HARD Question

[starstruck5]

What will pop music sound like in 20 years time -assuming we don't burn up from greenhouse gases -
I am writing a novel set in the future and one of the characters -(19) is forming a band -but what form will it take?  Any suggestions appreciated -

Silly ones ok -serious ones needed.

[49410enrique]

i think it would be super cool to create a society in which something we think today is 'less poppy' would be considered pop in the future. myabe something like the polyphonic spree, i.e less bassy like the electro pop sound we get today?

or maybe something totally different like a 'old is new' again where early polyphony is the new pop? like the super old mass music

[brianvds]

It is difficult to see how pop taste can get any worse than it is today, so perhaps in twenty years we might have a sort of neo-romantic pop movement or something. Actually sort of impossible to predict, mind you. One should also keep international socio-politics in mind: perhaps in twenty years, western kids will be listening to Chinese or heavily Chinese-influenced pop music.

[pianoplunker]

What will pop music sound like in 20 years time -assuming we don't burn up from greenhouse gases -
I am writing a novel set in the future and one of the characters -(19) is forming a band -but what form will it take?  Any suggestions appreciated -

Silly ones ok -serious ones needed.

Maybe it all goes acoustic when the power grid collapses and only musicians who play real acoustic instruments will be able to perform.  No more fake horn or string sounds from synthesizers or drum machines. 

[Bob]

Synthetic sounds.  Still small three person or less bands.

Still in 4/4.  About 3-4 minutes long, rising to a high point toward the end.

Still edited, maybe even more so.  More about show than music.  Maybe less talent required.

[j_menz]

What will pop music sound like in 20 years time

If I knew, I wouldn't tell you. I suspect there's a rather large fortune to be made.

[ajspiano]

White noise.

The music videos will probably just be porn in order to maintain sales.

[brianvds]

White noise.

The music videos will probably just be porn in order to maintain sales.

The other day I noticed that on a pop music show on TV, the program had 10 age restriction on it. presumably music videos are now so daring you can't let your kids see it, so yes, the process toward music as porn has already started.

But there is hope out there in the form of the web: it has greatly democratized the arts. No longer is the entire market controlled by a few large companies who basically prescribe public taste. Surf around on YouTube and you'd be astonished to see just how much creativity is out there, that we never knew about because large companies felt it wouldn't be commercially viable. Yes, I know, YouTube gave us Justin Bieber. But it is also giving much else. Check out this, for example:

I think this move toward porn and ultra-violence in music videos is to some extent a sign of desperation, as traditional audiences begin to slip away and sales plummet. Well, I kind of hope so anyway. :-)

[fftransform]

Look up Ponytail and Erase Errata.

[starstruck5]

If I knew, I wouldn't tell you. I suspect there's a rather large fortune to be made.

This is very true, given that the technology exists to create it -In 1980 no one could really produce the Computer driven Trance of the early Naughties.

Thanks to everyone who has responded -it has given me great food for thought -bit depressing to think pop music is becoming more pronographic in its presentation -I wonder if the Internet will finally mean making people pay a couple of dollars a year for a license to download stuff -remixing old tracks in the form of mash-ups is becoming quite popular -a Commons License if you will -so that music will be free -but artists will still get payed from the billions generated by the license???
Having said that I think Bruno Mars got about 15 million digital downloads -so while that is possible Record Companies will still want to cling to strict copyright control and old commercial models.

I will check out Ponytail and Erase Erratta

[ajspiano]

bit depressing to think pop music is becoming more pornographic in its presentation

Indeed - have you heard "blow my whistle" yet?   

[ferdinand_]

I can imagine that there will be much more Electronica in the future. Not like Daft Punk, but more than The Prodigy or something like that.