Add in collabs—which hit a high of 42% of the charts in 2018—and it’s clear: the golden era of bands is fading.
Metal seems to be the place where bands are still a thing. I hope bands come back in the future.
I feel as if a lot of this relates as much to popularity of genre in which certain genres historically favor/prefer solo or group acts. Country has long been dominated by solo acts. One could argue that pop and certainly hip hop also are largely solo act dominated as well.
Anthony Fantano discussed this in a video called “No More Bands” and it’s a pretty interesting topic.Â
He basically came to the conclusion that you just don’t *need* a band anymore, you just need a talented producer to conjure up whatever sound you need.Â
This highlights why today’s music has hardly any decent musicianship – let alone the kind of virtuosity you used to hear – from instrumentalists. Music is just pretty face, effects and one catchy bit per tune. You cannot have more than one catchy bit. If you do, you need two songs so it can get monetized to the max. Music really shouldn’t be an industry. We don’t have an art industry or a dance industry, etc.
At least part of the reason is because streaming has absolutely decimated how much money recording musicians can earn. It’s hard enough to support one person on $0.005 per stream, let alone 3+.
Bands are the talent (not saying singers aren’t) but Jesus when you go to watch live performances the energy IS the band in my view
Wish I’d been born 30-40 years earlier in that respect lol
My fiance 10 years younger than me, and we’ve talked about how her experience with music is so vastly different than mine because of the lack of bands. When we were in the talking phase and were sharing music, it was astonishing to me that her favorite artists were usually indie solo acts or that the artist was an unknown factor to her. the track was no longer known by the artist, but rather, she knew music based on the song title.
I used to work (albeit very tangentially) in the music industry, so I got a chance to speak with a few label / manager / A&R types. At the time (about 10-15 years ago) there was a bigger push to sign solo acts and DJs because they were cheaper to deal with.
Even just the practicalities of touring for example – your typical four-piece rock band not only needs to get to their next gig but also their instruments and equipment. This is bulky (and therefore expensive) but musical instruments often cost more to get on flights for example, and you’ll have to get insurance sorted. Getting from the airport to the hotel / gig, you’re going to need a van at least. Potentially four rooms at the hotel, four times the food… It all adds up, and quick.
A DJ? They bring themselves and their laptop / USB drive of tracks and plug them into the CD-Js already at the venue. They could be in Ibiza, then get a couple of flights the next morning and make their set the next night in Miami.
There’s exceptions everywhere of course – bands will slum it for years in a van, and you get DJs who have much more complex setups – but cost is a massive factor when it comes to whether or not the industry is going to take you on.
You’ve literally visualised what I was thinking. This is why Coldplay are so successful late into their music careers.
A solo act is a safer proposition for a label. Not having to worry about interpersonal dynamics causing issues would be the reason they would cite if pushed, but at least as importantly it’s a lot easier to convince/bully/influence a solo act into looking the way you want, singing the songs you want them to sing, using the musicians and producers you provide and so on. You just need to look at the Idol industry in Japan to see their ideal situation.
Poptimism and its consequences
The monoculture has returned in popular music
The reason is who controls the music industry. It seems like talent is selected and promoted in a more top-down way by producers. They pick someone with the “right stuff” and turn them into a musician. This is way easier to do with a solo artist- you find someone to write all the music and then market one performer on the basis of that. The genres for popular music identified by corporate can also favor solo artists. You just need a basic melody with a hook 10-20 seconds into the song. Bands are complicated.
I mean, the “solo” artists have bands, they just don’t pay them as much and don’t give them any credit.
its much more profitable to be the only “artist” on stage. you get all the credit and the people that make the actual music are just employees.
The band isn’t gonna make it.
Zoomers can’t focus on that many people on a stage at once.Â
Shit talk aside, it’s probably simply because tech has replaced the need for live backings and vocalists have always been the face of the band, so just cut out the middle man and just go straight to that.
This helps explain my love for J-Rock – it’s very band oriented, especially with this wave of hard rock and metal girl groups.
People have been saying “rock is dead” for 40 years, but i think it’s finally true. It’ll come back, but pop and hip hop have an absolute stranglehold on mainstream music right now.
I realized this was happening in the early 00s when I noticed lots of songs had collaborations with the artist Eve. I used to call her ‘Featuring Eve’
I think is more about the real transparency of how popular music is made than some sea change.
The Wrecking Crew did tons of the actual recording of music for bands who then had to learn their parts from the records to go on tour.
This trims the fat down to songwriters and performers. There are so many great musicians around now that putting together a killer band to tour is trivial.
Question: Who is making the music then? Are those solo stars also fluent in a wide variety of musical instruments?
![Solo stars have stolen the stage [OC]](https://www.europesays.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/tqsj0uso9yfe1-1920x1024.png)
23 comments
**Article:** [**https://www.datapulse.de/en/decline-of-bands-usa/**](https://www.datapulse.de/en/decline-of-bands-usa/)Â
**Main data source:**
[https://www.skoove.com/blog/decline-of-bands-usa/](https://www.skoove.com/blog/decline-of-bands-usa/)
[https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/](https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/)
**Data:** [Google Sheets](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uPrvxalO0ABvTYcK8WD8AwLgC2MEaBRdmUOyLFU5T9o/edit?usp=sharing)
**Tool:** Adobe Illustrator
In 1995, bands occupied 41% of the charts; by 2023, that number had plummeted to just 4%.
Meanwhile, solo artists like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé have turned music into a personal brand-building machine, powered by social media and streaming platforms.
Add in collabs—which hit a high of 42% of the charts in 2018—and it’s clear: the golden era of bands is fading.
Metal seems to be the place where bands are still a thing. I hope bands come back in the future.
I feel as if a lot of this relates as much to popularity of genre in which certain genres historically favor/prefer solo or group acts. Country has long been dominated by solo acts. One could argue that pop and certainly hip hop also are largely solo act dominated as well.
Anthony Fantano discussed this in a video called “No More Bands” and it’s a pretty interesting topic.Â
He basically came to the conclusion that you just don’t *need* a band anymore, you just need a talented producer to conjure up whatever sound you need.Â
This highlights why today’s music has hardly any decent musicianship – let alone the kind of virtuosity you used to hear – from instrumentalists. Music is just pretty face, effects and one catchy bit per tune. You cannot have more than one catchy bit. If you do, you need two songs so it can get monetized to the max. Music really shouldn’t be an industry. We don’t have an art industry or a dance industry, etc.
At least part of the reason is because streaming has absolutely decimated how much money recording musicians can earn. It’s hard enough to support one person on $0.005 per stream, let alone 3+.
Bands are the talent (not saying singers aren’t) but Jesus when you go to watch live performances the energy IS the band in my view
Wish I’d been born 30-40 years earlier in that respect lol
My fiance 10 years younger than me, and we’ve talked about how her experience with music is so vastly different than mine because of the lack of bands. When we were in the talking phase and were sharing music, it was astonishing to me that her favorite artists were usually indie solo acts or that the artist was an unknown factor to her. the track was no longer known by the artist, but rather, she knew music based on the song title.
I used to work (albeit very tangentially) in the music industry, so I got a chance to speak with a few label / manager / A&R types. At the time (about 10-15 years ago) there was a bigger push to sign solo acts and DJs because they were cheaper to deal with.
Even just the practicalities of touring for example – your typical four-piece rock band not only needs to get to their next gig but also their instruments and equipment. This is bulky (and therefore expensive) but musical instruments often cost more to get on flights for example, and you’ll have to get insurance sorted. Getting from the airport to the hotel / gig, you’re going to need a van at least. Potentially four rooms at the hotel, four times the food… It all adds up, and quick.
A DJ? They bring themselves and their laptop / USB drive of tracks and plug them into the CD-Js already at the venue. They could be in Ibiza, then get a couple of flights the next morning and make their set the next night in Miami.
There’s exceptions everywhere of course – bands will slum it for years in a van, and you get DJs who have much more complex setups – but cost is a massive factor when it comes to whether or not the industry is going to take you on.
You’ve literally visualised what I was thinking. This is why Coldplay are so successful late into their music careers.
A solo act is a safer proposition for a label. Not having to worry about interpersonal dynamics causing issues would be the reason they would cite if pushed, but at least as importantly it’s a lot easier to convince/bully/influence a solo act into looking the way you want, singing the songs you want them to sing, using the musicians and producers you provide and so on. You just need to look at the Idol industry in Japan to see their ideal situation.
Poptimism and its consequences
The monoculture has returned in popular music
The reason is who controls the music industry. It seems like talent is selected and promoted in a more top-down way by producers. They pick someone with the “right stuff” and turn them into a musician. This is way easier to do with a solo artist- you find someone to write all the music and then market one performer on the basis of that. The genres for popular music identified by corporate can also favor solo artists. You just need a basic melody with a hook 10-20 seconds into the song. Bands are complicated.
I mean, the “solo” artists have bands, they just don’t pay them as much and don’t give them any credit.
its much more profitable to be the only “artist” on stage. you get all the credit and the people that make the actual music are just employees.
The band isn’t gonna make it.
Zoomers can’t focus on that many people on a stage at once.Â
Shit talk aside, it’s probably simply because tech has replaced the need for live backings and vocalists have always been the face of the band, so just cut out the middle man and just go straight to that.
The disappearance of bands is the perfect representation of the [loneliness epidemic](https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/24/10/what-causing-our-epidemic-loneliness-and-how-can-we-fix-it) and social atomization that’s only getting worse with AI.
Great Viz!
This helps explain my love for J-Rock – it’s very band oriented, especially with this wave of hard rock and metal girl groups.
People have been saying “rock is dead” for 40 years, but i think it’s finally true. It’ll come back, but pop and hip hop have an absolute stranglehold on mainstream music right now.
I realized this was happening in the early 00s when I noticed lots of songs had collaborations with the artist Eve. I used to call her ‘Featuring Eve’
I think is more about the real transparency of how popular music is made than some sea change.
The Wrecking Crew did tons of the actual recording of music for bands who then had to learn their parts from the records to go on tour.
This trims the fat down to songwriters and performers. There are so many great musicians around now that putting together a killer band to tour is trivial.
Question: Who is making the music then? Are those solo stars also fluent in a wide variety of musical instruments?
Comments are closed.