When the New Music Stops

According to my latest bank statement, I spent about $33 on music from iTunes last month. I don’t subscribe to Spotify, though I do pay $3 a month for an ad-free Pandora subscription; the amount is probably less than what I spent in high school when people still bought CDs to listen to new music and I’d pick up an album or two a week using money I earned working at the mall (when malls were ubiquitous).

An online study by Spotify’s Ajay Kalia says that the average age that people stop listening to new music is 33, which doesn’t seem correct based on observations of friends and family members but does seem true for people who are my parents’ age. And classic hits will always be popular: The number four album on iTunes right now is currently “21 Totally ’80s Hits” with Michael Jackson’s Thriller at no. 15, and the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack at no. 16, which features hits from the ’70s. I bought that soundtrack too, which means even if we stop listening to new music, it doesn’t mean we’ll stop buying the older stuff.

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