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The paradox of choice in music

October 17, 2015 by Soumya Radhakrishnan

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post on how it has become so hard to choose a favorite artist, a genre of music, or a song now. We are flooded with way too many varieties of music that we eventually, might end up making no choice at all. 
One result of this paralysis is the ever increasing number of cover songs. You must be wondering how. Here's how.
Let us analyze this from the audience's and the musicians' perspective. 
A good majority of the audience is already suffering from this paralysis and hence, they tend to go back to their old favorites that they grew up listening to. Why? Because that's so comforting since they already have decided their favorites from yesteryears' songs. Needless to say, this automatically creates a market for those songs again that we fondly recall as 'nostalgic numbers'.
Now, today's musicians, if they have to monetize their craft, has to embrace this market need and contribute songs accordingly. How? By doing covers of these nostalgic songs. 
If you have ever wondered the point of today's musicians making more and more cover songs, now you know a possible why. The paradox of choice is real.

http://www.ted.com Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. In Schwartz's estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied.

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October 17, 2015 /Soumya Radhakrishnan
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