the goal of making this hub every bit as interactive as our YouTube community. I’ll of course be sharing my thoughts on music and music-related trends, but I also want your input, whether that’s constructive criticism of my ideas, questions or theories to investigate, or music recommendations.
Thanks in advance for joining the conversation. Who else would you like to be part of this little music-loving community? Use the share link below to invite your friends.
