Don't care all that much for new music these days? You're not alone and our guest is going to explain why. On the podcast is author David Rowell. His book is titled The Endless Refrain: Memory, Nostalgia, and the Threat to New Music. The veteran music journalist argues that the rise of music streaming and the consolidation of digital platforms is decimating the musical landscape, with dire consequences for the future of our culture. In The Endless Refrain, Rowell lays out how commercial and cultural forces have laid waste to the cultural ecosystems that have produced decades of great American music.

From the scorched-earth demonetizing of artist revenue accomplished by Spotify and its ilk to the rise of dead artists “touring” via hologram, Rowell examines how a perfect storm of conditions have drained our shared musical landscape of vitality. Combining personal memoir, intimate on-the-ground reporting, industry research, and cultural criticism, Rowell’s book is a powerful indictment of a music culture gone awry, driven by conformity and subverted by the ways the internet and media influence what we listen to and how we listen to it.

For nearly 25 years David was an editor at The Washington Post Magazine and has taught literary journalism in the MFA department at American University. He is currently a senior editor at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. His previous books include the novel The Train of Small Mercies, and Wherever the Sound Takes You: Heroics and Heartbreak in Music Making.

Purchase a copy of The Endless Refrain: Memory, Nostalgia, and the Threat to New Music
 
Visit David Rowell's website

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