What are the various sources to collect information on latest music trends?

merylbishop · May 2018

Hello guys. I am an author and working on my new book about latest music trends in western countries. Can you help me out with various sources available through which I can obtain the required information?

Just Kevin · May 2018

Could I suggest the internet? As such >> https://www.bing.com/search?q=music+trends+2018&src=IE-SearchBox&FORM=IESR3A&pc=EUPP_ But it can be a hard book to write, unless you write it very very fast. By the time you publish, the current trend could have changed. It's the sort of thing that's published in the weeklys.

Ron Miller · May 2018

Kevin is correct. By the time such a book was completed and published, it would be out of date.

Still, you may want to try some of these sources:

https://www.vidyard.com/blog/tracking-music-trends/
http://www.whalereport.com/#/
https://www.mobilebeat.com/tracking-the-trends-revisited/
http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/measurement/music-sales-measurement.html

There are, of course, many others that show up by simply searching for "music trends."

Just Kevin · May 2018

Although I guess it could be a history of changing trends, but would perhaps still need to be updated once a year.

Skoob_ym · June 2018

You might instead seek meta-trends. It is my suspicion that trends in popular music, in terms of voice versus instruments, styles, tempos, and various other elements work in a wave function that is somewhat similar to a pendulum swing, though the elements may describe pendulums of differing lengths, thus there may appear to be an overall change, when we are in fact merely seeing a different combination of wave functions.

I strongly suspect that there has been an overall retrograde progression of musical style since 1988. In 1990, I jokingly predicted that the retrograde trend would bring us back to Gregorian chants, a prediction which proved true in 1994's Chant, an album by Benedictine monks. That, however, appears to have been an outlier in the overall trend.

I call to your attention the re-emphasis on vocal harmony in recent years, as exemplified in groups such as Pentatonix, which might be compared with the Kingston Trio or the Everly Brothers in terms of the vocal emphasis. Also, I would argue that singers such as Meghan Trainor might reasonably be contrasted with the Doo-Wap girl bands of the 1950s. And cetera...

Seamus · June 2018

Ha! Beastie Boys 1994 album Ill Communication had gregorian chants too! nice call

Just Kevin · June 2018

I strongly suspect that there has been an overall retrograde progression of musical style since 1988. In 1990,

It depends on what you listen to. But a trend I have noticed is that many people's musical tastes seem to 'stick' at when they were in their teens.

Skoob_ym · June 2018

In that case, the pendulum swing would tend to reflect changes in demographics.

Just Kevin · June 2018

It tends to show what is marketed to the masses at the time. Or who gets the most Shares on Youtube, nowadays.

What are the various sources to collect information on latest music trends?

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