The Current State of Music

[johnniegold]

What has become of the music industry? What will today's kids be listening in 10, 20 or even 30 years?

I know this will be viewed by some as just an old guy stuck in the past and unwilling to keep up with the current trends of music. That's partially true.

However, the music business in and of itself has changed so drastically that I don't think kids today really have a chance to "grow up" with the music of their generation as my generation did with the music of their times.

IMO, today's music is so disposable. 20 years from now will the 12-17 year old of today be listening to Lady Gaga?

Because of the Ipod/digital music age, the days of getting together with friends and listening to a new "album" and going through the liner notes or looking at the album art and listening to an artist's music mature album by album is different today. I wouldn't say it's gone. But certainly different.

I'm not talking about technological/audio advances since the LP/turntable days (although I am sure some of the audiophiles around here would beg to differ) but rather the opportunity to 'grow-up" with a band or group.

Because of the nature of today's music business, the attention span given to so many artists is brief at best. Sure, there are some who have staying power, but for the most part, a current recording artist is around for maybe 2 to 3 years (if they are lucky). I know there are exceptions, but overall, I think it is the norm. The kid who bought a 45 rpm of "Satisfaction" in 1965 could listen to the Rolling Stones for the next 16 years and still find them creative and relevant to the times (Tattoo You was released in 1981.) Certainly, the Stones are an exception as well.

How many bands/artists since 2000 have been recording for 10 years and are still relevant/popular? Sure there are some.

Look at the half-time shows of the Super Bowl for the last several years.

McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Springsteen, The Who. I know demographics plays a large part in their selection. But look at how many demographic sets these artists have transcended over the span of their respective careers.

I guess through it all, I feel that with the current state of music, that today's generation of music listeners is missing out on the organic experience of "growing-up" with the music/musicians of their time. And for that I am sorry because it was truly a great listening experience.

And of course the obligatory: YMMV.

1963-1970​

1964-2005​

1972-2009​

You get the idea.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I dare to say that the state of music has never been better for artists or fans.

The state of music has never been worse for Big Music.

If you're only paying attention to what the big studios are doing, you are missing out on an incredible amount of terrific music. It's never cost less to buy professional recording equipment (just a few thousand for pretty good quality), you can have CDs burned cheap, and you can also distribute over the Internet to entire world.

The problem is that the signal:noise ratio is pretty high if you want to try new bands, so you have to spend some time nosing around music forums and a few other places to find new music. Once you find some people with similar tastes, they'll continually dig up new acts you can give a listen to.

You mentioned turntables - I've been using one for a few years now. They're the best way to discover old music. I hit up junk stores, thrift shops, etc. and get used vinyl for well under $1. I've found a lot of great stuff that never made it onto CD.

 

[Latherdude]

Right now we're suffering from the horror of over-done Auto-Tune.

I will venture to predict that "Auto-Song" and "Auto-Album" are not too far away.

 

[Alacrity59]

I think you are, to a large extent, preaching to the choir.

I think in the past there was far more time a group or single artist spent perfecting their craft. These days it seems as cute and well connected boy/girl wakes up and decides to be a pop star and with little talent and auto tune and sound clips from God knows where, does exactly that.

Don't despair though as once the listeners blow out their ears by cranking up their ipods to the point their eyeballs are popping out of their heads and ride around in mommy's car with the speakers cracking and mirrors vibrating so badly they can't see anything behind them, they will stop buying music all together.

 

[djh]

I hear ya, but luckily there are quite a few good indie artists making soundwaves today. Not sure if it floats your boat or not, but I recently picked up a copy of "Lungs" by Florence and the Machine- a bright light in the British recording industry who is about as far from Gaga as is possible.

 

[johnniegold]

Right now we're suffering from the horror of over-done Auto-Tune.

I guess Pete Townshend wasn't singing about Auto-Tune in Pure and Easy.



There once was a note, pure and easy
Playing so free, like a breath rippling by
The note is eternal, I hear it, it sees me
Forever we blend and forever we die

I listened and I heard music in a word
And words when you played your guitar
The noise that I was hearing was a million people cheering
And a child flew past me riding on a star

 

[The Nid Hog]

I'm an Old Guy, but I think that music is just fine. There are lots of exciting new groups and many compelling older bands are also taking advantage of the possibilities that this diverse, fragmented marketplace offers. From its very beginning, rock and roll has always had one eye on the past and one eye on the future, and today is no different.

However, I do agree with the OP that music as a meaningful mass experience has changed. It seems to me that the death of radio--especially FM radio--has been one of the main causes of this. Yes, I remember waiting for the owner of my favorite record store to pop open a box of new records so that my friends and I could grab one and go listen to it. I also remember waiting for my favorite FM station to play their advance copy of a new album all the way through at midnight or listening to the cassette recording that one of my buddies made of the same show. I don't think that figures in anybody's life anymore.

I feel like that's a terrible loss. I went to pick up my daughter at college the other day, and I spent a lot of time looking for a good radio station. I finally found one--actually a public station that was playing a compelling mix of old and new music. I asked her if it was a channel that she listened to, and she looked at me as if I asked her if she wanted me to send her some new waxed cylinders or teach her the Lindy.

But, as they say, the music must change.

 

[SalvadorMontenegro]

What do you think your parents were saying? "Oh, these Beatles, what has the world come to?" "How can that Elvis shake his hips that way?! It's obscene!" It's pretty much become the responsibility of older people to criticize and shake their fist at the music of younger people. It's almost of a right of passage.

I'm not saying that I'm terribly fond of what's out there these days, but this has been a trend that has gone on for at least a hundred years.

 

[johnniegold]

Actually, my parents rather enjoyed The Beatles. I can't say the same for The Doors however.

Nevertheless, your point is well-taken.

 

[SalvadorMontenegro]

Actually, my parents rather enjoyed The Beatles. I can't say the same for The Doors however.

Nevertheless, your point is well-taken.

Well, yeah, there's always the aberration. I mean, I have a friend whose mother listens almost exclusively to gangster rap! She was always popular with the youngsters. Yes, she was.

My Mom really enjoyed the boy band era. Maybe it reminded her of The Monkeys, or something?

I'm 26 and I don't find most of the current music that appealing, but some of it is all right. I think I am at the age where you start gravitating away from what's new and stick to what you were listening to in your teens or early 20's. The nice thing is that there has never been MORE music available. So, if you don't like what's on the radio, there's always a whole number of bands, groups, artists, whatever who are floating around out there that might appeal to you. That's really what separates this generation from those previous. Kids in the 60's, or even up until the mid 80's, if they didn't like what was popular, there weren't a lot of other options.

 

[gaseousclay]

I mean, I have a friend whose mother listens almost exclusively to gangster rap! She was always popular with the youngsters. Yes, she was.

define gangsta rap. this genre has gone through so many phases over the last 3 decades it's hard to classify it into one sub-genre. I remember when stuff like Public Enemy and N.W.A. was considered hardcore gangsta rap back in the late 80's, early 90's - nowadays it's pretty tame compared to the likes of 50 cent or Lil Wayne.

My Mom really enjoyed the boy band era. Maybe it reminded her of The Monkeys, or something?

my mom used to listen to Leif Garret when I was a kid but then she gravitated towards New Kids On The Block when I was in high school . I'm scarred for life

 

[Confuzius]

I think a large part of the problem is the sheer volume of new music.

How many brand new LPs were released on an average Tuesday in 1968?

How many brand new LPs were released on an average Tuesday in 2009?

A cursory glance at Wikipedia tells me:

151 LP albums released in 1968

814 LP albums released in 2009

And that's just the major label stuff, when you're releasing almost 6x the amount of music, bands can fall though the cracks, and bands that sell quick and fast get marketing dollars and media attention thrown at them.

Same goes for "getting together and listening to an album" just due to the sheer variety of music out there now, even among a group of good friends, musical tastes greatly vary now, as do the genres of music themselves with new genres being born seemingly with every new album release.

Not to mention breaking the bank to keep up with new releases.

It's no longer rock/country-rock/southern-rock/folk/psychedelic/disco competing for an audience, it's practically a NYC phone book full of genres and styles all vying for an audience.

It's too bad for the record companies too, because if they scaled back and released just 151 record this year and just a quarter of them were great, truly great records I'm sure they'd see an increase in sales, but fostering quality just isn't in the cards these days it seems.

 

[SmoovD]

I will echo the sentiment that it is a wonderful time to be a music fan but a terrible time to be Big Music. There is always good music to be found is you are willing to take the time to find it. And the web makes that so incredibly easy. Anyone remember vinyl/tape trading? Egad. I will take BT any day of the week. What is even better is that today's technology has put the musician in control much more so relying on the industry. The music industry has been shiate for many, many moons and there is no reason to expect it to change.

Mo Tucker said it best: If you like music, don't listen to the radio.

BTW- If you want a taste of great contemporary music the new Drive By Truckers comes out this month. They are nothing short of consistently awesome.

 

[The Nid Hog]

I will echo the sentiment that it is a wonderful time to be a music fan but a terrible time to be Big Music. There is always good music to be found is you are willing to take the time to find it. And the web makes that so incredibly easy. Anyone remember vinyl/tape trading? Egad. I will take BT any day of the week. What is even better is that today's technology has put the musician in control much more so relying on the industry. The music industry has been shiate for many, many moons and there is no reason to expect it to change.

Mo Tucker said it best: If you like music, don't listen to the radio.

BTW- If you want a taste of great contemporary music the new Drive By Truckers comes out this month. They are nothing short of consistently awesome.

+1 Just because you used egad so effectively. I love that word.

 

[TimmyBoston]

I think nearly all popular music is entirely disposable. For every Springsteen, Beatles and Rolling Stones, there are thousands of bands that no one has ever heard of now, that had a hit or two 30 years ago.

Not, that I'm defending popular music today. I think it sucks, but I think most popular music over the years has been lousy.

 

[airplanedoc]

I think we will see more hit records from one hit wonders, and fewer from repeat artists.

Like some others I think that todays music is basically disposable. I do think that there has never been a better time to be trying to make music and sell albums, because it is cheaper than ever to make, mix and distribute. But due to the larger amount of competition I think the days of bands like the Rolling Stones selling albums for 50 years or so are over.

 

[Mainecanefan]

Popular music is at an all-time low. You've got major record labels that don't know how to make money in the digital age and continue to refuse to step fully into it. The need to keep revenue rolling in means artist development takes a nosedive. A record company would rather take a hit single from a disposable artist then actually develop that artist to the point where they can sell plenty of albums with each release. And let's face it, the average listener only cares about what they hear on the radio or, even worse, American Idol.

For those of us that don't listen to the radio, this is a phenomenal time for music in all sorts of genres. There are plenty of great sites to learn about new bands and really expand your horizons if you're willing to spend some time. Hell, go to Pandora and just put some band that you may be interested in and let it roll. You never know what you'll find.

 

[taprater]

To me the genre thats not getting anymore good publisity is most forms of hard rock/metal. I know they are released but I never see videos by bands like megadeth, metallica, or black label society released on tv and rarely heard on radio. I do agree though that most music today is "Disposable" and sad that music is no longer nurtured to become long standing members of the music community.

 

[Ferengi]

I'm 56 and when I was in high school my Dad liked The Monkeys so much that he rarely missed their show. My Mother particularly liked the Abby Road album. She was also a Little Richard fan. I was taking classical guitar lessons at the time and rarely listened to popular music. It was Baroque era music for me or music of Spain. My favorite artist was/is Julian Bream (also John Williams and Christopher Parkening) on RCA Red Label vinyl. I even worked after school in a Long Beach music store that specialized in stringed instruments, mostly guitars. One of the partners is an accomplished jazz guitar player and still plays professionally in and around Sun Valley, Idaho. I began to expand my knowledge base in jazz, folk, flamenco, and other genres as a result of my association with that music store. I even got to meet Lee Ritenour who was all of about 20 yrs old at the time. Modern music I don't know what to think. Hip Hop sounds to me like a contemporary incarnation of Western yodeling sans melody. Can't stand Rap, it stinks on ice and every yahoo with a car stereo seems to think that I need to hear it. Don't get me started on music.

 

[bigstick]

I'm still wrapped up in the British Invasion.

My view, limited as it is, is that America continues to be at the mercy of middle-of-the-road pap designed to offend as few as possible, perpetrated by minimally-talented electronically-enhanced prettyboys and prettygirls who are easy to market on posters and billboards. Spew!

Mind, the Brits ran out of good ideas about 30 years back.....