Grumblings from a BOF

Posted by plantsman (A) on April 15, 2010 at 08:43:25

In Reply to: The state of the notion... posted by dave c on April 14, 2010 at 16:42:11:

I probably haven't had my ear really close to the ground in rock and pop for at least fifteen years and I haven't bought much new rock/pop for about ten years, maybe more but given that:

Since the model has shifted from making money off recording to making money off touring too much live music has become absurdly expensive. When lived in Chicago in 1969/70 I could see three national acts a night, two sets each, at the Aragon or the Kinetic Playground for $5.00 - $7.50 or about $29 - $41 corrected for inflation. Today I can often expect to pay $25 - $35 to see a single act that is equivalent, at best, to what would have been second (more likely third) on the bill, maybe with a not-ready-for-prime-time local warm up. The cost of recorded music has dropped slightly but not to the extent that live music has gone up.

I'm not hearing the same degree of originality/creativity that existed in the late '60s or the late '70s, too much obviously recycled music recombined in not very interesting ways. This should not be taken as an argument for the endurance of dinosaur/classic rock which I perceive as part of the problem.

The post-CD market is both a technological and business jumble right now both at the recording and reproduction ends. Musicians are having trouble being compensated for their recorded intellectual property. While it is true that most rock/pop musicians can't come up with more than 45 minutes, if that, of good new material a year replacing that effort with trying for three or four good singles a year and mostly failing is hardly an improvement.

Gain riding/compression and the use of devices like Auto-Tune are robbing both recorded and live music of soul.

I think the new (not the stuff stuck in the '50s/'60s) jazz created in the last fifteen years or so has included some great stuff but the musicians are still starving because the public only want pablum.

"There are political consequences to remembering things that never happened and forgetting things that did." Ariel Levy

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - The state of the notion... - dave c 16:42:11 04/14/10 (25)

And it's gonna get worse before it gets better - Amphissa 13:54:24 04/15/10 (0)

Not much better - rbolaw 10:27:11 04/15/10 (2)

"jumps from one digital format to the next for no obvious reason necessitating costly new equipment purchases" - dave c 13:25:58 04/15/10 (1)

Oops! Sorry! - rbolaw 17:21:26 04/15/10 (0)

Um... no. - M. Lucky 09:04:10 04/15/10 (11)

Comparing the past with the present… - David Aiken 13:34:16 04/16/10 (5)

You're right, of course... - M. Lucky 11:16:40 04/17/10 (4)

RE: You're right, of course... - David Aiken 14:32:53 04/17/10 (3)

awwwww.... you're sweet, Dave - dave c 21:06:14 04/17/10 (2)

"The industry has changed irrevocably." - David Aiken 00:30:41 04/18/10 (1)

As caveman UG said to caveman Og... - dave c 05:38:16 04/18/10 (0)

No I don't think you can say there have been better "artistic" eras - dave c 13:31:01 04/15/10 (4)

OK. Name one... - M. Lucky 14:08:08 04/15/10 (3)

Well... - dave c 14:10:46 04/16/10 (2)

I have to give you credit for trying... - M. Lucky 16:36:57 04/16/10 (1)

We are all getting older... - dave c 13:35:47 04/17/10 (0)

Grumblings from a BOF - plantsman 08:43:25 04/15/10 (6)

"too much recycled music": what do you call the entire 60s blues-rock? - dave c 13:37:35 04/15/10 (5)

Entire? - plantsman 17:29:12 04/15/10 (4)

I might have introduced the slightest trace of hyperbole - dave c 18:48:59 04/15/10 (3)

Let us frame this another way - plantsman 03:06:53 04/16/10 (2)

Or even another way.... - M. Lucky 09:42:22 04/16/10 (1)

Music has become soundtrack - plantsman 13:11:13 04/16/10 (0)

RE: " the music business are now healthier than at any previous time " - Paul_A 06:03:09 04/15/10 (1)

then they had better learn how to be. - dave c 13:24:27 04/15/10 (0)

Follow Ups

Grumblings from a BOF - plantsman 08:43:25 04/15/10 (6)

"too much recycled music": what do you call the entire 60s blues-rock? - dave c 13:37:35 04/15/10 (5)

Entire? - plantsman 17:29:12 04/15/10 (4)

I might have introduced the slightest trace of hyperbole - dave c 18:48:59 04/15/10 (3)

Let us frame this another way - plantsman 03:06:53 04/16/10 (2)

Or even another way.... - M. Lucky 09:42:22 04/16/10 (1)

Music has become soundtrack - plantsman 13:11:13 04/16/10 (0)

Grumblings from a BOF

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