Chris Trottier
Two things I collect are vintage video games and music. The general sentiment of both those hobbies are going in drastically different directions.
1. Vintage video games are becoming more more desirable
2. Vintage music is becoming abandoned en masse
I often wonder why this is the case, and I think it's a generational thing.
Gen Xers and Boomers define themselves by music.
Gen Z and Millennials define themselves by video games.
As Boomers die out, few people want vintage music.
Chris Trottier
@vfrmedia I know there's a lot of new music. I hear a lot of it every day. Problem is that most people are not hearing new music.
Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK
@atomicpoet there is new music, but its a lot more underground (the bulk of it seems to be on Bandcamp, and there is a *lot* on Fediverse)
However, those Gen Z who are living in shared houses may not be able to play music loud on hifi systems (as their roommates are working long hours or studying etc), or they still live at home with Gen X parents (who might tolerate or even encourage loud music, but are equally likely to play their own, so genres keep getting recycled..)
Chris Trottier
For music to really have a cultural impact, it has to be the soundtrack of a generation. There is nothing that serves this purpose right now. Gen Z has no jazz or rock or hip hop to define them.
What's more, Gen Z is more likely to hear listen to the music of their parents than the music of their peers.
This is a scary fact about the future of music. https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/is-old-music-killing-new-music?s=r
Chris Trottier
Here's the litmus test for how relevant music is compared to video games.
This year, what new music release became a runaway pop culture phenomenon? Answer: I don't know -- and I'm a dude who pays attention to this kind of thing.
Compare this to video games. Elden Ring is everywhere. Everyone knows what it is. It's a phenomenon that defines pop culture right now.
Music no longer represents youth culture. Video games now serves this purpose.
Chris Trottier
Some folks are like, "Downloads and streaming killed the demand for vintage music media."
But that doesn't make sense since downloads and streaming are also available for vintage video games.
Yet, people will still pay out the nose for old cartridges and CDs.
Chris Trottier
As is the case with these threads, some contrarian is bound to pop their head in and say, "But what about vinyl?"
Yeah, let's talk about vinyl.
Contrary to popular belief, it's only a certain kind of vinyl that's expensive: coloured and numbered variants popular with Millennials and Gen Z. But they don't listen to that vinyl. It's just to collect.
Most vinyl that Boomers and Gen X listen to, that's still massively cheap -- and will likely never be valuable.
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