Nostalgia is a Genre

New releases have always been the lifeblood of the music business. The pop charts drove the charts, and the anticipation you could build around an artist delivered reliable results. But right now, catalog music is what’s running the industry.

Roughly 70% of streams come from songs 18 months or older, and huge multiples are being paid for them. Everyone is looking to acquire songs and “classics” are more valuable than ever. Everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Bob Dylan is getting in on the action. The David Bowie and Prince estates could be next.

Blockbuster deals are making headlines weekly and there continue to be large, institutional cash infusements. It’s not our traditional definition of “exciting,” but it’s a pretty remarkable trend. I remember when the music business was off limits for investors. Now, it’s a growth industry again.

Even the innovation side of the business is focused on breathing new life into catalogs. This week, Nas sold portions of his Grammy-winning album as a digital asset to collectors and fans.

There are many reasons why, for the first time in my career, old music is more prevalent than new music. With 60k new songs dropping on Spotify daily (and even more on YouTube), it’s impossible to keep up. It’s like drinking water from a firehose: there will always be another drop. We need help parsing it. We need…