Pop Music Isn't Getting Worse

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Pop music is proven to have gotten simpler and more similar to other pop songs. This is causing many people to make the assumption that it’s getting worse. Pop music isn’t getting worse because of the economic principle that when people trade voluntarily, both parties benefit. 

Pop music can’t be getting worse because people are still buying it. Clearly people enjoy more simple melodies, and there’s a reason. There’s a sense of familiarity in using similar chords and simple melodies. It makes it easier for listeners to remember sing along to. Listeners are benefiting because they don’t have to put in effort to enjoy music. That’s why simple pop music is selling. If people are enjoying pop music, then there’s no legitimate argument for why it’s worse. Listeners enjoy simplicity more than complexity, therefore they buy more simple music. CDM explains that there’s no one way to correctly judge a song’s complexity or how “good” it is.

If people are buying songs that they enjoy, more musicians will release songs in that style. This is because the musician is benefiting when more people buy their music, while the listener is benefitting by getting more music they enjoy. People only buy music because they want to; no one has to buy music. This means that if people didn’t think of music as good quality, it wouldn’t sell.

In conclusion, music isn’t getting worse because listeners are still enjoying the music. If the general consensus is that people like a certain type of music, there’s no legitimate reason for anyone to label it as worse. If it were really worse, people wouldn’t be buying or selling it.