That is the problem for me. I have only so much time to listen to music, and have to decide whether I would prefer to explore something new or keep studying something old. Both paths have merit, but a choice must be made.
But we can only experience the past as a now, not as a past. Thus we are perpetually locked in a now. The past simply represents a list of potential nows. The music of the present is another now. It appears that we can only experience one now at a time. From this standpoint, both new and old music would be experienced in the same manner, and would thereby possess equal value by your metric.