Study: do we stop discovering new music by 30?

“Never trust anyone over 30”, the hippies used to say in the heady ‘60s.

Now a more damning indictment has emerged of the Big Three O.

A study by streaming service Deezer of 5,000 folks in the UK, the US, Germany, France, and Brazil claims that people stop discovering new music by 30.

Between 12 and 22, their brains go through a lot of change, and they are receptive to new ideas – including new songs.

In fact, the age of 24 is when a music fan’s sense of music discovery is at their peak – according, at least, to Deezer.

76% of 24-year-olds listen to 10 or more new tracks a week, and 64% hunt down five new artists a month.

After that, it’s all downhill, especially if they are from Brazil, when music discovery stops at 23.

“Music paralysis”, the new buzzword, hits the French at 27 years and three months.

For the Germans, Americans and Brits it’s around the 30 mark, give or take a year either way.

60% only listened to the songs of their youth. 25% didn’t listen to anything but music from their preferred genres.

Among the reasons that given by the study, respondents were being overwhelmed by choice (19%), having a too-demanding job (16%), and caring for young children (11%).

However, 47% wished they had more time to find new music, and 41% were adamant they would do so once they got time.

“With so much brilliant music out there, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed,” said Adam Read, the UK and Ireland music editor at Deezer.

“This often results in us getting stuck in ‘musical paralysis’ by the time we hit our 30s.”

Listening to well-known songs will release in fans a huge sense of anticipation and happiness.

Realising they are about to hear a greatly loved song, most likely associated with happier and innocent days, the brain releases releasing dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and other happy chemicals into their bodies.

A super-serious psychology study on this is here. 

In February, the New York Times’ data scientist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz wrote about how the songs that were popular in fans’ teenage years, particularly between 11 and 14, tends to remain their most-streamed songs on Spotify.

His analysis can be found here.