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 ...
I'll go with it -- I think it really just means "didn't sell many songs."
And for all it’s “indie-ness”, the stuff’s about as mainstream, image conscious and mass-marketed as music gets.
________
We are clearly talking past each other. The artists on the podcast I spoke of are unsigned, for whom mass marketing is putting up some posters around town for their next gig. Hardly mainstream.
These are folks who are writing and singing original songs, to the great detriment of their wallets. Folks want to go see cover bands, so they can sing along or put it in the background while they do whatever.
It’s a whole lot easier to cop someone else’s song than it is to write and arrange your own. All the work is done when you play covers.
I should know, I’m in one of those unsigned, not mainstream, write your own music indy bands.
“Indie” is what “Alternative” was when it replaced “New Wave”. It’s a brand, that’s all.
_________
What you say has an element of truth to it, no doubt. But the truth of it is the easy part, the part of the iceberg above the waterline.
“Indy” simply means “Independent”. Independent of the mainstream global music industry. Not dependent on the payola dispensing marketing departments (yes, Marketing!) of the major record companies, of which there are only four or five now in the entire world. Geez, is that so difficult to accept?
For a taste, check out, off the top of my head, the Pondering Judd, Don Dixon and Marti Jones, the Mermen.
I learned long ago to ignore extraneous noise. If I like it I listen. If I don’t like it I don’t listen.
The problem is that people are being conditioned to do the same with bad news. We are learning to disassociate.
Abortion means 50 million dead babies in America.
Treason means providing aid and comfort to our enemies in wartime.
The banking bailout means...
I know what “Indie” is supposed to mean. Everything from The Decemberists to Bright Eyes (ack) to Death Cab for Cutie has copped the label... hence it’s utter meaninglessness.
Ack is right, I’m not up to who and what myself. I suppose that means look for the Independents who don’t use and abuse the label!
Finally, a musical composition anybody can play flawlessly!
Although I probably would blow it, as I assume giggling isn't permitted.
I just avoid the whole genre-superiority thing (except with Classical). Every type of music has its gems that stand apart from the vast majority (less so with rap, of course). There’s a good bit of indie rock I like a lot. Especially some of the instrumental stuff out there (Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, Godspeed, etc.)
Well, yes, if you’re in the middle of a 4-day festival featuring 2000 performers, then it will be ‘everywhere’, and you will be overwhelmed by it all...
Otherwise, I love listening to music, and dancing to it, and especially playing it, as long as it’s of decent quality. When it’s not of decent quality, there are still uses for it, like a screamo/hardcore CD put on repeat and turned to an extremely low volume makes a ‘white noise generator’ that’s just as effective as those super-expensive ones sold for people who have trouble sleeping if it’s silent...
A lot of that is due to a feeling of helplessness.
People have been protesting abortion for over 30 years - for some their entire lives - and where has it got them? Nobody’s been prosecuted for treason for over 60 years, why get fired up over it? Look at how blatantly Jane Fonda and John Kerry were with their treason - and see where they are now? The bailout? What can we do? Politicians only listen to major donors.
I think he’s frustrated by all of the corporate backed nobodies his editor and labels say he HAS to write about vs. the talented small label “nobodies” that put out albums for 10 years will little attention from the press.
Flavor of the months bands that are pwned by the labels rather than signing up some of the established acts of today that have to exist in the ghetto of the industry.
It think it is in response to the iPod generation; and in fact it may have been a lead-in to the “need” for constant background. How does anyone have time to think real thoughts with constant distraction?
He's a music critic. It's his JOB to listen to music. As much as possible.
And it seems to be cutting into his enjoyment of music.
I once had enough of this crappioli at our local Pier One which endlessly played teeny-bopper soft rock at high volume (same screechy girl singers) while you tried to have a pleasant experience at this interesting store.
I put the contents of my basket on the counter and walked out. Made me feel good. Actually, it was a short time later that Pier One eliminated the music altogether. Maybe my one small step for mankind helped facilitate this change.
Leni
Muzak files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (Reuters Tue Feb 10, 2009 1:31pm EST Reporting by Santosh Nadgir in Bangalore and Emily Chasan in New York)
We're doomed. As one wag put it...."The majority of the American public is not interested in music, just the noise it makes."
So true.
Leni
It’s probably cheaper for a business to subscribe to Sirius or XM (and hope they don’t get caught by BMI-ASCAP-RIAA without paying them a protection fee for putting on the radio in a place of business).
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