An Aging Music Geek's Manifesto
It’s certainly no secret that the post-internet age of music consumption is an entirely different beast than that which most of us grew up in. This is the case for a number of reasons, and I’m not so much just referring to the ubiquitous furor over illegal downloading and such, but more in the way that music is now marketed and made available. Since the web has become such a vast cultural resource, music has become extremely niche-oriented. We no longer need to filter our tastes through what’s gained approval for radio and television, and we can now just go straight to our computer and find exactly what we want to hear at any given moment. It’s with this that we now see artists presented in convenient little packages, with formats like iTunes judging what you might like, based on your existing library. Hence, we now see artists now actually creating music that is all the more contrived and calculated, in the interest of fitting into some proven mould. Never since the inception of the internet have we seen the coining of so many new terms for musical genres and sub-genres: post-rock, noise-core, etc. and musical niches have become much more isolated. It’s no longer necessary to buy an entire album to obtain a single song. The single song can be purchased in digital format. What happens in this case? The rest of the album is never heard, and is eventually lost in obscurity. Personally, many of my favourite songs have always been the deeper cuts that I discover after having bought the record and listened to its entirety. We now see the popular music consuming public compiling their own selections of songs into their own playlists, and enjoying them on their own personal devices. Despite what the artist has envisioned for their album as a piece of work, people will now just pick and choose specific tracks and listen to them in whichever sequence they choose. At the dawn of this revolution, it was fiercely celebrated the idea of having such immediate control of what we listen to. The downside to this is that music has become such a commodity for mass consumption and individual purpose that so much of what made music appreciation exciting in the past, is getting lost.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit to having taken advantage of this technology. I own a 120 GB iPod containing about 20,000 songs. My iTunes library on my iMac currently houses around 30,000 songs. Much of this music has come from my CD collection, but also much of it has come from downloading from the internet. I own the fact that I have been actively participating in this new avenue of music consumption of which I am admittedly lamenting. Although I have gained much benefit from this technological revolution, I still bemoan that the true ethos of music enjoyment may be irreparably damaged. I still continue to purchase CD’s and LP’s, and of course see as many live shows as I am able to. However, I guess you could say that the internet has created a kind of black hole of sorts, where I am hopelessly sucked in to finding more music that I can keep adding to my library. This is the reason why many of the older albums are held in such high esteem over most current music. There is such an endless stream of choices of what to listen to now, that what is really great doesn’t get the same attention as it would have 20 years ago. It also seems that we can appreciate an album that much more after making an effort to seek it out in a store and buying the physical medium, rather than hopping on a computer and putting a digital copy on our iPod. This is of course, after hearing the songs several times already because it’s been made available for streaming on the artists website. One of the components of buying music in the past was the idea of taking a chance on buying something that just might suck. I believe this only added to the excitement of it all. If it turns out to be great, then all the more rewarding the overall experience. If it sucks, then you just have something you can bitch about with your friends. One of the great things about any kind of art, is to be able to discuss and debate its validity with others. The reality is that we are naturally going to feel more passionate about something (positively or otherwise) if we paid money for the product. If we download a torrent of an album and it’s good, then that will only then inspire us to keep looking for other music that’s also good. If it sucks, we just delete it from our computer, and move on to find something else. In either case, so much music gets lost in the shuffle. I personally in the past have bought albums which I disliked initially, but had later revisited them and found something in them which I liked. There’s less likelihood of this happening in the digital age, where something we don’t like upon first listen will typically get deleted to avail valuable hard drive space.
My next point is that music these days is mostly enjoyed on our own personal devices. This is not a new concept by any means, as we all know the Sony Walkman was invented in the late 70’s. However, with our abilities to now completely customize our own listening experience, and with choosing from such an infinite compendium of artists so immediately available, this has caused us to become more introverted in our listening habits, We can now so easily at the click of a mouse, find a limitless selection of artists that are playing exactly to our tastes, which we can load up our mp3 players with and not have to skip through a single track. You certainly don’t see very many home stereos these days. What happened to sitting around with a group of friends, and bonding over listening to a new album? Even the introduction of the Compact Disc was the beginning of a big change in how we experience an album. In the days when the LP was the standard format, and when the cassette was popular, an artist would create a piece of work with consideration for 2 sides of an album. Album structures were built around the 2 –sided format for decades. Not to mention the 4 and 6 side formats with double and triple albums. This also dictated a further level of involvement with the listener, with having to flip the record (or tape) mid-way through the recording. The introduction of the CD and the ensuing multi-disc changers, this allowed for hours of uninterrupted listening. Of course now with playback on digital mechanisms, this advantage is taken to a much more advanced plateau. It seems now with this dynamic that music is more intended to serve as background noise, as opposed to being the interactive experience it once was. Also, once the CD became the standard format, this would change how an artist would piece together an album, and then change once again going into the digital age.
Also, in my youth, a bonding point over music was through radio and music videos. Since the only way to have specific music at your immediate disposal was to go out and buy it, most people relied on radio and MTV/MuchMusic to be exposed to what they wanted to buy next. This meant that there was actually a bit of variety in these said formats. MuchMusic used to not only actually play music, but they in fact played a lot of good music. Not only was there dedicated programming for all tastes across the spectrum, but even before the alternative rock explosion of 1991, it wasn’t uncommon to see a Sonic Youth or Jane’s Addiction video being played during regular video rotation. This led to potential excitement over certain songs picking up in popularity. It can be argued that we will never see another phenomenon comparable to that of the punk explosion of ’77, or the grunge movement of ’91 ever again. Some have said that it’s because everything has already been done. I don’t so much believe that, but I think that any new formula that a band may come up with and popularize in the future, will just be appreciated by it’s targeted audience and enjoyed amid their own private listening world. The elements just aren’t in place anymore for an underdog band to make history with penetrating radio waves with something new and exciting.
I’m also speaking of a time when the terms “radio” and “mainstream” weren’t as dirty words as they are now. The musical landscape of today has been so carefully cultivated into so many smaller core-markets and demographics, that this has only further alienated elite music from the mainstream. There was once a time in the pre-Auto-Tune era when not all pop music was so watered down and generic. There has always been bad music, but it wasn’t always that pop music was necessarily so banal and formulaic as it is today. Since music of any substance has been so compartmentalized in the market, pop music has taken a much further nosedive in quality. Where radio used to be at times a somewhat respectable medium to discover music, it has now become the sonic equivalent of a shopping mall food court. This is because radio and television are no longer necessary to discover music we might like. Instead of watching hours of music videos and scanning through the radio to hear something to our taste, we can go straight to a desktop and so quickly and easily find something to instantly satisfy our musical cravings. The popular mediums have now become an avenue to perpetuate a constant rotation of disposable fodder that the common casual listener can easily digest on their commute to work. Many of these songs have been written by teams of industry figures in board rooms, charting out the best formulas for accessible pop music. Production of this music includes heavy reliance on electronic enhancements and pitch correction software to ensure a flawless mechanical product. Not to mention the trend of looping hooks from established songs, to create bastardized versions of these songs with lyrical variations and a new title to give the illusion of something new. This is especially disappointing, because while the original artist may give permission in exchange for royalties, the sampling artist also collects royalties on airplay for a song that only picks up an audience due to the strength of the sampled hook. Auto-Tune technology is also widely exploited. For those unfamiliar, this is a computer program which digitally corrects vocal pitch, but is also used to add a novelty effect to the vocal. The end result is the sound of the voice on your GPS. Another impacting element to consider is the idea of the single song download. At one time songs would be written in the context of a full album, because it was understood that is how the product would be consumed. Now that the casual consumer can opt to legitimately buy a single song for $0.99, less effort goes into constructing a cohesive collective project, and more focus goes into creating a short and easily digestible serving of hooks. This entire process does mostly work in the way of appeasing the masses, but the downside is that the music doesn’t age well. The general public will tire of the songs after a few months, leaving a void to be filled with more “product”. The result is an ongoing cycle.
In addition, the few respectable songs that somehow make their way into pop radio rotation get destroyed by repetition. In general, the listening audience of popular radio formats will rely heavily on familiarity to engage in a song. This is why any given song that is popular one week will get played 10 times in a single day. That is no exaggeration. Also, this said audience will be so accustomed to songs cycling through until they’re considered “outdated”, that even the good songs won’t retain any staying power in the programming, and will get just as quickly replaced as the usual fare. Take Adele, for example. Her last album was much respected among discerning critics and the masses alike, and the radio singles are individually strong with much potential for longevity in the annals of popular music. The problem is that they have all been picked up by pop radio, and one by one have been pummeled to death by relentless airplay in between blocks of Rihanna and Bruno Mars. There is a reason why there are classic rock radio stations, and not per se, “classic pop” stations. Good rock music generally has a reputation for having a much longer shelf life than the modern pop song. If you take a year like 1991, it’s safe to say that albums from Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers have held up better than those from Roxette. Since pop songs are so trend-sensitive, they have proven to retain only novelty appeal for strictly nostalgic purposes, while artists known for more depth in their work will establish a more respectable legacy.
Having said all of this, I do understand the nature of the evolution of technology. I realize that change is inevitable, and society will only continue to advance. This is obviously a given. Granted, many record labels have devised new and exciting ways to market their bands. This is not a bad thing. It is very important for the industry to adapt to the current cultural climate and remain relevant. With so much music out there to choose from now, this brings new challenges to today’s artists to stand out amongst the crowd. On the other hand, bands that may have had a challenge finding an audience through the old mediums, now have a much better chance reaching out to who’ll appreciate what they do. Additionally, while many bands and record labels have condemned file sharing networks, many independent artists have greatly benefited from this platform. With their material surfacing on peer-to-peer programs, many people who may not have ever bothered to go out and buy the record otherwise, have discovered the band and now support them. Growing up, I can remember certain bands that I’d be interested in hearing, but wouldn’t necessarily have the means to go out and buy all of their records. The online community has made available a viable resource to expose ourselves to all that is out there, and allowed us to be more selective in our purchase habits. Bands now also have a vast landscape of opportunity to promote their music, and fans alike have just as much avenue to learn about new bands. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not completely reprehending technology and all of what it avails. It is because of the internet that I’ve discovered many of my current favourite bands. Although the current trends of music consumption have indeed fostered a severe degradation in the mainstream, the flipside to this is that more niche based music is finding its deserved place in the market. However, I am a traditionalist at heart, and admittedly a raving nostalgiac. As much as I’ve embraced the new ways of discovering and enjoying music, I would still love to see some of the old traditions continue. I mean, this is art. There are certain things that will always continue to advance technologically. For example, means of communication and transportation will always continue to progress with society’s demands. However, when it comes to artistic expression, this is something that should really transcend technology and be preserved on a more human level.
