Didn't read the actual article, just your SLOG summary here, but I wanted to point out that "popular" music is not the same thing as "new" music. Old musicians can still produce new music that simply isn't popular.

OK. I dare anyone to try to defy this trend and listen to only the most popular songs of the month. Tell us how awesome Meghan Trainor is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PCkvCPv…

I'd say 33 is/was accurate for me. But in my case, I stopped listening to a radio station that played mostly new music, and switched to one that played mostly old music with the occasional new one. They do play Meghan Trainor on my new station :-P

It happened to me and I even regressed. Most of what I listen to now came out in the 70's. I tease my daughters that many of their favorite songs sound like anthems in life insurance ads.

popular generally = shit, even when I was <33.

My general rule is that you should not listen to any music made by people younger than you.

As a 31 year-old dude who still mostly listens to Sunny Day Real Estate, this hit a little too close to home.

Nothing makes you look older than bragging that you still listen to what the kids are listening to.

It's not the listening, I don't think. It's the bragging.

fuck, officially old now... Although as I type this, I'm listening to some 90s punk that I loved when it came out so there's that. However, I'm always discovering new music and buying records to the point where I need more storage for them so maybe I'm not old yet- this girl has some life left in her I guess!

Also, get the fuck off my lawn

Seems about right -- I stopped listening to theradio 30 some years ago.

However, I now buy random Cds at thrift stores, take 'em home to try out, and it turns out there's some '90s music I like, and a bunch of stuff I still don't.

I also check out videos on political blogs and will come across new music that way, or through movie soundtracks, or music played on loud speakers at stores and restaurants, or covers by musicians I know.

But you couldn't pay me to listen to current radio, if there still is such a thing as radio.

It's only natural that as people enter the next phase in their life, some superficiality gives way to more impending responsibilities. Apparently 33 is the tipping point for American Spotify subscriber that are also fans of top 40 music; makes sense. Our lives change—hell, our brains change. I think most of us could have inferred this outcome based on such a specific demographic.

It's still kinda interesting though, but not because it's a window into human behavior, but because it's a window into what the modern economy values most—data on it's users.

Why da fuck is this graph so stupid and unreadable? It's only got two datapoints. Perfect for a bar graph or scatter line. I have to do some mental gymnastics to figure out what the fuck that graph indicates when it's simple data that should be obvious.

The actual article I read said that 33 is the age that people stop seeking out new music. I took that as any new music, not just radio hits. I'm always blown away at how many people my age (mid-thirties) very seriously believe the music of their youth is the greatest music ever made and almost all music these days sucks. Like, do you really not see that you're echoing the same lame cliche your fucking dad and grandfather and great grandfather probably moaned about? I think those people just straight up gave up looking and justify their lack of passion with the incredibly lazy idea that all the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of bands they've never bothered to listen to couldn't possibly be better than the bands they liked when they were a kid.

This is especially baffling to me from people my age. I wouldn't call the 90's a golden age of radio.

In a related report, it was determined that some 16-19 year old researchers recently discovered music, partying, and sex. None of these things existed before discovery... it must be so sad to be old, I mean like 30 or over.
Regards,
The Old Guy who (not bragging just pointing out that he, like "the kids") enjoys Childbirth, Chastity Belt, and even the occasional TacocaT song.

IDK it was in my college years that I started exploring the roots of the new music I was listening too. Leading me to find treasure troves of older music. It didn't stop me from listening to new music, quite the opposite.

I suppose that by the numbers I listen to less newer music because the pool of older music is so much deeper. Though I'd argue that the percentages are much more equal between older and newer.