The biggest problem is that they don’t get any radio airplay these days outside Triple J.
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By its very nature, most indie/alternative music has little crossover onto the single charts and top 40/contemporary hit radio, the exception being in the turn of the 2010s with the likes of Gotye, Foster the People and Grouplove (“Tongue Tied” was, from memory, flogged to death on Nova at the time).
At least “Despacito” is something different; the two new Taylor Swift singles are pretty much cookie-cutter pop tracks that do little to make her stand out.
In addition to the js, would also suggest its bigger cousin, Double J, and even Triple M Modern Digital if you’re looking for newer alternative tracks
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Macklemore’s performance of Same Love on last Sunday’s NRL Grand Final has propelled the song back to #4 on this week’s ARIA singles chart.
The Killers’ appearance at the AFL Grand Final saw Mr Brightside returning to #48 on the singles chart (also thanks to a cameo from Richmond premiership player Jack Riewoldt). The album however fell from first to fourth on the albums chart, with Shania Twain claiming her first #1 album in 15 years (and third overall) with Now.
Yeah nah. Despacito is just the standard stuff - see Duke Dumont for a better tropical/ summery vibe - but in a different language (oh and a Justin Bieber verse, nothing more generic than that). The only difference is the language.
I was typing out a very long response to how Swifty m8 is changing her career and steering into a different type of track. I was gonna outline how her new album sounds different because she would hate to be labeled as generic (who wouldn’t). I was going to talk about how …Ready For It changes her whole career and her songs would take on a deeper meaning and have darker undertones. I was so adamant in saying It was generic.
Then I read the lyrics. The most generic thing I could expect from anyone - talking about a dude and basically is a love song with a terrible instrumental which sounds like something a first year student in an Electronic Music unit at unit one would try to pass off as a bass line, but would ultimately fail because of how trash it is.
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Meanwhile, her first single dropped out of the number one spot after only two weeks. The second single slipped faster. A far cry from the success of all the singles from her previous album.
Hang on, are we talking about Swift from 2009?
True, however a lot of alternative/indie music did manage to crossover in the Mid/Late 2000’s. That’s the thing, there was actually more alternative/indie music in the mainstream back then compared to how it is now. Yet, a lot of people consider the 2010s to be the decade for alternative/indie music in the mainstream, when it isn’t entirely the case.
The various big music labels have blatantly put some effort into re-positioning some of their pop artists that they (or focus groups) must have thought are getting stale.
Giving Miley Cyrus a wholesome image post wrecking ball, making Taylor Swift seem more edgy, bringing Lana Del Rey completely into the realm of mainstream pop… countless other examples too.
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I think Taylor Swift’s upcoming album is a “make or break” for her. If it isn’t as successful as her previous albums and her new ‘persona’ fails to be effective, I think she will gradually start to fall out of the mainstream.
That’s already happening. Her last album was her peak.
sadly we are talking about 2017 swifty
Edit: not even her - her producers too - shellback I think is one of them. they just pump out instrumentals like a factory. It creates shitty music lmao
IT’s a shame Jake Bugg doesn’t get more airplay here. I have all his albums (he just released another last month) and can/do listen to them all day.
If anyone likes listening to full albums, every Sunday night from 5-10pm AEDST, NZ station “The Sound” plays full album sides straight from vinyl. So far tonight we’ve had
Damn the Torpedos - Tom Petty side 1
Hard Promises - Tom Petty side 1
Turn of A Friendly Card - Alan Parsons project side 1
Appetite for Destruction - Guns N Roses side 1
And Then There Were Three - Genesis side 2
American Woman - The Guess Who side 2
Houses of the Holy - Led Zeppelin side 2
Motels self titled debut - Side 1
Get Lucky - Loverboy side 1
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I would have thought the 90s was bigger than both the 00s & 10s for indie music crossing over… Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Radiohead (the real band), Fooies, Green Day to name just a few.
The charts also take into account streams on streaming services such as Spotify which is what helped Ed Sheerans ‘Shape of You’ stay at number 1 as long as it did. I would say the songs played the most on radio are also some of the most streamed songs.
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That’s exactly why the charts are so screwed up these days.You can’t compare the charts from today to previous years because they don’t measure the same things any more.
Which is probably what lead to the demise of Top 40 countdowns like “Take 40” 
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This is an interesting article
Whilst I don’t listen to my CDs much anymore, I don’t think I could EVER sell my CD collection, even though the songs I listen to off them are all on a HDD drive or memory card of some sort, and that’s how I listen to them now.
My collection is about 500 CDs, an even mix of studio albums, Greatest Hits compilations and Various Artists Compilation CDs, many of which I think would be fairly rare now (a bit like my 80s LP collection). The 80s is the most prominent decade in my collection, skewed towards pop, rock and new wave.
I just see them as part of who I am, the “soundtrack of my life”, I don’t think I could ever sell that.
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Studios 301 will next year be installing a fully restored Neumann LP disc cutting machine in their new studios at Alexandria in Sydney. The LP record is far from dead.
Not only is vinyl making a comeback, now cassettes are too!
I have a lot of old cassettes, but no cassette player anymore!