There is a huge signal to noise ratio right now when everything and everyone has access to music world wide. Ultimately, I think there is cream that has risen to the top. In the past 4 years I have discovered so many bands and music styles. Even more interesting is the genre blending that is going on.
In no particular order here are some of my highlights (all to my personal taste):
Heilung
Jinjer
Ren
Electric Callboy
Chinchilla
NF
Jungle
Fred Again
Harry Mack
Falling In Reverse
Chris Stapleton
Polyphia
Without YouTube I would not have likely discovered these artists.
There has been a number of recent bands I have liked, such as Khemmis (I really like their sound), and I have artists like Sa Dingding. There is also plenty of pop I have enjoyed like the Weeknd (I don't know his sound just lands with me for some reason). He isn't super new, as he is in his 50s, but Pongsit Khamphee is an amazing thai singer-songwriter who I would highly recommend (very emotive). I think he rivals Roy Orbison in terms of that ability to sing cathartically. Overall I find the Thai music scene very interesting.
The biggest hurdle for me when it comes new music is I don't like listening to music online. I do so, just like everyone does these days, but I really prefer having a physical CD, tape or record (it makes the experience feel less ephemeral; I appreciate the album and remember it more, whereas if I listen to it on youtube, it is like I hear it and vanishes into the ether). I am also not crazy about modern production methods, and I am not too keen on a lot of the guitar tone I hear (this is just preference, but I think I have a much older preference in terms of guitar tone). I am also getting very tired of people just blazing over scales and modes all the time. This doesn't happen in every genre of metal, and there are artists who can do it well. But I get sent a lot of new music from others to listen to and the fastest thing to turn me off is a prog metal solo that sounds like every other prog metal solo. Again that is just preference, not a statement about quality (in terms of musicianship, it takes a lot of talent to do the thing I am complaining about). Getting a good sound system is pretty hard, and even then a lot of music doesn't seem designed for a good sound system these days (I don't particularly like listening to music on my phone or through my computer speaker). There is also a kind of consensus opinion forming in places like youtube and on other online platforms among fans and influencers that I find a bit off-putting (for example people trying to say Jimi Hendrix sucked, wasn't that good or isn't a very important guitar player in the history of guitar and rock).
Negatives aside, there are some real advantages to what is going on in music now. Almost any album is at my finger tips. Before I would discover an artist and if I was lucky get my hands on a bit more of their discography (maybe if they were huge in their genre, their entire catalog would be at the record store). If I couldn't find it at the store, I had to go to catalogs (which still often had limitations). So there would be bands I heard every band I liked talking about, but it would take years to find and listen. Now I can just do a deep dive on any artist and genre. The bar to entry is also way lower, so more people can make music and get it out there (this I think is a good thing, despite my misgivings about how a lot of modern mixes sound). Musicianship is more accessible to more people. I don't think the greats of the past have been eclipsed or anything as there is more to musical greatness than pure technique, but if you want to learn an instrument there is so much more information available. I have been playing guitar since 89/90 and I find it very helpful to go over basic things I am not as educated on using youtube videos.
