This is the audio version of my article Why “Real Musicians” Hate Pop Music. I hope you guys enjoy this, and please let me know if you would like to see more audio versions of my articles in the future!

Below is the transcript if you would like to follow along.

“If you’re someone who loves pop music, you’re probably accustomed to all the hate that constantly revolves around it. Maybe you’ve found yourself sharing your new favorite pop song with a friend, only to be hit with some comment about how pop music is for immature people, people who don’t “understand” music, or people that just aren’t real musicians. This hatred for pop music has been around for a while now; you could argue it began in the 70s or 80s when many music fans saw rock as the greatest thing ever, or perhaps it began around the early 2000s when boy bands and pop divas were seen as silly and ridiculous. We may not know exactly when it began, but we do know this mindset has been around for a long time.

Enjoying pop music has been made to seem embarrassing to some people, especially within communities of musicians. We’ve even gone as far as a culture to make it seem cool and unique to say you listen to anything but mainstream music. I personally knew someone who used to stop listening to artists they enjoyed the second those artists were considered mainstream. This further begs the question of if the disdain for pop music is actually about the music, or just about labels. There is absolutely nothing wrong with genuinely not enjoying pop music, but there is something very wrong with pretending you don’t like any of it, insulting it, or putting down people that create it and enjoy it. It makes me sad that a lot of the people that fall into this category are musicians. Musicians should be able to recognize talent in all genres, so why are they failing to appreciate pop music?

There are so many talented artists, songwriters and producers involved in the creation of pop music. I personally don’t understand how someone can say pop lyrics are shallow when there are so many talented lyricists both behind the scenes (think Julia Michaels or Amy Allen) and writing for themselves (think Ed Sheeran or Sia). In the same way, there is immense talent found in the producers of so many pop hits (think Max Martin, Jack Antonoff, or Pharrell Williams). These producers are highly respected among almost everyone in the mainstream music scene. They each have a great ear, a talent for making complex arrangements sound simple and memorable, and a knack for staying consistent in quality while simultaneously evolving with the times and staying creative. And last but not least, we have to acknowledge the incredible vocal (and instrumental) talent that so many pop artists possess. Even if you don’t prefer pop music, it’s impossible to ignore the vocal talent of artists like Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, or Adele. Just because autotune is widely available doesn’t mean that no one can sing anymore. Like vocal talent, a lot can also be said about instrumental talent. Lady Gaga and Charlie Puth both have extensive piano skills, and use those tools to help them compose and arrange their music. I think if all the people who claim that pop music is shallow and silly actually looked into all the talent and work that goes into it, they may realize that they’ve been mistaken about many things.

Perhaps another reason people don’t like pop music is because pop artists are almost always forced to be involved in other art forms in order to present their music. This upsets people who say that you shouldn’t have to be beautiful to be a popular musician, or you shouldn’t have to know how to dance and perform in an extravagant way. I think this is a pretty valid argument, but I don’t think it should mean there is anything wrong with extravagant shows with dancing and costumes and sets. Pop music has always been fantastic at combining art forms, and that’s amazing! Art forms are meant to be combined so they can complement each other and work together to create mesmerizing visuals for audiences. So in this case, I think both can be true. You don’t need to be a great dancer, performer, and fashion icon in order to be a great artist, but if you do happen to be all these things, it certainly doesn’t make you any less of a “real musician.”

Last but not least, there are a lot of people who have strong opinions about pop music, but do not hold artists of different genres to the same high standard. For example, certain male musicians and commentators have stated that they dislike female pop artists like Sabrina Carpenter or Taylor Swift. They go on to call them industry plants and say that their lyrics and artistry are lacking, all the while never acknowledging the real talent these artists possess. If they left it at that, I wouldn’t mind so much. After all, each person is entitled to sharing their own opinion. What confuses and frustrates me, however, is when these commentators express admiration for certain specific male rap artists (mostly referring to “meme rappers” here) who often truly do lack artistry and lyrical quality in their music. It discredits their entire argument against pop music, and makes it very confusing to anyone listening to them. I’m sure many of you have met people who hold these opinions (especially if you are of a younger generation), and I’m willing to bet that you find their arguments as frustrating and confusing as I do.”

This is the audio version of my article AI Shouldn’t Force Us to Turn to Imperfection. I hope you guys enjoy this, and please let me know if you would like to see more audio versions of my articles in the future!

Below is the transcript if you would like to follow along.

“If you’ve been reading my articles over the past 3 months, you know that I am not a fan of AI-generated music. I don’t think artificial intelligence has a place in creative fields, and my mind probably won’t ever be changed about that. I’ve spent a while writing about legal cases involving generative AI platforms (usually copyright disputes between these AI platforms and major record labels), and I’ve also spent a long time discussing all the reasons people cherish music made by humans. Both of these topics have been explored extensively, and will continue to be, but today I want to talk about something slightly different.

Over the past few months, I’ve seen dozens of articles and videos trying to highlight how much better human made music is than AI-generated music simply by saying that listeners love imperfection in music. While there is nothing objectively wrong with saying this, I don’t think it is a very good argument. The argument thrives off of saying that music listeners are dying to hear their favorite artists hit wrong keys on the piano every once in a while, play the wrong chord on the guitar while performing, or occasionally sing out of tune or with an unclear tone. This may be endearing to some, and I can certainly see where they are coming from. The issue I have with this argument is that it creates no room for perfectly polished, highly produced, highly digitized music that is created entirely by humans. And the truth is that a lot of people don’t want to lose that type of music just because it “sounds like AI.” I understand that the people using the value of imperfection to argue against AI are coming from a good place, I just think they are missing the mark in making a complete argument.

There are so many musicians that thrive in the genres of EDM, electro-pop, and all other types of electronic music. Even most pop music would fall into this category, rather than the “imperfection” category. There are producers and DJs that have spent decades trying to create the most clean, perfect, polished sound possible so they can explore their artistry in a way that feels immersive to listeners. They shouldn’t be forced to throw away their entire craft because AI supposedly only makes room for 2 things: perfect AI-generated music and imperfection filled human made music. AI music shouldn’t force us to go backwards 50 years when it comes to digital music; we shouldn’t have to be forced to go back to analog recordings and minimal production. As musicians and music lovers, we need to fight to always have every option open to us. No creator should be boxed in just because we have a crisis at hand. I think it’s going to be hard for a while, but I’m confident that AI music will never take over. As long as we are aware of the consequences of it and keep staying away from it, we will be ok.”

This is the audio version of my article Is Touring the Only Way for Artists to Make Real Money. I hope you guys enjoy this, and please let me know if you would like to see more audio versions of my articles in the future!

Below is the transcript if you would like to follow along.

“During the physical media era of the music industry (pre-2000s), famous music artists made the majority of their income from album sales. In the 90s, artists like Madonna, Celine Dion, and Mariah Carey sold tens of millions of copies of their albums in CD format. CDs in the 90s cost around $16 dollars on average (this would be about $35 in 2026), making these CD sales worth a lot more than the same number of CD sales today. During this era of physical media, artists and bands used touring as a means of promoting their music to increase their album sales. Touring was not seen as the primary source of income for musicians, but simply a way to promote, perform, and connect with fans.

If you were alive and consuming music during the physical media era, you probably vividly remember the music industry functioning this way. If however you were born post 2000, you most likely are baffled by this. After all, it seems common knowledge in 2026 that major artists make most of their money from extravagant tours with pricy tickets, and nearly nothing from album sales.

To give you a comparison of where album sale revenue is today versus in the mid-90s, let’s look at some numbers. Alanis Morissette’s hit album Jagged Little Pill was released in 1995, and proceeded to sell about 18 million copies worldwide within its first year. In 2024, Billie Eilish released her album Hit Me Hard and Soft, which went on to sell roughly 8 million copies within its first year. Both albums were in the top 10 best-selling albums for their respective years. To further the disparity, in 2026 prices, a CD copy of Jagged Little Pill would cost $35, while a copy of Hit Me Hard and Soft would cost $14. On iTunes, Hit Me Hard and Soft retails for even less at $9.99 for the full album. Now, some of the CD cost disparity is due to manufacturing and distribution costs being much higher in the 90s than now, but the fact still stands that the biggest artists of today are not making the same profit from album sales as the biggest artists of the 90s. I’ll skip talking about streaming since I’ve done it extensively in previous articles, and at this point it’s starting to be common knowledge that artists make almost nothing from streaming. As such, since streaming generates little revenue and physical media is no longer mainstream, today’s music artists have to make their money through touring.

It’s become normalized in the past few years to see what feels like outrageous ticket prices for artists’ shows. However, when you consider the fact that we listen to music essentially for free (seriously, you can listen to any song on demand for free on YouTube), these ticket prices don’t seem quite as absurd. From an artist’s perspective, it’s disheartening to pour effort into creating music only for it to be consumed entirely for free. This is even more unfortunate for smaller artists who often struggle to sell merchandise and show tickets. Audiences are now so accustomed to everything being free that they often can’t recognize when they need to give back.

The music industry is flipped. We now live in an era where albums are created so that artists can embark on a tour to make money. Rather than touring to promote an album, artists are making albums so that they can tour. This doesn’t mean that music and creativity is no longer at the forefront. But to say that making money in the music industry shouldn’t be important as long as artists are being creative would be downright foolish and selfish. Passion cannot dissolve the requirement for basic needs to be met.

So what can music fans do to help artists make more from album sales? The obvious answer would be to purchase CD or vinyl copies of albums, and while that can be great, it isn’t the most eco-friendly option (especially if you’re buying a large quantity). I’m of the belief that purchasing albums and songs on iTunes is a great middle ground. It supports artists much more than streaming, it’s more environmentally considerate than physical media, and you can choose to purchase a full album or just the songs that you like. And while supporting artists through merchandise and ticket purchases is a great option (especially if you’re supporting smaller artists), it’s also worthwhile to look into ways to help artists shift the music industry back to where album sales are generating meaningful income for artists.”

Subscribe to Sonic Savor

Launched 9 months ago

Music Discussions from a Musician

By subscribing, you agree Substack’s Terms of Use, and acknowledge its Information Collection Notice and Privacy Policy