When did enjoying live music become a competition over who is doing it "right"?

Singles are supposed to build anticipation for an album or EP. But when nearly every song arrives little by little, are we actually creating excitement for a project or giving fans less to discover when release day finally comes?

Concert marketing has quietly turned "sold out" into a marketing strategy instead of a milestone.

Loving something for twenty years gives you perspective you can’t rush. When fandom spans decades, it stops being about moments and becomes about seasons. There are years when music is everything. Years where it’s background noise. Years where it disappears entirely, only to return when you least expect it. That kind of longevity teaches you something important early on: intensity and depth are not the same thing. That distinction is the hot take.