Which Breeds Quantity or

Like most people, I like to be in the know about new music. But recently it feels like the amount of music being put out is far greater than the amount of time I can allot to actually listening to it. Naturally, when there’s an oversaturation of something, we as the audience have to pick and choose what to spend our time on. This age-old dilemma asks us to choose what we want to hear based on what we perceive as “worth the listen”. But what makes music “worth it”?

Audiences tend to rely on the quantity of music released to judge its quality. However, quantity and quality may be more independent than you may think. When push comes to shove, how we judge the success of music is subjective.

How people judge the quality of an artist’s discography is usually tied to the quantity of music they produce within a given amount of time. Artists who turn out songs quickly are often regarded as “easy listening” or lacking emotional depth. Kpop and Jpop are two genres known for their fast turn-around of releases. TWICE, for example, released two full length albums in 2022, which is a lot more than western artists, who usually put out one album roughly every two years. Similarly, the quantity of music produced by an artist cannot be compared to another on an objective level. The writing and production process of a song or album is completely different based on the genre; how many people are writing the lyrics or music, and the post-production editing. The idea that more music produced at one time is “lower quality” than what takes longer to finalize is arbitrary. For example, Rhianna has not put out an album since ANTI in 2016. Does this necessarily mean her next album will be well received by every listener on Earth? While I would like to say yes, the answer is no.