RE: You're right, of course...

Posted by David Aiken (A) on April 17, 2010 at 14:32:53

In Reply to: You're right, of course... posted by M. Lucky on April 17, 2010 at 11:16:40:

"Still, I can't escape the feeling that the advance of technology has been bad for music"

I think you're right, but in a very different way to the one you intended. I think that recording itself has been bad in some ways. Before recording there was only live performance and that tended to be something you had to deliberately go to. People not only expected to hear some new music at a live performance but needed to if they weren't going to hear the same stuff over and over again. Recordings made it possible to listen to music in a different way, and to find ways of enjoying the same stuff over and over again, and I think recording has made many people extremely conservative about new music, especially in classical music. Recording has changed listening tastes and expectations strongly there. On the other hand it has opened up new opportunities for some other kinds of music.

I don't see convenience and accessibility causing issues as a purely music problem in the way you do. I think a lot of other things have become much more "commodified" as well, and it can be a problem if we allow it to become commodified for us but that's a choice we make for ourselves. I think music is having a tougher time competing with other forms of entertainment, especially audio-visual forms including gaming, and I think sound is increasingly becoming seen as a support for vision when it comes to entertainment so music, which relies on sound alone, suffers as a result. I think that form of competition has had a greater impact on the popularity and commercial viability of music than anything else in some ways. Those are the pressures I see as "devaluing" music more than anything else.

"I realize these are the ramblings of a semi-bitter old fart."

And so are mine, at least as far as the "old fart" part goes. I strive to be less than "quarter-bitter" whenever I can, however, but I don't always succeed and I don't think anyone who knows me would ever describe me as "sweet". One of the givens of age is that it guarantees that you can never view things in the same way as do those who are a couple of generations younger than you. Depending on how those younger than you view things, the fact that they are the majority means that our views are always going to be "bitter", "overly rosy", or otherwise "unrealistic" in comparison to that majority view but I take comfort in the fact that the majority isn't always right :-)

David Aiken

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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

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)

RE: You're right, of course...

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