Comments on: Music Everywhere http://www.acceity.org/2008/09/music-everywhere/ A Southwest Wisconsin Blog Mon, 10 Oct 2011 04:00:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Eric http://www.acceity.org/2008/09/music-everywhere/comment-page-1/#comment-13 Eric Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:20:25 +0000 http://www.acceity.org/?p=107#comment-13 I agree with Alex. I believe that this is also the golden age of music... for the listener. For the musicians, it only gets harder, but in a way, it makes the competition fierce as well. With all the music that we listen to, the originality goes downhill, so for a musician to come up with something more or less original than the next guy makes the business hard to get into, but I think it is more rewarding for the listener. The listener gets all the benefits. This I believe is why the record companies are trying to stop illegal downloading, not because it is necessarily illegal, but to protect the musicians themselves. Musicians do not get paid as much as they used to, but I think musicians will again have to competitively come up with something that cannot be easily be transferred into the hands of listeners. DVDs are also becoming as popular as CDs now. Musicians do not just sell albums anymore. Live shows are becoming not just about the music, but as you said, about the performance itself. I think that the live performances are becoming competitive to the CDs themselves. Musicians are trying to make the live performances worth more than the CD which a person may or may not have illegally downloaded. All in all, listeners are being gained by the musician faster than ever, but it seems that the musician has to provide more than just music now. I agree with Alex. I believe that this is also the golden age of music… for the listener. For the musicians, it only gets harder, but in a way, it makes the competition fierce as well. With all the music that we listen to, the originality goes downhill, so for a musician to come up with something more or less original than the next guy makes the business hard to get into, but I think it is more rewarding for the listener. The listener gets all the benefits. This I believe is why the record companies are trying to stop illegal downloading, not because it is necessarily illegal, but to protect the musicians themselves. Musicians do not get paid as much as they used to, but I think musicians will again have to competitively come up with something that cannot be easily be transferred into the hands of listeners. DVDs are also becoming as popular as CDs now. Musicians do not just sell albums anymore. Live shows are becoming not just about the music, but as you said, about the performance itself. I think that the live performances are becoming competitive to the CDs themselves. Musicians are trying to make the live performances worth more than the CD which a person may or may not have illegally downloaded. All in all, listeners are being gained by the musician faster than ever, but it seems that the musician has to provide more than just music now.

]]> By: Alex http://www.acceity.org/2008/09/music-everywhere/comment-page-1/#comment-7 Alex Sun, 21 Sep 2008 02:28:38 +0000 http://www.acceity.org/?p=107#comment-7 I think you make some good points here, and I would say in response to the last paragraph, that this is indeed the golden age of music. I see music as something intensely personal, something that never affects someone the same way it affects someone else, and as something that acts as a sort of medicine to alter your feelings or perceptions. I think there are many things wrong with the state of the music industry today, but most of those things are related to the way the industry tries to keep music out of the hands of people. I think the more music there is out there, the better. I think people should try to listen to as many different musicians or bands as possible, as every piece of music can have some effect on the listener, whether positive or negative. Just because the value of music has gone down, and I do think it has, that doesn't mean that the music has gotten any worse or that there is something wrong with that. Sure, people don't put much thought into how amazing it is to be able to access millions of songs with the click of a button, but I don't think this hurts anyone. I've listened to hundreds of thousands of songs in my life, obviously much more than someone two hundred years ago did. But I don't think this means that they got more appreciation out of music than I did. They probably had a higher rate of it, yes, since they listened to far less music, and each time was a more personal and unique situation. But I think the fact that I can stumble across a song on the Internet, and be tremendously moved by it, to have it inspire me to think in a different way or to treat people differently, shows that quantity does not necessarily rule out quality, and that it in fact raises the bar for artists to create music that does move people. If there were only, say 5 opportunities in one year for someone to listen to music, that doesn't mean that those 5 times would provide good music, or that the person would enjoy it more, since with nothing to compete against, the musician would not feel as motivated to create the best music they can. I've rambled a lot and I'm not sure if any of this makes sense, but in short, I think this is the golden age of music for the listener. For a band trying to break into the business, not so much, but for the listener, yes. I think you make some good points here, and I would say in response to the last paragraph, that this is indeed the golden age of music. I see music as something intensely personal, something that never affects someone the same way it affects someone else, and as something that acts as a sort of medicine to alter your feelings or perceptions. I think there are many things wrong with the state of the music industry today, but most of those things are related to the way the industry tries to keep music out of the hands of people. I think the more music there is out there, the better. I think people should try to listen to as many different musicians or bands as possible, as every piece of music can have some effect on the listener, whether positive or negative.

Just because the value of music has gone down, and I do think it has, that doesn’t mean that the music has gotten any worse or that there is something wrong with that. Sure, people don’t put much thought into how amazing it is to be able to access millions of songs with the click of a button, but I don’t think this hurts anyone. I’ve listened to hundreds of thousands of songs in my life, obviously much more than someone two hundred years ago did. But I don’t think this means that they got more appreciation out of music than I did. They probably had a higher rate of it, yes, since they listened to far less music, and each time was a more personal and unique situation. But I think the fact that I can stumble across a song on the Internet, and be tremendously moved by it, to have it inspire me to think in a different way or to treat people differently, shows that quantity does not necessarily rule out quality, and that it in fact raises the bar for artists to create music that does move people. If there were only, say 5 opportunities in one year for someone to listen to music, that doesn’t mean that those 5 times would provide good music, or that the person would enjoy it more, since with nothing to compete against, the musician would not feel as motivated to create the best music they can.

I’ve rambled a lot and I’m not sure if any of this makes sense, but in short, I think this is the golden age of music for the listener. For a band trying to break into the business, not so much, but for the listener, yes.

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