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Post by MattyJam on Dec 22, 2017 10:48:19 GMT
As sales of music across the board continue to decline in favor of streaming, another manner of determining an act's popularity is by seeing how often people search for them on Google and YouTube. By that metric, it would seem that the Beatles are decidedly less popular than they were a decade ago. Digital Music News has looked at data provided by Google Trends and concluded that they've had 70 percent fewer searches between January 2004 and the present. The graph includes all searches related to the band. According to the chart, interest has been declining steadily, although there was a major spike -- its highest placing in 13 years -- in September 2009. That corresponds with when the Beatles reissued their entire catalog and released a special version of the Rock Band video game on Sept. 9, 2009. They note a similar pattern for searches on YouTube, beginning in 2008. However, the article does not acknowledge that, over the past few years, unauthorized uploads of Beatles songs have been removed from YouTube due to copyright infringement. The official Beatles YouTube channel has only 28 videos. The downward trend on YouTube could also be a reflection of the greater impact that streaming services are having on our listening habits. In late-2015, the group's music became available on all major streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Prime, Deezer and Google Play. However, they say that while Paul McCartney's Google search numbers are also decreasing, he experiences occasional surges due to the fact that he remains an active touring musician. ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-popularity-decline/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=newsletter_4572276 |
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Post by HIStoric on Dec 22, 2017 13:11:49 GMT
The Beatles are like any other legacy artist, they'll always have their ups and downs in popularity but their music is immortal.
The issue I have with this article is that every legacy artist (who isn't active - like say Madonna or Paul McCartney) I look up is also declining.
- Michael Jackson is hard to tell, because his death in 2009 is so astronomically huge it skewers his results, but if I look at his results from 1/1/2011 (a reasonable cool off time) to today, then his search numbers are going down from then on too.
- Queen's numbers are going down at similar rates too (yet for a legacy artist they have extremely strong monthly listener numbers on Spotify - more so than the others here).
- The Rolling Stones are going down in popularity too it seems.
- Elvis Presley has also had a decline. Peaked heavily on his 30th death anniversary and a bit on his 80th birthday.
When using the compare function to compare the search results of these artists to The Beatles, only Michael Jackson consistency outranks The Beatles. Excluding 1-2 occasions, the others never ever outrank The Beatles. Queen never have, the Stones only did once during their famous 1.5 million attended concert in Rio De Janeiro and Elvis only did so on his 30th death anniversary and his 80th birthday.
So from what we can see on Google Trends, The Beatles are losing popularity but so is every other legacy artist - which is expected given their age. Besides, even if The Beatles are losing in popularity, they still outrank almost every other legacy artist so I think they're still doing pretty fine myself. Their legacy isn't going anywhere.
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Post by respect77 on Dec 22, 2017 13:50:01 GMT
(yet they're also streamed the most out of any legacy artist). Based on what? |
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Post by HIStoric on Dec 22, 2017 14:16:28 GMT
(yet they're also streamed the most out of any legacy artist). Based on what? My bad! I take it back & edited my post to reflect it accordingly. So what I meant originally is that in general they have more monthly listeners than other legacy acts. The reason I take it back is because monthly listeners doesn't equal most streamed. You can have 10mil monthly listeners who stream 20 songs for 200 million streams in one month, or 50mil monthly listeners who streamed just 2 songs for 100mil streams in one month. Artist B will have more monthly listeners, but it's Artist A who is streamed more. I did some extra googling on top of this and Queen aren't the most popular legacy rock band, but they are certainly up there (however Spotify determines 'popular' with their statistics). |
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Post by SoCav on Dec 22, 2017 14:43:23 GMT
So from what we can see on Google Trends, The Beatles are losing popularity but so is every other legacy artist - which is expected given their age. Besides, even if The Beatles are losing in popularity, they still outrank almost every other legacy artist so I think they're still doing pretty fine myself. Their legacy isn't going anywhere. Exactly, it's only natural and is not a sign that their legacy is in any danger. The downward trend may just be an indication that it'd be a good time to start working on some kind of big release that gets their name out there again, so that those numbers can go back up. |
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Post by respect77 on Dec 22, 2017 15:07:42 GMT
My bad! I take it back & edited my post to reflect it accordingly. So what I meant originally is that in general they have more monthly listeners than other legacy acts. The reason I take it back is because monthly listeners doesn't equal most streamed. You can have 10mil monthly listeners who stream 20 songs for 200 million streams in one month, or 50mil monthly listeners who streamed just 2 songs for 100mil streams in one month. Artist B will have more monthly listeners, but it's Artist A who is streamed more. I did some extra googling on top of this and Queen aren't the most popular legacy rock band, but they are certainly up there (however Spotify determines 'popular' with their statistics). So you are talking only about Spotify? But Spotify isn't the only streaming platform and it is by far not the most popular either. The most popular is YouTube. And there I suspect taken all these platforms together MJ actually streams more than Queen considering the fact that he is consatantly in the Top 30 on YT while Queen rarely even makes the Top 100. |
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Post by HIStoric on Dec 22, 2017 16:04:59 GMT
So you are talking only about Spotify? For Queen, yes. See updated post. |
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Post by ghost on Dec 22, 2017 16:33:36 GMT
I think The Beatles style of music has become a bit passe. There was always a twee side to their music (I'm thinking of songs like Yellow Submarine, Penny Lane, Obli-de-Obli-da, She Loves You, Let It Be) and I don't think these songs have aged well. Younger generations just don't get it.
The Beatles were always a band of two halves. Half of their stuff was wildly experimental and genius and the other half was syrupy, braindead mush.
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Post by bedroom on Dec 22, 2017 17:43:28 GMT
I think The Beatles style of music has become a bit passe. There was always a twee side to their music (I'm thinking of songs like Yellow Submarine, Penny Lane, Obli-de-Obli-da, She Loves You, Let It Be) and I don't think these songs have aged well. Younger generations just don't get it. The Beatles were always a band of two halves. Half of their stuff was wildly experimental and genius and the other half was syrupy, braindead mush. Can you give examples of those? I have been trying to get in to them beyond their number ones |
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Post by Thriller on Dec 22, 2017 23:08:20 GMT
One look at their sales tells you the answer... no, their popularity isn't declining.
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Post by HIStoric on Dec 23, 2017 0:56:08 GMT
I think The Beatles style of music has become a bit passe. There was always a twee side to their music (I'm thinking of songs like Yellow Submarine, Penny Lane, Obli-de-Obli-da, She Loves You, Let It Be) and I don't think these songs have aged well. Younger generations just don't get it. The Beatles were always a band of two halves. Half of their stuff was wildly experimental and genius and the other half was syrupy, braindead mush. I mean you say that, and each and everyone of those songs are well into tens and tens of millions of streams on Spotify alone - which is used predominantly by younger people (and these numbers aren't even 2 years old yet, these songs only came out on Spotify on Christmas Day 2015). If the younger generation didn't get it, they simply wouldn't be getting the numbers they do. Also interesting you say that Let It Be hasn't aged well, that younger generations don't get it but it's literally their third most streamed single on Spotify. Also a song I see a number of my friends who aren't Beatles fans admire. And I do get what you mean by the twee side. I do, just like every other artist ever they have a handful of songs that haven't aged well sonically, that sound like a product of their time, but even still their brilliance can and will still shine through. If we look at the much more modern work of Michael Jackson for example, the sound of his Bad album is completely stuck in the 1980s sonically, but even with it's overly 80s synthy sound, it's superb production, catchy songwriting and perfect vocals etc still shine through and allow it to be enjoyed by millions 30+ years on. One look at their sales tells you the answer... no, their popularity isn't declining. They don't have the 3rd best selling album of the 21st century - released 30 + years after they broke up - for nothing. It's The Beatles, people can say what they want about them but people will still be discussing the genius of Eleanor Rigby and A Day in the Life long after everyone reading this has died. |
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Post by HIStoric on Dec 23, 2017 1:32:27 GMT
Can you give examples of those? I have been trying to get in to them beyond their number ones Depends what kind of music you like. The cool thing about The Beatles is that they covered a large number of styles for the 7 years they were releasing music. It's cool because it's insane a group was able to do that in such short time, but the drawback is that some music might take a little bit longer to get into (It took me some time to get into their 'White Album' and be able to appreciate it for example). As such there's a few ways you can go about their discography and it depends on how you want to approach it: - Chronologically. You begin with the more straight forward 60s rock/pop at the beginning and work your way through. This is a good way to see how they evolved over time which is really quite something to behold. - Alternatively, there might be a sound or style you already prefer. I saw this chart online and figured you might find it useful. Basically you start off at Rubber Soul (in red) in the middle, and then if you feel like exploring a certain sound or style, you follow the chart and go to the next album you desire. There's one or two things I might change about it, but it's a good start if you want a certain style to explore. - If you don't want to think about it too much, you might like this Spotify playlist which has 90 songs by them so there'll be some Number Ones you know and love, but songs you've never heard of too. Great to just chuck on and go with the flow. If anything in particular stands out, go check out it's album at some point  |
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Post by bedroom on Dec 24, 2017 5:36:29 GMT
Hey thanks for the reply I'm checking that chart and spotify playlist out. Their big hits are nice enough I guess but the only Beatles track that I actually love is While My Guitar Gently Weeps. So I been checking out the White Album for other tracks like that but so far nothing resembles it. I think it's a Harrison track so I might check out his solo material.
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Post by HIStoric on Dec 24, 2017 8:36:15 GMT
Hey thanks for the reply I'm checking that chart and spotify playlist out. Their big hits are nice enough I guess but the only Beatles track that I actually love is While My Guitar Gently Weeps. So I been checking out the White Album for other tracks like that but so far nothing resembles it. I think it's a Harrison track so I might check out his solo material. No worries! and yeah, The White Album is an interesting album because it showcases how The Beatles were going in different directions as individual artists (so there’s a lot of different styles on there) and it’s also their most experimental album. My favourite version of the song is actually the demo on Anthology 3, and then the remix on the LOVE album. WMGGW is a pretty unique song so only so much resembles it, but go check out All Things Must Pass, that’s often recognized as George Harrison’s best solo album. Some really great stuff on there! I also saw this suggestion online: “The Light That Has Lighted the World and Run of the Mill, both from his album of Early Takes.” So perhaps take a look at those too? You’ve probably already heard other fantastic Harrison Beatles tracks, like Here Comes The Sun and Something. They’re both considered as amongst the best tracks towards the end of The Beatles |
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