Music as a Commodity
I think music is the art most susceptible to becoming a commodity as opposed to a creation of truth or beauty. Why is this? What makes music so easily terrorized in this way? Is it the social aspect of music, the cliques that form around it? Have we been conditioned for so long to listen to and like what’s easily available to us? The fact that repetition creates pathways that make certain tones and combinations of tones more agreeable to our ears?
It is up to the listener to decide what is “good”. Sometimes this grows out of good ole grassroots word of mouth of an artist/performer who is just great. Mostly this is dictated by savvy marketing and a “my dish soap is better than your dish soap” mentality that leads to different wrappers being placed around a cookie cutter form.
Music should not be an opportunity to exploit a fad. Is it really possible that are our tastes are so homoginized that millions upon millions of the same record can successfully be sold time and time again? Or is this because of insecurities we feel? Not wanting to be left out of the next big thing.
In the west, we have successfully dropped our overall choice of note to 12. Standard music theory dictates that 8 of these “fit” together. Will the record industry’s demographic analysis determine that only 4 of these notes are liked by white males 18-34, further limiting the possibilities? Don’t get me wrong, a lot can be done with 4, 2 or even 1 note, but forgive me if I have my doubts that current pop musicians will be able to conjure a soulful response to the note limitation quota soon to be imposed upon the world.
There is more out there than you ever imagined. Notes you have never heard, sounds you have never imagined, extensions of the great people who create them. Will they toil in obscurity or be assimilated in the machine that they currently rail against? Or will they achieve the demi-success that I find so attractive. Big enough to sustain themselves, but small enough to remain under the industry radar.
Maybe music (and all art for that matter) is a commodity, a commodity that is often poorly and irresponsibly traded. Ultimately, it is up to the musician and the listener to decide how it will be.
Destroy the record companies.
Kill commercial radio.
It is up to the listener to decide what is “good”. Sometimes this grows out of good ole grassroots word of mouth of an artist/performer who is just great. Mostly this is dictated by savvy marketing and a “my dish soap is better than your dish soap” mentality that leads to different wrappers being placed around a cookie cutter form.
Music should not be an opportunity to exploit a fad. Is it really possible that are our tastes are so homoginized that millions upon millions of the same record can successfully be sold time and time again? Or is this because of insecurities we feel? Not wanting to be left out of the next big thing.
In the west, we have successfully dropped our overall choice of note to 12. Standard music theory dictates that 8 of these “fit” together. Will the record industry’s demographic analysis determine that only 4 of these notes are liked by white males 18-34, further limiting the possibilities? Don’t get me wrong, a lot can be done with 4, 2 or even 1 note, but forgive me if I have my doubts that current pop musicians will be able to conjure a soulful response to the note limitation quota soon to be imposed upon the world.
There is more out there than you ever imagined. Notes you have never heard, sounds you have never imagined, extensions of the great people who create them. Will they toil in obscurity or be assimilated in the machine that they currently rail against? Or will they achieve the demi-success that I find so attractive. Big enough to sustain themselves, but small enough to remain under the industry radar.
Maybe music (and all art for that matter) is a commodity, a commodity that is often poorly and irresponsibly traded. Ultimately, it is up to the musician and the listener to decide how it will be.
Destroy the record companies.
Kill commercial radio.
posted by Gaito at 11:59 PM
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