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The way we relate to music has changed over the years, and the question is, for better or for worse? And the answer is difficult to pin down, because never before have we had so much music at our fingertips as today, and yet never has contemporary music in general terms found itself in a pothole like the one it is in now, in which except for honorable exceptions, everything sounds the same.
One might think that now that it is so easy to have access to music, those who create it, the musicians, singers and producers, with so much material to draw on, from which to draw influences and inspiration, could create a new golden age, and yet the opposite has happened. And the hits we see on the charts are generated by a handful of producers who have hijacked the music that is heard on the radio today.
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There are no longer those great bands of yesteryear, and the guitar, who was the great protagonist of music for decades, has practically disappeared from the scene completely, or has been relegated to a secondary role.
You don't even need instruments to make music anymore, just a computer. And this is not necessarily a bad thing, there are musical masterpieces that have completely dispensed with instruments, such as the album "Endtroducing" by DJ Shadow, made entirely with samples of the most diverse old records, to mention just one example of many, but it is not about substituting styles, it is about increasing and enriching them.
I am from the old school, one of those who anxiously waited for the new album of one of their favorite bands to come out and would go to the store as soon as it arrived, and then go home to listen to it calmly, piece by piece, almost like in a ritual.
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I am one of those who did not lend their records to anyone and considered them an object of value, not just zeros and ones that can be heard from Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music, or any other streaming service.
I'm from those who had no algorithms that would recommend new music but they were looking for their account, and little by little they were discovering new bands, new or old music. And that value that was given to music may be an important factor in understanding what is happening with it today.
The consumption of music has become part of the culture of immediacy, oversupply and easy boredom, and music is more than that, it has been and should continue to be so. Today music has about 10 seconds to capture the listener's attention or we hit the next button, and that is simply a crime.
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The ease of having things makes us not value them and that is happening with music, which by the way is not even ours anymore, and we don't care. Hardly anyone collects records anymore. Why if they are on Spotify for free? It's almost like saying "why invest time in dating, meeting and understanding someone if I can sleep with whoever I want for free."
Sadly that happens now, and we go to bed with the first song that plays on the radio, or through the soundtrack of a series or a movie. Any "strange" or different song either captures us for that, or repels us immediately.
And with so much music at our disposal, it is sad to see the same things on the charts, while valuable proposals disappear due to lack of support and / or lack of projection.
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Music, once an artistic product, has largely become a manufactured and consumer product, based on a couple of formulas that no one questions and everyone follows. That is the reality, a very sad one for those like me who love music of all genres and all eras.
It is clear that times change, and with them the preferences of each generation and how they relate to their historical moment; but today both in music, as in literature, as in cinema, and practically in all the arts, for the first time in history we have a huge collection at our disposal, enough for all tastes and preferences, let's give it at least one opportunity of more than 10 seconds, you will see that it is worth it, and you will open the door to a world of images, letters and sounds that can change your life, believe me, I tell you from experience.
©bonzopoe, 2022.
Thank you very much for reading this post and dedicating a moment of your time. Until next time and remember to leave a comment.
Your post was sitting in my browser for almost 24 hrs. Waiting for me to respond, since I think you voiced the situation around music better than I ever did. The preferences of the 'users' changed indeed. Fast consummation we don't only see in eg fashion, but also in music. But also we see it in music creation. As you say, it's so easy these days to get to tools to create some music. Many phone apps around that create some music with just a few clicks. I think, more and more peeps think they created something of value with just 5 minutes of clicking. We see this happening all over at the traditional channels like YT, but also in the crypto space with all these services that pay one or the other way for uploaded and shared music. So much crap, hardly any gem in between. Because it's all so easy to create and share music, I believe 1) more and more crap music is created and 2) the push to be better is taken away making some (to more?) musicians lazy.
Anyways, though I hardly buy albums anymore, I tend to listen to complete albums through my 'online' music services. Mostly using Spotify, Soundcloud and rarely YouTube. I don't like to listen to individual songs. I always seem to have difficulties creating playlists with single songs. When I start, I seem to forget about them, ie never listen to such a playlist. After sometime when tidying up everything I usually delete these playlists again. I suppose this makes me an oldie :)
Thank you very much for your words, it's good that you liked the publication and share the feeling behind it. I think there are many of us who think like this and are a little or a lot disappointed with the music scene today, but that's the way things are.
Fortunately, new technologies also bring us closer to that music that we love so much, even if they call us 'oldies', I am one too and very happy to be, but I still have faith that one day things will change. Hopefully I'll still live to see it. Greetings from Mexico and thank you very much for commenting!
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