Posted on 04/08/2009 12:43:27 PM PDT by a fool in paradise
Have you ever wondered if there might be too much music? A couple of weeks ago I attended South By South West music festival in Austin, Texas, where more than 2,000 up-and-coming bands, singer-songwriters and other musical performers played in just four days. Standing on the street at an intersection of venues where at least a dozen bands were playing at the same time, I was immersed in a kind of sonic cloud of formless music, an ambient hum of rock and roll...
...For most of the history of mankind, to hear music you had to either participate in the making of it in a social setting, or perhaps listen to the performance of itinerant musicians. The first major concert halls were built in Europe about 500 years ago. Little over 100 years ago, the phonograph brought music into the living rooms of ordinary people... More than 10 million pieces of music have been recorded and most of it is available (legally or otherwise) on the internet...
Recent research has established some interesting facts about our relationship to music. The average American hears more than 5 hours of music per day, yet a new survey suggests that American teenagers actually consumed and shared 19 per cent less music in 2008 than they did a year ago. CD sales were down (28 per cent) but download sales also fell (13 per cent) and even illegal downloads declined (six per cent). More pertinently, borrowing and swapping music between friends was down 28 per cent. 32 per cent of teens expressed discontent with the music available for purchase, while 23 per cent said they already have a large enough collection of music. Is it possible we are reaching some kind of saturation point?...
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
There are certainly too many music “critics” (all living in the same echo chamber, considering the scope of available musical tastes being courted).
And too many music industry weasels trying to tell the public what band they SHOULD be listening to.
I can hardly stand it. Even on tv now, regular programming has music in the background.
And yet with all of this is another high profile release of the complete Beatles catalog...
Since music died in 1972, the answer is NO — there is not too much music because there is NO music.
Crap to the ears, we have plenty of.
Is there too much oxygen? nitrogen? Its all around us... will we be overwhelmed
Soros and Gates ask “are there too many millionaires”?
I agree, and commercials are the very worst. Often as not video ads are accompanied by some horrendous racket, usually sounding like someone beating on a garbage can lid with a baseball bat. Is this due to advertisers possibly thinking that teeners have short attention spans?
Perhaps a better question is, “Is there too much CRAPPY music?” To which I answer an emphatic yes.
That looks pretty similar to the sheet music for “The Black Page.”
Just put John Cage’s 4’33” on repeat.
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/4’33%22
“4’33” is a musical composition written by avant-garde (non-traditional) musician John Cage. It is his most famous work. It consists of no notes, only 4 minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence. The piece challenges the definition of music. The only thing the sheet music says is “tacet”, or “break of silence”. It was first played by David Tudor in Woodstock, New York.
Yes, there is too much music everywhere. You can’t get away from it.
There is a great lack of silence, peace and quiet everywhere.
I’ve written Starbucks about the excess music and volume in it’s stores and got a reply that said the “public wants it”. What Starbucks wants is to sell CD’s in it’s store.
Even book stores have music blasting all the time. Name one store or mall where there’s no music. I’d like to shop there.
People are afraid of silence. They might have to listen to their brain or even, gasp,...Think!
Music is aural pollution and graffitti when it is forced upon you in public places.
If you want music, listen to it at home or in your car (with the windows rolled up) or with a low volume MP3 player.
Noise kills.
Been that way a long time.
They are stuffing those songs into tv commercials for cars and softdrinks, at the checkout at Starbucks, on the armrests of airplanes...
If you go into Best Buy, they want to force free magazine subscriptions upon you to keep you tuned into Big Media's "tastemakers".
The industry needs to hang it up. Quit trying to CREATE the next big thing and instead keep their own eyes and ears open for what the public actually wants.
I attended South By Southwest, there’s just enough music there. Great time, great music.
If your perspective about music revolves around so-called ‘pop’ music, it would be easy to agree with you.
One downloaded podcast of roots rock radio (rrradio.com), and you will find that indy roots rock is flourishing.
Got to have "music". Americans are afraid of silence, of own thoughts, it seems.
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