With so much on tap, it’s tempting to say things were better back in the day. Those days when you saved for one CD, wore it out end to end, taped songs off the radio, and when a new release meant a queue at the shop—those days are no more. Scarcity became abundance, and everything changed. Not overnight, but in small increments, invisible in the moment but obvious over time; the crate-digging became a search bar and the queue became a scroll, the same way the morning paper became a feed, and the front page became a push alert. 

But abundance isn’t a problem. It’s merely a context in which we choose how to meet the music.

We’ve Been Here Before
Listeners and music creators are both cause and effect. The way we listen reshapes the songs we receive, and the songs we receive reshape how we listen.

We’ve been here before—in the 1950s–60s, format dictated form. The 7-inch single’s 3-minute limit, Top 40 ad breaks, and jukebox use all rewarded instant recognition. DJs needed talk-over ramps, so intros shrank; vocals hit early; hooks moved to bar one. Songs that behaved this way kept ears and earned spins, which trained listeners to expect immediacy and programmers to prefer it. The feedback loop hardened into a template.

Applying a touch of philosophy: is this not how everything changes?

As media scholar John M. Culkin put it: “We become what we behold. We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.”

The Massive Upside for Creators
Abundance gives creators reach and control. Distribution is global by default; a release can find listeners within hours rather than months. Real-time signals such as skips, completions, and saves show which ideas land, which helps refine structure, mixes, and sequencing without guesswork. 

A parallel market has also matured: music that supports videos, podcasts, and products. Here, royalty free music sets clear, upfront terms, so creators of all sorts—not necessarily musicians—can license once and use across platforms. What used to be a tedious task of negotiating territories and platform carve-outs is now a single, upfront license with global, monetization-safe coverage and instant delivery. It’s a massive simplification for all creators.

Abundance is, above all, an engine for creation. It lowers the cost of trying ideas and shortens the time between draft and feedback, so you can release a single for discovery, keep a longer cut for immersion, ship stems and alt mixes for editors, and offer licensed versions for projects with clear, upfront terms.

The Choice for Listeners
Abundance turns listening into a question of approach. Most of the time, we don’t notice our approach at all, we just press play. Autoplay rolls into the next track, a mix appears on the home screen, a friend’s link opens in the app, and music becomes part of whatever we were already doing. Those defaults aren’t wrong, but they are choices made for us.

Utilize the immense freedom that comes with abundance.

If you belong to the crowd who consider the old days to be better, then rebuild what you valued—an album-first pass, human curation, and context—inside today’s tools. The option to listen slowly is still there; you just have to choose it.

Another approach is range with rules. Let discovery mixes widen your map, but add simple guardrails. Finish at least one unfamiliar track each day. Save fewer songs, then return tomorrow to what still holds. This keeps novelty from crowding out depth.

Another is human handoff. Alternate sources on purpose. Give one day to a friend, DJ, or writer you trust, and another to an algorithmic mix. Humans add memory and story. Machines add reach. The mix of both is stronger than either alone.

A third is ritual listening. Build small, repeatable playlists for commute, cooking, deep work, or bedtime. Rituals reduce choice fatigue. They give quieter songs time to grow because you meet them in the same setting each week.

There are a million other approaches yet to be named. Abundance means choice, and that work starts with awareness.

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