Just about anyone who has listened to a lot of pop on the radio would have realized that a lot of pop music actually sounds much the same.
In fact, a recent study has reached the conclusion that pop music has become more and more homogenous and they also know why.
This study which surveyed almost 500000 albums across a number of genres, concluded that simplicity sells best and which is why it “dumbs down and becomes formulaic”.
Researchers at the Medical University of Vienna actually came to this conclusion by studying almost 15 genres and 374 subgenres while comparing their complexity to that genre’s sales. It was found that complexity turns people off, thanks to genres such as alternative rock, experimental and hip-hop becoming complex.
If that’s not enough, very few genres have been able to retain a level of complexity over time. As for the one that do, such as experimental music, folk and folk rock, aren’t the best earners in the business.
Without a doubt, the study’s findings hit the nail on the head since we crave familiarity and which is why it’s isn’t surprising that Top 40 stations throughout the United States have played the 10 biggest songs twice as much as compared to 10 years ago.
The music industry understands this best and caters to this cravings for particular sounds and which is why we also end up listening to similar sounding songs over and over again.
Of course, all this changes once we’re tired of it and the space opens up for something completely out of the ordinary. Yet this points to the need that we should deliberately, no doubt, think about supporting original rather than blindly listening to formulaic music.