The last little paragreph says it all. “Anyone who grew up with Top 40 radio in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s was exposed to a wide variety of sounds and genres. Not so much anymore, right? The Billboard charts may matter less than they ever did…”
This is the main reason I don’t bother with radio or streaming services anymore. It’s all the same, just the industry on a 30 year cycle of regurgitating the same formats aimed at age-group demographics.
I really can not muster interest in Taylor Swift or Kanye or any of the mainstream acts of the last few decades. It’s not that it’s bad or not well crafted, so much as I’ve already heard those sounds before.
Listening to music does get more challenging as you get older and are still searching for new styles and more complex compositions to listen to.
Bandcamp.
I don’t use the mainstream streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music or Pandora, and Dear God no, I will not turn on the radio and listen to any Clear Channel radio stations. Fuck that noise.
Occasionally I will put on SomaFM, which I have been listening to since the year it launched, it’s got many different channels which gives me a variety to choose from. Also sites like The Oedipus Project or IndieShuffle.
But mostly, really, Bandcamp.