Looking back at some old trend prediction articles, it seems people are really bad at guessing what the music scene will have in store for the future. So take this list with a grain of salt. But still, it’s probably a safe bet this 2015 is when the old becomes new again and the new becomes really super crazy new:
The First Song Played on an Apple Watch
Remember this oh-too-perfect video of a band who “had their equipment stolen” and were forced to perform a song on the subway with nothing but their iPhones? Well, you ain’t seen nothing yet. True, there are plenty of smartwatches on the market already, but we know that Apple pushes these kinds of creative novelties into the stratosphere so get ready to be amazed/annoyed.
Vinyl Regains the Throne
Or close. The companies who make vinyl are severely struggling to keep up with demand right now, because demand is truly incredible. An increase of 1.5 million records sold since last year shows that vinyl somehow weathered the storm and is finally making sense again. Of course, that isn’t too surprising — if you want to own your favorite music on something other than digital files, you’ll choose the nicest, coolest, most timeless format. CDs never really cut it. And once the manufacturers figure out how to crank up production, this trend will explode even bigger.
More Old-School Cool
Maybe you think the Tony Bennett/Lady Gaga album was a little forced, but between its healthy sales and the non-stop success of Postmodern Jukebox‘s genre-bending covers of modern hits shows that people could use some palate cleansers in between the flood of antiseptic pop that’s sounding a little too similar. More of these retro acts will be popping up, but hopefully will show a little more staying power than the Cherry-Poppin’ Daddies.
Rise of the Multi-Media Musician
“Sonic Highways” has been far more than an album for the Foo Fighters. The band’s decision to record eight of the songs in eight different cities paired well with a series on HBO that was pretty much Dave Grohl getting to dish about music and talk to cool musicians. He also did a podcast on iTunes Radio to talk even further about the cities and musicians and, of course, keep pushing the album. Expect 2015 to be when it becomes the norm for musicians to go past music videos and focus on every medium possible to make their albums events even before the music is recorded.
Two Words: Black Metal
Just trust us, this is gonna be big.
Like That Free U2 Album, But Actually Good This Time
Once the pain finally subsides, we promise you someone will actually make you stoked to get a musical surprise in your iTunes. It actually was a great idea – the only problem was all the songs were terrible. We can’t promise the new Jay-Z is going to drop unannounced into your music library, but we promise it will top Bono.
