The Truth About Why Modern Music Is Awful

[john]

Hey

 

I was just reminded of this video today. Thoughts?

 

 

[MikeRobinson]

Quite honestly, John, I think that (well-intentioned ...) videos such as these tend to wind up taking "pot-shots" at the actual changes that have occurred in the music industry ... and, music technology ... since "the Fab Four™" were invited into a multi-million-dollar London music studio to record miles of 24-track audio tape that they were never asked to pay for.

 

And where was Alan Parsons in all of this?  (No, no, I don't mean "Eye in the Sky" – I mean the engineer on Abbey Road.)  And, so on.  Musical magic is not made in solitude ... especially in those days when music was captured on magnetic tape and reduced to scratches in disks that could be mass-produced in vinyl.

 

Today, nearly all of the technical obstacles to the production of music have fallen.  The "iconic analog mixing-board through which so many platinum albums were mixed" ... was sold (for scrap) to a musical legend who wanted to buy it.  Today, there are no more technical gatekeepers.  And this, of course, is both good and bad.

 

 

Marketers, of course, "sell whatever they are given to sell."  In the 19x0s, the only products that they could sell cost [too-many] dollars to produce and had to sell [too-many] copies, because the "cost of goods sold" was very high.  But today, the "cost of" is quite negligible, and the gamut of potential product is quite vast.  (And likewise(!), the "potential market" is exponentially increased:  nearly everyone has a portable music player filled with products that have an overhead-cost of zero.)

 

Today, "the market will sort itself out," and indeed it will sort itself(!) out, sometimes in a matter of days.  But this "market shakedown" process, also, costs nearly nothing.

 

... and, "on the bright(!) side of all this," sometimes a product that was "produced on a shoestring, because today it could be," succeeds in a way that could never have been contemplated in a prior technical era.

 

Edited July 25, 2018 by MikeRobinson

[scotsman89]

if you go back to the charts of the sixties there is a whole variety of music genre on the radio because there was not a whole lot of radio stations - now with ( in uk ) kiss radio -smooth radio - radio 1 - radio 2 etc , etc  you can listen to what you believe you like  without listening to other genre's of music . when you had anyting from the beatles  - frank Sinatra -  Louis Armstrong  to napoleon X1V 

you had a larger variety of musical sounds to hear . now if you only want rap that's all you get so the musical taste is focused only on one sound . same thing has happened to the chart music PO

 

john

[Roymega]

I think this debate is a good but very old one.. and I'm way too young in the industry to be hashing it out with you gentlemen at the moment, maybe another day *tips my hat* 😎 ✌️

 

p.s. that's a peace sign not a "victory hand"

[Capo3tanya]

I meant to watch this video when you posted it, just remembered to.  Was very good!  I have instinctively fought the "mere-exposure effect" all my life lol.  I have never listened to the radio, listened to "popular" music, even as a little girl. I rebel! I agree with everything this dude said. And I liked Bohemian Rhapsody before Wayne's World darnit.

 

I also do not watch television that has commercials in it or if I must, I insist that they are muted.  It's funny how often I have been made fun of for this, everyone says "I just tune them out it doesn't affect me".  But I have converted a few of my loved ones/friends by golly!  It's SO different, watching commercials muted.  It's much easier to resist getting sucked into them without the sound playing.  I analyze them.  I think the subaru commercials make me want to puke the most lol.  But we make a game out of watching them muted, remaining sharply aware of their content, if we watch anything with them at all.  And wouldn't you know, certain scoffers now mute the commercials on their own (hehehe). 

 I may one day wear tinfoil on my head    

[Rudi]

19 hours ago, Capo3tanya said:

I also do not watch television that has commercials in it or if I must, I insist that they are muted.  It's funny how often I have been made fun of for this, everyone says "I just tune them out it doesn't affect me".  But I have converted a few of my loved ones/friends by golly!  It's SO different, watching commercials muted. 

 

I am so heartened that I'm not alone in this. In fact I try not to watch them either, but Ive missed too much stuff that way. You have to keep an eye on them. Commercial yap and music is like listening to tired whining children. It disrupts your composure and introduces a little stress.

 

You are a fellow escapee girl !

[Capo3tanya]

1 hour ago, Rudi said:

 

I am so heartened that I'm not alone in this. In fact I try not to watch them either, but Ive missed too much stuff that way. You have to keep an eye on them. Commercial yap and music is like listening to tired whining children. It disrupts your composure and introduces a little stress.

 

You are a fellow escapee girl !

 

Hehe hot dog Rudi you're a cool dude! Awesome sauce ❤

[scotsman89]

away from subject on the commercial thing '

but . my wife and I  hardly ever watch  live tv any more record it then fast forward the commercials or download then I don't know why you don't seem to get any . win win 

 

john

[lemonstar]

Karl Bartos ex-Kraftwerk-er is always an interesting guy to listen to imho - in this video he was talking mainly about why Kraftwerk disappeared in the 80's but the most interesting part, and relevant to this topic, is between about 3.45 and 5.15 - I won't pre-empt it by paraphrasing what he says but I will say, this lines up with my feelings about wanting to do something musically creative in my life and about the lo-fi way I go about writing and recording.

 

Edited October 7, 2018 by lemonstar

[Capo3tanya]

Too many options! Hehe, yes. I'm glad that I have a crazy palette now though, just will take some time to learn technique. Very exciting! When you say lo-fi do you mean unprocessed sound or do you mean no virtual instruments at all? 

[lemonstar]

@Capo3tanyaI just record with an acoustic guitar using a camera for the ultimate in simplicity as I become unproductive and quickly lose my enthusiasm when I spend too much time fiddling about on setting things up or on low level details so now I just focus on the song writing - the words, melody, chords - the plan is to record, say half a dozen or songs properly - any more than that in one go is too much I think - the plan was to have done it this year but it looks like it will be next year after FAWM which is in February. I really do think technology bogs people down;  it's a big distraction and a source of frustration. I spent plenty of money on gear in the past and it doesn't make me a better writer - it's hard enough writing songs and that's really what makes me happy so I try to just focus on that.  There are plans to record properly - I had an offer this year from a friend but I just didn't have the time.