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If you’re reading this newsletter, I have bad news. You’re probably a snob. I don’t mean that as an insult. But you’ve got to be realistic. If you’re getting weekly missives sent to your email inbox about “the intersection of music and data,” then you probably spend more time thinking about the music that you like and what it says about you than the average person. Nevertheless, snobbishness is not some monolith. Grandma’s snobbish musical tendencies are likely very different than your own. This week, I want to track the great generational snob shift.
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
A few weeks ago, an upcoming writer named Chris Gunther reached out to me with an interesting theory. He claimed that song titles were appearing later in songs. Here’s an example he gave me. The Rolling Stones’ classic “Angie”, released in 1973, starts with Mick Jagger intoning the title. Compare that to Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire”, a piano ballad from 2023. It takes 132 words before Rodrigo reaches her title. Of course, those are just examples. Gunther claims that’s part of a larger trend, though. I’ll let him explain.
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
Puuttuva jakso?
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A few months ago, my sister graduated from college. She’s the youngest of our 22 first cousins and the final person to complete her higher education. Naturally, we were very proud and threw a big party to mark the occasion. As the drinks were flowing, my aunts and uncles began recounting family lore. One slice of that lore, stuck with me after the party ended. It was a story my grandmother had often told about how Frank Sinatra had performed at her high school while she was a student.
I’d heard this story many times. Since my grandmother is no longer alive, I thought it would be illuminating to try to track down more information about this alleged performance. What I didn’t realize is that this would send me on a multi-month journey digging through newspaper archives, pestering strangers on Facebook, speaking with leading Frank Sinatra experts, and questioning the honesty of my relatives. This podcast is the diary of my search.
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify. If you want to hear my favorite Sinatra songs, click here.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
It was recently announced that Noel and Liam Gallagher, the two brothers behind the famed band Oasis, had finally squashed their decades-long beef and were going to reunite. This news set my Twitter feed on fire, nearly ever person that I follow excited by the thought of seeing the two snarky Brits on stage again. “Who,” I began to ponder, “could send the internet into a bigger tizzy over a reunion tour?” Seemed like a question some data could answer.
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify. For a playlist of every new song that I’ve recommended, click here. For a playlist of every old song that I’ve recommended, click here.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
I work for the music streaming service Audiomack. And I do a lot of things at Audiomack, but my broad directive is to deal with data and personalization. The former includes everything from royalty reporting to making sure internal curators can see how their playlists are performing. The latter includes building all experiences — from song recommendations to paywalls — that make our app and website feel like it was made specifically for you.
When I talk about my job, I get many more questions about the personalization piece than the data piece. I understand why. Personalization is one of the hottest topics in music. In fact, I often here people complain how personalization is ruining music for artists and listeners. Of course, I don’t believe this. I couldn’t do my job in good faith if I did. But I have been noticing some concerning trends in the world of music personalization that I think are worth being worried around.
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify. For a playlist of every new song that I’ve recommended, click here. For a playlist of every old song that I’ve recommended, click here.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
I always admire people who write in a way that I know I can’t. Robert C. Gilbert is one of those people. Gilbert runs Listening Sessions, a weekly newsletter that dives deeper into single artists, songs, and albums than I even thought possible. I know he’s good at what he does because he can open my mind to new perspectives on music that I’ve been listening to for years.
Since I’m away at a wedding in California this week, I decided to give Mr. Gilbert the keys to Can’t Get Much Higher. He wrote about the importance of archival releases, a topic that might seem mundane but whose evolution has been fascinating. If you enjoy this piece, subscribe to his newsletter, Listening Sessions.
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify. For a playlist of every new song that I’ve recommended, click here. For a playlist of every old song that I’ve recommended, click here.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
Not too long ago, I couldn’t get my writing published anywhere. I was pitching so many stories that it felt like publications were being created just to reject me. Then I pitched a story about the decline of key changes in popular music to Tedium, a publication run by Ernie Smith that explores “the dull side of the internet.” Much to my shock, Smith agree to publish the piece. And I’m glad he did. It went so viral that it not only ended up becoming one of Tedium’s greatest hits, but it led to me working with NPR and The Economist. Frankly, this newsletter wouldn’t exist had that piece not been published.
This week, I decided to try to return the favor to Tedium by running one of their pieces here. If you enjoy it, you should subscribe to their newsletter. It’s undoubtedly one of the best things on the internet.
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify. For a playlist of every new song that I’ve recommended, click here. For a playlist of every old song that I’ve recommended, click here.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
I got in an argument last week. As is typically the case for me, it was about an important topic: the best year for Album of the Year at the Grammys. Since my friend and I couldn’t come to an agreement, I figured a newsletter about music and data was the best place to resolve it. Luckily, I write one. We decided the loser owed the other a beer. Data, don’t fail me now!
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify. For a playlist of every new song that I’ve recommended, click here. For a playlist of every old song that I’ve recommended, click here.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
I almost got scammed a few years ago. A woman hit me up on Instagram asking if I wrote songs. “Of course,” I responded. She then sent a long message asking if I could compose a song for her son Daniel’s sixth birthday. She claimed she’d pay me $500. I agreed. I already wrote and recorded music regularly. It sounded like an easy $500. Then the scam emerged.
After I sent the song, the delighted woman told me that she had a check that she would mail me. There was an issue, though. The bank accidentally made the check out for $5,000 instead of $500. She wanted to know if she could send me the $5,000 and then have me send $4,500 back. At this point, I realized it was some sort of check scam, so I blocked her and forgot about it pretty quickly. But last week this scam came rushing back when someone tried to scam me in an even stranger way.
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify. For a playlist of every new song that I’ve recommended, click here. For a playlist of every old song that I’ve recommended, click here.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
If you read this newsletter each week, you’ll know that I typically rant about some topic, usually one that brings together music and data. Then I recommend both a new song (i.e., one released in the last few weeks) and an old song (i.e., one released at least five years ago).
You’ll still get a rant from me this week. (It’s about crappy duets.) But the song recommendations will come from my friends at Songletter, a publication that delivers one to two songs to your inbox each week. Some of those recommendations will be new. Others will be old. But in either case, they will open your musical mind. Subscribe to Songletter if you’re looking for some exciting music.
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify. For a playlist of every new song that I’ve recommended, click here. For a playlist of every old song that I’ve recommended, click here.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
When I got to college, my randomly-assigned roommate and I became fast friends. One of the first things we bonded over was music. We both loved The Lumineers’ eponymous debut record that was released the year before our higher education began. But one thing my new friend said left me disturbed. He listened to the album on shuffle!
Over the course of our college career, I did convince him that albums should be listened to in the order the artist intended. I can imagine I told him that you wouldn’t like the Mona Lisa as much if you cut it up and then randomly glued it back together. It was the artist’s job to mediate our experience. Maybe. A decade later, you’ll still never catch me listening to an album on shuffle. But you will catch me questioning what it means to properly enjoy art.
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify. For a playlist of every new song that I’ve recommended, click here. For a playlist of every old song that I’ve recommended, click here.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
Since today is Independence Day in the United States, I decided to explore why "The Star-Spangled Banner" is as American as the tomato is Italian. As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify. For a playlist of every new song that I’ve recommended, click here. For a playlist of every old song that I’ve recommended, click here. If you want to here songs and their answer songs, check out this playlist that I made on Spotify.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
The other day a friend of mine asked me if I liked being a music critic. “Music critic?” I asked. “I’m not a music critic.” And I really meant that. Yes, I write about music. Yes, I give you my opinion on certain things. Yes, I recommend songs that I enjoy. But I don’t think I’m a critic in the same way that or Jessica Hopper or or are critics. I don’t think I’m giving you deep insight into particular pieces of music. I mostly write about trends.
Nevertheless, I love music criticism. So, when I came across a huge database of reviews from the last two decades, I knew I had to start crunching some numbers. As always, this newsletter is also available as a podcast. Listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts or click play at the top of this page.
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify. For a playlist of every new song that I’ve recommended, click here. For a playlist of every old song that I’ve recommended, click here. If you want to here songs and their answer songs, check out this playlist that I made on Spotify.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
I feel like recent music news is often bad news. And I’m a contributor to that. Just last week I wrote a long piece about problems in the music industry that don’t get enough attention. But tomorrow is my 29th birthday. In celebration, I wanted to talk about some great things that are happening.
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify. For a playlist of every new song that I’ve recommended, click here. For a playlist of every old song that I’ve recommended, click here. If you want to here songs and their answer songs, check out this playlist that I made on Spotify.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
I think the adage “Never meet your heroes” is generally good advice. I can’t say for sure, though. I haven’t met many of mine. Except one time. When I was in high school, I had a chance run-in with my greatest musical hero. It made me think that maybe some of our heroes are worth meeting.
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify. For a playlist of every new song that I’ve recommended, click here. For a playlist of every old song that I’ve recommended, click here. If you want to here songs and their answer songs, check out this playlist that I made on Spotify.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
I've got a new song out today. It's called "Late Nite Kicks". In today's podcast, I give you an inside scoop of how my creative process works as we walk through how the song came to be. Listen to "Late Nite Kicks" wherever you stream music.
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify. For a playlist of every new song that I’ve recommended, click here. For a playlist of every old song that I’ve recommended, click here. If you want to here songs and their answer songs, check out this playlist that I made on Spotify.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
Over the last few weeks, there has been an explosive beef between hip-hop stalwarts Drake and Kendrick Lamar. What started out as a standard tit-for-tat has devolved into a volleying of nuclear bombs, accusations of predatory behavior, domestic violence, and absentee parenting flying with abandon. If you want a summary of a situation that is starting to require way too much time to follow, I recommend these pieces from Stereogum and Pitchfork. Nevertheless, this back-and-forth got me thinking about how hip-hop diss tracks are really part of a larger, less defamatory tradition.
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify. For a playlist of every new song that I’ve recommended, click here. For a playlist of every old song that I’ve recommended, click here. If you want to here songs and their answer songs, check out this playlist that I made on Spotify.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
One of my favorite newsletters is Dan Epstein's Jagged Time Lapse. In each edition, Epstein captures how music intersects with our lives in unexpected ways, how it can send us hurtling through space and time, how it can be both magical and mundane. This week, Epstein brings one of his stories to Can't Get Much Higher. If you enjoy it, make sure you subscribe to Jagged Time Lapse.
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify. For a playlist of every new song that I’ve recommended, click here. For a playlist of every old song that I’ve recommended, click here.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
Beyoncé announcing the lead single to her latest album Cowboy Carter in a Verizon commercial during the Super Bowl reminded me of how intertwined music and commerce have become and how selling out isn’t an idea anymore. This week we try to figure out what happened to selling out.
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify. For a playlist of every new song that I’ve recommended, click here. For a playlist of every old song that I’ve recommended, click here.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe -
In 2023, only 36% of recorded music revenues in Japan came from streaming. 55% came from physical sales, the large majority of which was from CDs. This week we explore why CDs remain so popular in Japan.
As a reminder, this is the podcast version of the newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Click here to read the newsletter. It contains charts, graphs, and pictures that will color your listening. Click here to listen on Apple or Spotify. For a playlist of every new song that I’ve recommended, click here. For a playlist of every old song that I’ve recommended, click here.
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cantgetmuchhigher.com/subscribe - Näytä enemmän
