The Music Doesn’t Need Saving (Video)
Trying something a little new this week… a video blog.
I hear a lot of people say we need to “save the music” by preserving the old business models of the music industry. “If there are less career opportunities for musicians,” they argue, “surely there will be less good music.” I call shenanigans on this short-sighted perspective. There is more music than ever before, and a new breed of musician is being born, blurring the lines between creator and consumer. Bring on the new thing.
It surprises me that people are still making this arguments. I remember when they began in the days of Napster and they seem like dinosaurs to me. Whenever people bring this stuff up, I point out that large scale file sharing has been going on since about 1999 and the amount of music hadn’t decreased, it has increased. If it were true about needing contracts and copyright, then why are there so many musicians touring today?
I’m a big heavy metal fan so when these arguments begin to deteriorate into nonsensical minutia, I tell them that in my personal collection, I have seven bands that start with the word Dark.
Dark Funeral
Darkthrone
Darkane
Darkspace
Dark Tranquility
Dark Forest
Dark Fortress
(not to mention Dimmu Borgir which is Norwegian for Dark Castle and Burzum which is a Tolkien word for Darkness)
All of these bands are current, writing, recording and most of them tour, including the two parenthetical bands listed. If the music industry is indeed dying, who is this possible to have seven (nine) bands, starting with the word Dark within a subgenre of music? There are no good answers to this because there is more music available than ever before and its getting better, not worse.
If there’s never another huge band like The Beatles or a high profile solo artist like Elvis or whoever, I’m okay with that. I don’t need demigods to worship… unless I’m at a GWAR show.
Great video, great arguments, just found the site so I’m going to have a nice look around.
Thanks for the comment, I totally agree that this is a great time for music and only getting better. Convincing the jaded post-record business baby boomers who lucked out in the label lotto that it’s a better world is still a tall order. They refuse to come out of the pre-2000 exploitation-driven hot tub and so they will drown in a sea of their own turdspeak.
Good point, the commercial aspect of music may not be what it used to be, this will eliminate the posers, who want to make music for the money and fame.
Also want to add that creating and recording is much easier, which means lots of unskilled and marginally talented musicians are making music, so music lovers really need to sort through the static and noise to find what they like.
The meek shall inherit the earth.
I agree with you. The big irony is that the recording industry killed the DAT, a great technology, and figured the CD would be the final ‘lock’ on their recorded ‘treasury’ – they were un copyable!!
PCs had floppys and the CD drive wasn’t invented. There was no demand from consumers to eliminate vinyl, but the industry forced their ‘treasury’ onto CDs and banished vinyl. CDs were everywhere.
Then the CD rom drive was invented, and the whole treasury was now on handy discs, and ready to ‘rip’. That began the recording industry’s death spiral . No tears from me. I’m thinking that if they didn’t kill DAT, and sold the ‘treasury’ in that format, they may have gotten another 10 years run, we’ll never know.
Music is an illusion, you cannot steal the ethereal
Thanks for the comment, Eddy.
So… are you going to buy a Pono? 😉
http://www.digitaltrends.com/music/neil-youngs-pono-hi-def-mp3-player/
I think he’s on the right track. Mp3s do sound thin. I play files form a laptop and most are flac.I just read Neil’s book and he goes on and on about ‘pure tone’ so I guess this is the same idea.