Interesting article on how the music business has changed (and it has) but in the process it has lost 2 very important elements in my opinion - Soul and Originality. Those 2 qualities are what made the music of years past (what I grew up with and before) so special and why much of that music has stood the test of time. It is 50 years after the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan and we still celebrate and love that music. But I ask you Can you really see one of todays top artist being remembered so lovingly 50 years from now? I dont see it happening. And thats because todays music has become just background filler and so disposable (the Big Mac you grab at a drive-thru and you throw away the wrapper and the memory is gone... you dont remember it tomorrow, next week or even a year form now). Heck, much of what passes for music isnt even created by a real musician playing a real instrument. The article talks about how DJs are some of todays hottest stars.... yes, I said DJ. Granted the meaning of that term has changed from when I was a DJ - it used to mean disc jockey for you young whippersnappers, and involved playing records on the radio, which I did for several years. Now let that sink in for a minute, a DJ used to be somebody who presented music made by OTHER people (called musicians and singers) to a listening audience. The DJ was never confused for being a real musician. They did not CREATE the music being played. They were the middleman who shared it with the masses. RIP Casey Kasem who was one of the best examples of the classic DJ. Sure, Casey was a star, but nobody thought of him as a musician. Fastforward to today and Ive had students try to explain to me how they went to a concert to see a DJ perform real music. I asked them what instrument he played and they said oh he doesnt play an instrument - he mixes. Now I will give credit here that there is a certain art form to this kind of live mixing (and creating mass ups of sounds and samples from other peoples music) but I argue that THAT doesnt really qualify as truly creating real MUSIC with soul and originality - remember those 2 terms from above? Instead, it is more like somebody who takes photos from a real photographer and simply arranges them in a group on a wall. Yes, they make something interesting to look at for a moment but it isnt the same as a real photographer or painter, who truly captures the elements of shade and light and human emotion and expression in such a way as convey true soul and emotion or feeling in the original photos or paintings. Put another way, todays DJ is a little like the editor of an anthology collection of short stories. They combine em together to create a book BUT they arent the writers that were the real creators of the true art by combing words in a certain way as to elicit an emotional response from the reader. Do you remember the name of the book editor or the actual author of your favorite story? Yet, in todays upside down world somehow the editor is now the star instead of the writers!!! I certainly dont hear the soul and emotion in what is played on todays radio, YouTube top hits, etc. vs. say, a BB King guitar solo. I miss the deep thoughtfulness of a Bob Dylan lyric and find no such masterful lyrical word play in anything on the Top 40 right now. I certainly dont see anything happening in music that comes close to the magic of Beatlemania 50 years ago. Where are the Duane Allmans, Hughie Thomassons, Eric Claptons, Jeff Becks, Herbie Hancocks, Buddy Richs, Les Pauls, Frank Sinatras, Linda Ronstadts, etc. in todays world? The true masters of their instruments and voices. Are the days of the master singer-songwriter really over? I miss Harry Chapin, Jim Croce, Paul Simon, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Ronnie Van Zant, Paul McCartney, Carole King, James Taylor, and teams like Jagger/Richards, Tyler/Perry, and many more of years gone by. Yes, Im old and my kind of music was created years ago... but I still have to scratch my head and wonder what hope is there for the future of the art forms of music when the masses dont even seem to understand or care that what passes for real music is largely recycled, non-original sounds sampled from somebody/somewhere else. The article says, For the first time in its long history, the American music business is firmly in the hands of the artists and the consumers. You have the ability to lead the industry wherever you want it to go. Let me clarify here that Im not talking about advancements in the technology used to capture audio and reproduce it. Advancements in that area are a great thing (when used with skill). The Edison phonograph gave way to records to tape to CD to all digital. And some innovators (Les Paul being the king) were able to use new technologies to create truly unique and original sounds with soul. But that is because Les also knew how to actually PLAY an instrument, understood harmony, song writing, the importance of melody, rhythm, etc. OK Mr. and Ms. Young Consumer of the new millennium - are you going to learn the true artistry of making real music by learning to play instruments/sing and learn the craft of song writing, melody, harmony, mixing, mastering, and audio engineering, to create music with SOUL and ORIGINALITY - music that will stand the test of time and still be played 50 or 150 years from now? Or are you content to recycle samples and snippets of past music and create nothing more than drive-thru disposable filler and background sounds for the masses?
Posted on: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 06:07:46 +0000