Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: paying for music

Author:Jonathan Hendry
Posted:7/31/2000; 11:08:41 AM
Topic:paying for music
Msg #:19315 (In response to 19295)
Prev/Next:19314 / 19316

Er, are we living in the same reality? Isn't what you describe exactly the current situation? :)

No, not really. It is, if you listen to Top 40 radio exclusively, but if you're listening to Top 40, what are you expecting? There's a lot more out there than what appears on commercial radio.

Here's how I think things will change if I get to buy what I like: a lot of different tastes will flourish and be supported by musicians catering to each genre. The music industry will not be able to spoon feed me music that passes through the 80%-like-it filter.

The problem is that the current model supports (maybe not well, but...) artists who write songs, not hits. These songs are then packaged together on a CD. If every song has to be a hit, what happens to the good songs which don't "have a good beat" and which aren't "easy to dance to"? Or, alternately, which aren't written to shock and titillate.

(And if the labels go the way of the Dodo, and artists pay for their own studio time, they may not even bother paying to record the less-hitworthy songs.)

Your point about the network news is exactly 100% right on. When you have distribution choke points like the TV networks do, you get mediocrity filtered for the masses LCD.

But we don't just have the three networks anymore. We've got scores of channels. The networks have lost their choke hold on the audience, and standards have only dropped, as every channel races to the bottom to attract viewers.

Increase competitive pressure in mass media, and the quality seems to go down.

all she wanted was to go to Tower and plunk her money down for all the Back Street Boys (not much, because of exorbitant prices) that she could buy. So sad!

I'm somewhat curious how you can reduce the inventory of Tower records to the Backstreet Boys. Over 99% of what you'll find at Tower (or Borders, or Amazon, etc) isn't Top 40 material. Yet it is out there on the market, even though it's distributed by trucks. (Indeed, such music is probably flourishing since the debut of mega stores like Borders, which carry far a more diverse selection than the old, small, mall stores.)

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