Probably the same people that tell the world every detail of their personal lives on Facebook!
I have worked for the same company for 35 years and the people I engage with by and large aren’t complete strangers. I wouldn’t approach random people in unfamiliar settings and ask for their music preferences but take your point.
My teenagers are the same they play songs from playlists and aren’t familiar with the actual artist.
I am not sure how playing music from a playlist is that different to listening to a radio station in recognising or knowing who the artist is. Unless you are paying close attention, it is easy to miss who the artist is.
Also as a teen, I would have been very unlikely to tell a stranger what I was listening to, possibly saying rock. And in all honesty as a pensioner, I would now likely just say some indie music because they are unlikely to know the artist.
Any decent DJ will tell you what’s the track was after it, whether or not they introduce it by name, for the very reason that somebody might trick their is up liking something and wants to know what it is. Unfortunately too many DJs are full of themselves And filling the air with waffle that they don’t actually do the job properly.
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Personally I think genre based playlists, discovery playlist and new releases playlists are all excellent ways of discovering new artists. Yes, it can be background music (nothing wrong with that btw) but if a track stands out, it is so easy to like it and dig deeper into the artist.
The modern way of accessing music is by far and away more conducive to discovery than the olden days. My listening has expanded massively since the days of CD.
If I’m listening to radio, it takes less than 20 seconds to discover the artist using Shazam so it doesn’t matter if the DJ mentions the artist or you missed it at the beginning of the song. Same goes for tracks on TV films/series.
It’s the modern way and means music is every bit as important for young people today as it ever was. However, I do think that there are genres that do suffer and may become even more niche over time, such as classical and jazz.
@Bobthebuilder I’m glad that your experience was different than mine. Young people do consume music differently, however streaming services didn’t improve the general attitude towards music IMO. It’s more quantity than quality.
@thebadyogi nothing bad about background music, it can be great at times. Today streaming services give you the possibility to get deeper into music and you can easily expand your listening without a doubt. Despite this possibility, most young people won’t even try to explore music, at least in my experience. On the other hand, you care about music, you are curious and take advantage of these modern possibilities which are great. Unluckily classical and jazz music aren’t that approachable at first and surely suffer for that. Also these genres tend to need a decent Hi-Fi to be appreciated.
Not if you’re driving! (in my case virtually the only time I might have the radio on playing music.)
I think that started with the iPod fashion, when all people seem to be interested in was boasting how many songs they had on their device! Streaming online I just made that unlimited, ending the bragging.
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Classical certainly has been niche all my lifetime (I was an odd one out at school liking classical and not liking pop), though when I first started my hifi journey hi-fi ideas often played classical. I thought jazz was always niche, until finding hi-fi dealers supplanted classical with jazz, insisting on playing it until requested otherwise, and seemingly a very high proportion of people on this forum like it - it seems to gave become much more popular rather than more niche!
Paying attention to the speech between records has nothing to do with DJs. Your comment implies it is the DJ’s fault that people are not focusing fully on the show. Often when listening to the radio or a playlist I suspect many like me are using it as background music rather than serious listening—hardly the DJ’s fault.
I was a DJ once, and took the job seriously. In my opinion a DJ’s job is to present the music, and part of that is ensuring people know what is playing. If a DJ plays music someone either knows well, or doesn’t like, they will not be paying attention to the DJ (despite all too many DJs believing people are interested in hearing them). Saying what was playing after it fills in for anyone missing the intro but liking music unfamiliar to them. Yes, the listener may be guilty of inattention beforehand, but the good DJ helps them.
You clearly have a different opinion of a DJ’s job!
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Rumour has it you got your Taylor Swift ticket
If you like Paul McCartney you’ll like her 
@Innocent_Bystander I don’t know if it was the iPod fashion or not (you could be right by the way), however I’m pretty sure it was that precise period to shape what we have today. Many trends and habits made people focus on convenience rather than quality. iPods and similar devices were perfect to store big files, so it could have been a good opportunity for people to move away from mp3 and discover better formats… this never happened (I have nothing against mp3, just to be clear). Streaming services can be great but let’s not forget that you can’t find everything in their database.
When I was in school I was listening to classical as well (even though I was mostly into 70s pop music). Funny enough I’ve never heard of a single dealer here playing jazz to show a Hi-Fi system.
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My son (19) is a gamer and I know listens to the soundtracks which are often made by contemporary classical composers. BBC Radio 3 has 47 episodes available:
He will listen enthusiastically to Beethoven, but asked me to turn Aphex Twin off the speakers. Both my young adult children stream on iPhones. Daughter listens to hip-hop and some Jazz. Their grandad played Nat Cole and Ella when he looked after them in the past.
Their mother plays Absolute 80s in the car.
I’ve played Bowie and Prince plus loads of folk and folk rock and Reggae.
Daughter has been to concerts with her mates - the 1975 were popular, but no longer. She also went through a screamer metal phase. They listen to music every day, but are uninterested in hi-fi. My daughter will stream her phone to the Mu-So.
I know my parents burnt my grandparents’ records and their own before moving house. I asked my family if they would like a turntable and records, but no-one was interested. So music is still very much a topic and they are forming their own tastes, which is all to the good.
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Except I have two iPods loaded with my music and it is a joy to put them on random play when I am driving. Alice Coltrane to Talking Heads to Kasey Musgrave all via tracks that I don’t necessarily listen to unless I am playing that album. Ok John Martyn may not be in the car with me but a joy none the less.
And it always entertains my driving companions to listen to something different to their usual ‘playlist’.
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Err, did he ? Shocking behaviour.
@Stokie thanks for sharing the link. There are some nice game soundtracks indeed. I’m glad your son and daughter are interested in music and keep listening to it on a daily basis. Being interested in music doesn’t necessarily mean to be interested in Hi-Fi (maybe the interest will grow over time, who knows).
@James_C iPods are nice when driving, however these days a big USB drive might be an easier solution IMHO.
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