It's the best feeling in the World to be in a band. Not just to play the music but to belong. To create. To go on a shared journey with like-minded people.
The question in 2025 is …
can your band succeed in the current climate?
I'm not talking cover bands doing local gigs, I'm talking about the next generation of bands, the ones that will write the songs that future cover bands and tribute acts will play. Original music bands.
Before I answer the question 'can bands survive' with a yes or no let's get some background.
The Good Old Days
The music industry (from the 60's to 2000) used to be structured from the bottom up, not top down.
But even back then the biggest obstacle for new talent to getting established had always been to go viral. But then going viral looked very different in those days.
It meant getting your band noticed playing live, submitting demo tapes, and then getting signed. It was organic. It worked because the music industry had the integrity to support it. To nurture talent through the record company's Artist and Repertoire department (A&R)
Musical proficiency was valued, revered even. You had to be seen to deserve it and more often than not, if you did, you'd get the recognition.
But the clue's in the name POPULAR music. It’s a popularity contest.
There have always been manufactured music artistes, let's ignore them from this discussion for now. Bands (except boy bands) were largely exempt from this judgement. They didn't deserve it, but they won the popularity contest by being teenagers wet dreams.
Nevertheless, for real bands, if your band was authentic, it had credibility. You stood a chance to build a career.
Fast forward to post-internet.
Rick Beato recently posted a video on the subject of 'why bands are mysteriously disappearing'. It concluded that they already had disappeared, and it was not a mystery.
The figures are sobering. As recent as the 80's and 90's bands dominated the charts. Since 2000 solo artistes dominate. Of the current top 400 Spotify artists how many are bands? 100? 50? No 3! That's less than 1%.
Why the decline of bands in the charts?
Short story, bands are too messy. Anyone can record a hit at home without real musicians, cutting and pasting the same loops as everyone else uses. That's why modern music sounds like sh*tty, homgenized pap for the brain dead.
Without the creative chaos of bands writing their own songs everything sounds the same, dumbed down.
when a song has more songwriters than chords you know something is wrong
The music industry decided to shed what little integrity it had. It doesn't sign bands, so you are on your own.
Is there any hope for bands in the future?
Short to medium turn – probably not!
But such things are cyclical, people will get fed up with singers and backing tracks. There’s no jeopardy. No excitement.
The next band to bring out a classic album, one that spawns a new genre, will be HUGE
The only question is, how long will we have to wait, and will it be your band?!