SGR

Here's a couple thoughts, just my opinion of course.

There's more music now at the fingertips of the largest music listening demographic (young people) than there ever was before. Couple this with the medium in which much of the conversation/sharing of the music takes place (social media), and artists have to do perhaps more than they used to in terms of maintaining attention.

The average attention span of young people is becoming shorter and shorter, hence why probably most young people don't hear a song they like and immediately think "I have to figure out what album that is from and buy it and listen to the whole thing!". Instead, they simply add it to their spotify playlist. One way to combat short attention spans is with immediate and rewarding hooks. For young people, if you don't give them that quick dopamine hit, they'll look elsewhere for it. Why do you think forums like this one are dying off while a site like Twitter is growing bigger and bigger?

Another thought - when it comes to "messages in music". Messages of social and political import are everywhere these days, from corporate guidelines to mass media marketing to those *******s you grew up with in high school on your social media feed - everyone and their grandma today has a "message" - perhaps many young people tire of this and look towards music as an avenue where they can relax, have a good time, and not worry about the broader context of society and culture for a brief time?

That's not to say that music with a message is no longer being created and produced - it still is and it's still popular.



But, like with the song above, you need to have something more than just a message to be popular - it needs to be stylized, it needs to be catchy, it needs to be unique and perhaps a bit flashy. Sympathy for the Devil won't cut it anymore. Without having something to differentiate yourself in a meaningful/political song, you're apt to be lost and ignored as a sea of catchy songs like this eclipse you:



Disclaimer: I wouldn't group any of the young people here into my descriptions above and not all young people are like this. But as a young person, with many young people I've met, these descriptions tend to have truth to them.

I think satellite radio (e.g. SiriusXM) is stil still pretty popular. But yeah, terrestrial radio is basically moot. I suppose down-on-their-luck autobody/woodshop owners might still use them. And maybe soccer moms too, listening to Good Morning America on their morning commute.