Hi
Good topic.
Originality exists, otherwise all songs would be the same song
There is a lot of repetition or restatement of ideas though, intentional or not we are shaped by our personal influences and by what we hear whenever we are exposed to music. Afterall, genres are collections of similar characteristics, so if you write for any specific genre, be that electronic or country, you immediately have to conform to some extent. If you depart too much from the constraints of a genre, then you risk no longer being a part of that genre. If you think about it, most new genres come from a few things:
New melodic or harmonic evolution
New technology and production techniques.
Sometimes we use old things in new ways, sometimes new things in old ways. Often it is the combination of two or more things things (be they instruments or musical genres or one of each) and far more rarely it is when some genuine, virgin ground is developed.
Expanding your exposure to music can be a double edged sword. You gain the experience of combinations new to you, but in many ways you can perhaps also increase the chances that you are indirectly influenced by "soft" exposure, ie songs you hear in the background unaware of the exposure.
Most "new" music is a recombination of genre formulas. Sad, but commerciality and popularism has pushed music in that direction. In fact most software designed to make music creation more accessible also has the side effect of directly using pre-existing music chunks. For example, loops. The truly creative writer creates his own loops, with his own sounds. But it is a slow creation process. Much faster and more convenient is to create a song based on library loops and library samples and sounds. The same exists in country or blies or Jazz, where there are stock phrases, turnarounds, sound effects, whatever.
For me, creativity lies in the attention to detail, and the drive to create something original, including creating unique synth patches, or unusual harmonies or melodies, unexpected combinations etc. But it takes time and patience.
And an acceptance that sometimes, mistakes happen.
We can but strive to create something new and unique.
As a musician and writer, I can only hope that the casual acceptance by many musicians of stock/library sounds/effects/loops/samples/effects passes. Listeners seem to care less, in general, or so it seems. There doesn't appear to be any real drive by listeners to push for better, more inventive music. But that I think is a flawed perception.
Music in general is less prestigious than it once was. The public regards musicians as "less" than they once did. They buy less music. They have a music equivalent of shell shock. Overwhelmed, and too disenchanted to complain much. This is not aided by a huge back catalogue of fantastic music all available for them to listen to.
But where is the drive songwriters, composers, musicians, arrangers, producers and lyricists once had to push boundaries, to challenge the public? At what point did we change from a roar of originality to a squeak of meek acceptance?
No wonder fans are deserting music as being worthy of their attention. No wonder music have lost the respect for the entire music industry.
We've lost respect for ourselves, why on earth should others be interested?
Cheers
John
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