Hi Waoband

While the video is interesting, I think (IMHO) there is a far bigger cause for why today's music (i.e. the top selling/streaming songs - there is heaps of hidden/hard to find really good music) is sounding the same, and I think it is to do with - in this order -
1) Melody and harmony - far too much using the same chord progressions and the same melody lines, and also sticking to the diatonic. Not as many songs venturing outside the key to introduce a key change or use a borrowed chord etc. See this post from the songwriting forum:
Are key changes making a comeback?
2) Genre - too many songs that live in the same genre, tempo, feel. When was the last time you heard a modern top 10 Spotify song with a swing feel or in 3/4 time? Off the top of my head, the last 3/4 songs I can remember were Elliott Smith - and he's not exactly mainstream or recent!
3) Homogenised vocal stylings - remember back when we had The Beatles, Elvis, Neil Young, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan etc.? They were natural and flawed, and each artist was distinctive. That's why I don't mind my vocals being sub-par - at least they're distinctive. I don't call mine singing - I emit pitch controlled throat noises!
4) A fascination with rhythm - if a song doesn't have a lot of melodic or harmonic distinctiveness, you have to fall back on rhythm, arrangement and instrumentation, and lot of recent songs make a focus on this. There are only so many times a lo-fi kick drum can sound interesting.
5) A fascination with lyrics - don't get me wrong, good lyrics partly convey the idea and emotions of the song, but after all, the lyrics are just the vehicle for the music. Otherwise, you might as well just concentrate on poetry. Rap and all variations of it have helped cause this situation. My theory is that Rap is an acronym for Rhythm And Poetry, and in this genre, music is treated as a 'dusting of sugar' rather than the main game.

The main focus of the points in the video relate to technology as the cause. The real problem is the lack of musical diversity based on the fundamentals of melody and harmony. Use all the tech you want, but you can't make a silk purse out a sow's ear!

Andrew

Regards,
Andrew D
Adelaide, Sth Aust
Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/SQE4btVvNVkLq74e9
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@andrewoftheantipodes

Profile pic 'Air Guitar' - a carving in pine I made of the F major barre chord.