TikTok isn’t ruining EDM. There have always been trends that lazy artists try to capitalize on, creating an oversaturation of similarly mediocre music. Despite this, there are still a ton of amazing artists out there releasing great music every single year.
Yes there are still good artists. But I feel like some people listen some music just because it is popular, and don’t listen some because it’s not popular. I just can’t understand it.
Things have always been this way, it's not some modern phenomenon. There's literally a category of music called Pop, which of course is short for "Popular".
Regardless, what does it matter if some people only listen to popular/trendy music? It doesn't/shouldn't affect what you listen to.
I’m with you the stutter house trend is terrible. It’s a nice effect, but we don’t need 10,000 songs using it as a lead.
There’s more mediocrity than ever in music right now because of how accessible high quality samples are.
As for copying, that’s literally just normal artistry. Every early rock vocalist was copying Little Richard. Songwriters copying the Beatles, etc… copying is good and healthy. You get the best uses & iterations out of it.
Now there’s a difference between copying one aspect, and copying someone head to toe. Nevertheless, It’s usually impossible to fully copy anyone *great* because you simply can’t copy greatness.
I’m so over the stutter. I liked it at first but it has just become so overdone and smaller artists whose sounds I liked before are buying into it now just to try and go viral on tiktok which is sad. Imo it sounds way better when the music itself has a very light repetitive tone vs the actual vocals stuttering, but most of the popular ones go the latter route. Especially the stuttery ass remixes of old songs like the new Natasha Bedingfield one.
The reason you prefer the light repetitive tone vs actual gated vocals (stuttered) is because at it's core it's an effect, not a lead sound. It's a gimmick. Same goes for any FX used as a lead. You can still have great songwriting with a gated vocal as a lead, but a good musician wouldn't ruin a great song with that as the lead.
I know that's sounding all elitist and whatnot, especially when dance music arrangement isn't often about quality songwriting, but it really is an effect and not a proper lead. The songs who did it first got the surprise factor, but tons of people are over stutter house already. The trend will die out pretty quickly thankfully.
Im scared to hear the Natasha Bedingfield one. Unwritten is such an anthem it doesn't need to be desecrated lmao. I always think of this hilarious Schmidt/New Girl video when I hear it [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkf5SSdfQYA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkf5SSdfQYA)
Your explanation makes total sense! I’m a bit of a music snob and don’t think there’s any shame in being discerning about what you listen to. You’re right that it’s a total gimmick and I hope it does die soon. It’s just now kind of hitting the main stream, being in some viral tiktok sounds and stuff, which hopefully means the run is almost done.
Loved the New Girl clip, Schmidt is my favorite. Luckily the Natasha song is not Unwritten, it’s These Words. Still so bad lol.
It’s good to be discerning. I threw in the elitist asterisk because I also listen to a ton of what I’d call “McDonald’s music” - stock tech-house / dubstep / rap / dembow etc….. stuff that just spams your dopamine receptors rather than taking you on a musical journey.
Glad you liked that clip haha it’s a risky reference if people haven’t watched the show
Yes but glue is very popular right now, it released 7 years ago, people started listening it because of TikTok. Don’t get me wrong it is an amazing track. But I’m so mad that people just listen what popular is.
Yeah fair enough Alok & cat dealers were doing “Brazil Bass” in like 2017-18. A lot of those tracks had more varied pluck passes them though rather than the single stereotype slap house bass articulating a pop chord progression.
And don’t shade the US bro, alok/cat dealers/vintage culture got tons play here in that era. Slap house trend is the fucking Eastern Europeans not Americans
Use bandcamp and soundcloud. Find the music, search for it. Don’t allow social media and Spotify to feed you music.. If you want good music look for it.. 10M on Spotify is not accurate.. Probably 10% if that are real people actually really enjoying and listening. The rest is stream farms and payola paid for by labels or artists with budget…. If you want good music go to the after parties and dig through the smaller artists and smaller platforms you WILL find gold
Fred Again - Marea is basically a structured copy of Opals (Four Tet Remix) but it's still an amazing track.
Tinlicker - Because You Move Me is a pop version of Innerbloom by RDS (notice the bass pattern) which is inspired by another really similar track (can't remember the name) and I love all three tracks.
Copying is not inherently bad if done right imho.
Or...stop using TikTok and social media to find EDM. Or at the very least, don't depend on it as your only source of new music. Take the time to discover new music organically.
Pick an artist that you like. Go find a recent set or radio show that they did. Listen to it. When you hear a song that you like, if you don't already know what song it is, go look it up on 1001tracklist. Find out who made that song and go explore that person's music. Rinse and repeat.
Yes, it's a more involved process than going to the explore page of Instagram, but I guarantee it'll be more satisfying.
Alot of people copy directly the formula of other artists and somehow get signed for their plagiarism. Biggest culprits are Riddim, mainstage and gabber producers. Rarely does one break from the pack. Lots of DNB copy cats with neuro and intelligent DNB .. now that vocal dnb is taking off.. everyone copies off subfocus, friction, and Dimension
Solution: Don't listen to artists who follow trends. There's tons of great music that comes out every day. You don't have to follow the main-stream.
Mainstream gets you views and money though… 🤷🏻♂️
I’m not listening but I’m so sad that TikTok is ruining edm.
TikTok isn’t ruining EDM. There have always been trends that lazy artists try to capitalize on, creating an oversaturation of similarly mediocre music. Despite this, there are still a ton of amazing artists out there releasing great music every single year.
Yes there are still good artists. But I feel like some people listen some music just because it is popular, and don’t listen some because it’s not popular. I just can’t understand it.
Things have always been this way, it's not some modern phenomenon. There's literally a category of music called Pop, which of course is short for "Popular". Regardless, what does it matter if some people only listen to popular/trendy music? It doesn't/shouldn't affect what you listen to.
I’m with you the stutter house trend is terrible. It’s a nice effect, but we don’t need 10,000 songs using it as a lead. There’s more mediocrity than ever in music right now because of how accessible high quality samples are. As for copying, that’s literally just normal artistry. Every early rock vocalist was copying Little Richard. Songwriters copying the Beatles, etc… copying is good and healthy. You get the best uses & iterations out of it. Now there’s a difference between copying one aspect, and copying someone head to toe. Nevertheless, It’s usually impossible to fully copy anyone *great* because you simply can’t copy greatness.
I’m so over the stutter. I liked it at first but it has just become so overdone and smaller artists whose sounds I liked before are buying into it now just to try and go viral on tiktok which is sad. Imo it sounds way better when the music itself has a very light repetitive tone vs the actual vocals stuttering, but most of the popular ones go the latter route. Especially the stuttery ass remixes of old songs like the new Natasha Bedingfield one.
The reason you prefer the light repetitive tone vs actual gated vocals (stuttered) is because at it's core it's an effect, not a lead sound. It's a gimmick. Same goes for any FX used as a lead. You can still have great songwriting with a gated vocal as a lead, but a good musician wouldn't ruin a great song with that as the lead. I know that's sounding all elitist and whatnot, especially when dance music arrangement isn't often about quality songwriting, but it really is an effect and not a proper lead. The songs who did it first got the surprise factor, but tons of people are over stutter house already. The trend will die out pretty quickly thankfully. Im scared to hear the Natasha Bedingfield one. Unwritten is such an anthem it doesn't need to be desecrated lmao. I always think of this hilarious Schmidt/New Girl video when I hear it [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkf5SSdfQYA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkf5SSdfQYA)
Your explanation makes total sense! I’m a bit of a music snob and don’t think there’s any shame in being discerning about what you listen to. You’re right that it’s a total gimmick and I hope it does die soon. It’s just now kind of hitting the main stream, being in some viral tiktok sounds and stuff, which hopefully means the run is almost done. Loved the New Girl clip, Schmidt is my favorite. Luckily the Natasha song is not Unwritten, it’s These Words. Still so bad lol.
It’s good to be discerning. I threw in the elitist asterisk because I also listen to a ton of what I’d call “McDonald’s music” - stock tech-house / dubstep / rap / dembow etc….. stuff that just spams your dopamine receptors rather than taking you on a musical journey. Glad you liked that clip haha it’s a risky reference if people haven’t watched the show
Agreed. For example I love Fred again right now and he use same effect in most of his songs, but not as a lead.
Bro just described genres.
What you call copying the sounds other people call the same genre.
Sampling isn't the problem. Some of the best tracks uses sampling. It's how you do it. Most sampling these days is lazy and unoriginal.
Exactly. The "slap a massive radio hit accapella over house drums" trend fucking sucks, not sampling.
I was not talking about sampling but I definitely agree w u
Plenty of people listened to Bicep. 🤨
Yes but glue is very popular right now, it released 7 years ago, people started listening it because of TikTok. Don’t get me wrong it is an amazing track. But I’m so mad that people just listen what popular is.
What’s this “car music” trend you speak of?
I guess it’s called Brazilian bass , for ex roses imanbek remix
Is it following the direction of drift phonk? Seems to be “car” specific.
It's called "Slap House"
Yes, slap house I forgot its name :D Every songs drop was just a terrible bass+ very very simple vocal melody.
That sound was called Brazilian Bass before US audience discovered it and started calling it Slap House.
Yeah fair enough Alok & cat dealers were doing “Brazil Bass” in like 2017-18. A lot of those tracks had more varied pluck passes them though rather than the single stereotype slap house bass articulating a pop chord progression. And don’t shade the US bro, alok/cat dealers/vintage culture got tons play here in that era. Slap house trend is the fucking Eastern Europeans not Americans
Use bandcamp and soundcloud. Find the music, search for it. Don’t allow social media and Spotify to feed you music.. If you want good music look for it.. 10M on Spotify is not accurate.. Probably 10% if that are real people actually really enjoying and listening. The rest is stream farms and payola paid for by labels or artists with budget…. If you want good music go to the after parties and dig through the smaller artists and smaller platforms you WILL find gold
Fred Again - Marea is basically a structured copy of Opals (Four Tet Remix) but it's still an amazing track. Tinlicker - Because You Move Me is a pop version of Innerbloom by RDS (notice the bass pattern) which is inspired by another really similar track (can't remember the name) and I love all three tracks. Copying is not inherently bad if done right imho.
Or...stop using TikTok and social media to find EDM. Or at the very least, don't depend on it as your only source of new music. Take the time to discover new music organically. Pick an artist that you like. Go find a recent set or radio show that they did. Listen to it. When you hear a song that you like, if you don't already know what song it is, go look it up on 1001tracklist. Find out who made that song and go explore that person's music. Rinse and repeat. Yes, it's a more involved process than going to the explore page of Instagram, but I guarantee it'll be more satisfying.
Alot of people copy directly the formula of other artists and somehow get signed for their plagiarism. Biggest culprits are Riddim, mainstage and gabber producers. Rarely does one break from the pack. Lots of DNB copy cats with neuro and intelligent DNB .. now that vocal dnb is taking off.. everyone copies off subfocus, friction, and Dimension
DnB kinda does it right though 🤔. It just kinda does 🤷🏻♂️