Scientists say that Pop Music is Becoming Blander and Louder

Clearly the scientists are not impressed by the direction in which pop music is moving. Recent research indicates that the popular songs we are listening to are becoming louder but at the same time they are blander than anything we have heard before. The only conclusion to make from that study is the impression that modern artists have nothing on their predecessors. Many reviewers and fans would agree but perhaps they are being judged harshly on standards which are no longer in existence.

- Are we listening to a load of noise? When you start going over the age of 35, it seems that new music does not cut it. Scientists are now giving comfort to that ‘older’ generation by saying that modern pop music sounds all the same despite the fact that it is louder than the previous hits.

The study that came to this conclusion was undertaken in Spain, one of the leading dance capitals of the world where you can expect to hear a copious amount of loud euro pop. A huge archive was used for the study. The Million Song Dataset has been designed to break down lyrical and audio content into data strands that can be crunched for purposes of research. The scientists sampled different songs from 1955 right up to 2010.

Are these worrying findings for the modern music industry?

Joan Serra is an artificial intelligence specialist. He led the research teach at the Spanish National Research Council. By looking at music over the past 50 years, they were able to pull out some distinctive patterns using a series of complex algorithms. Essentially they came to the conclusion that modern pop has become intrinsically louder than anything we experienced in the past. Moreover it appears to be a blander form of entertainment than the classics if you look at the melodies, chords and sounds used.

The progressive homogenization of musical discourse might not be the priority of the industry today since it still makes millions of dollars in sales. The researchers pointed out that there was limited diversity of transitions between the note combinations. Joan Serra and her team noted that deterioration in the quality of music that was presented to the public over the past half century. The timbre palette is poorer and the same notes are played over and over again at loud pitches. Clearly this is a vote of no confidence to an industry that prides itself on being able to sell junk.