Casey Kasem had a huge radio show for decades, “American Top 40.”  I, like other teenagers, listened to see if our favorite song was on the chart and what new music had come out during the week.  I knew the music on the Top 40 and other selected music played on WABC, the radio station I liked as a kid.  Over the next 20 years or so, radio-play controlled record sales and stations would often “push” a new band or album to promote the station as well as the band.  The only real place to hear new music was at your local record store or, if you knew about Greenwich Village, used record meccas. 

That all changed with the internet.  Most people listen to YouTube for their music desires.  The metrics on YouTube make suggestions based on the music you pick to listen to.  Hip teenagers could hear Post Malone as well as Prince in the same mix and not have it seem out of place.  New music is now what you haven’t had a chance to hear yet, not what is just released.  Last month “Earth, Wind, and Fire” was on the top ten listened to songs with “21st Day of September.”

MTV filled an important function for a long time. They gave smaller bands a chance to be seen and heard. How does a new artist break through today? Think about it - no longer are you competing against the current group of recording and preforming artists, you are now competing against anyone who has ever made a song or an album.  Being more talented than Katy Perry is doable, but add Aretha Franklin and Lauren Hill to the mix, and that’s a tall mountain to climb.  Try out-funking Herbie Hancock or be more “Godfather of Soul” than James Brown.  Seems unfair, but that’s the world of YouTube music.

We will leave Michael Jackson out of this conversation, as that is an unattainable level of groove, and amazingly, the King of Pop still sells quite well.  So, is there something called new music anymore? The computer software allows both Sixties’ Hell-Raisers and want-to-be Hip-Hop Moguls to make music at home and the quality is superior.  No longer are the expensive recording studios needed to record excellent music.  Today’s technology allows everyone to make music, and the volume of new music uploaded each day is staggering.  It makes it impossible to sample everything. 

This upload dilemma is fixed with the “suggestion plan.”  Each requested song goes into a complicated algorithm that then suggests new songs to listen to. This is not based on when a song has been recorded, only if it meets preset categories.  For me, I go from “Take 5” by Dave Brubeck to “My Cherie Amour” by Stevie Wonder to watching the latest “Crossroads” festival.  I listen to Japanese Kung-Fu Funk, Gary Clark Jr’s blues, and I love jazz and classical music, too.  Each day I have new suggestions from YouTube and that is now my Casey Kasem/MTV.  Music is timeless, and our playlists show that now.