I'm Not Old, Your Music Does Suck.

[Sloan]

The older I get, the more interested I become in seemingly boring things like music marketing and promotion. In a discussion with a friend of mine about the current state of music, these links were shared. I feel these links are good for any artist that is striving to make a living today.

'I'm Not Old, Your Music Does Suck'
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MP6159

1,000 True Fans
http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php


Here is the discussion so that we can perhaps continue a discussion here:

Via Duck Baker. This is a complicated issue, and I think there are several things at work: 1) People (listeners and critics) are generally lazy and are content to not put forth an effort to search for new stuff, 2) In the '60s and early '70s, *great, enduring* music and *popular* music often intersected...not so much now, 3) Many listeners now *prefer* the sound of MP3s over, say, CDs and vinyl (and then there's the loudness war, Auto-tune, etc.), 4) Current singing styles (e.g. *American Idol*) are unlistenable. UNLISTENABLE!

The immediacy of modern media enables once dismissed novelty music to spread quickly and with a very focused niche market. Especially through social media avenues; which is basically a faster version of word-of-mouth. What better way to promote a product then have someone actively do it themselves with people that share the same interests?

Artists looking for a strong foothold in the battleground of the consumer's mind are better off pursuing a long-tail strategy of building a meaningful connection that lasts rather than a quick peak of interest. But then comes the struggle to get to the top of the trash heap just so you can hopefully get someone to pay enough attention to realize that you are not a flavor of the week.

In the past, there were a lot more filters for artists to pass through before they were able to spread the word via radio, tv, and larger tours. Today artists can directly get the word out without any type of quality filters or second opinions from anyone. It is a double-edged sword.

at this point, the modern music listener is completely oversaturated, overstimulated, and overindulged. free and endless information at the cost of quality and discernment.

people currently only want *exactly* what they want. most of them can get it whenever they want it, and usually for zero cost.

if you're not exactly what they want, you can bet they're not going to care about you.

the adventuresome, thoughtful, and curious-minded listener is all but a thing of the past. WELCOME TO THE AGE OF SOLIPSISM

Totally, Sloan and Evan, good points. The lack of filters means that listeners should apply their own, at least by finding like-minded critics they can trust. Bad reviews don't stop a movie from making a gazillion dollars (*Transformers 2* comes to mind), and it's even a worse situation for music, since it's essentially free and there's no risk.

Top 40 charts are depressing now. I saw a clipping of Top 20 albums in some week in 1969, and it's unbelievable: King Crimson, the Beatles, Johnny Cash, Led Zeppelin, Love, Fleetwood Mac (*Then Play On*!!), the Kinks, Blind Faith, Cream, a Motown compilation, Rolling Stones...the atmosphere was different then. Today, there is no way an album like Miles Davis's *Bitches Brew* could become a gold record. I think it's important for people to share music with friends, but then some people feel the need for validation, afraid to have a unique/dissenting opinion.

Regarding the long-tail, have you read the "1,000 True Fans" article? http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php It's an interesting idea, but still focused mainly on *products* (I'm concerned when I read, in the context of declining CD sales, that musicians should just sell more concert tickets or t-shirts.)

Regarding solipsism, this article is totally on-the-money: http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/02/arcade_fire_and_the_never_hear.html

"I'm concerned when I read, in the context of declining CD sales, that musicians should just sell more concert tickets or t-shirts."

This is a valid concern, but at this point touring and merchandise sales are the primary sources of income for original artists (besides additional revenue streams via licensing etc). When people stop paying for an artist's intangible work, artists are forced into selling tangible products to make sure they can pay rent. But then again, it's near impossible to create meaningful connections with an audience who has seen and heard 'everything'.

Unfortunately the value of 'music' has dropped substantially, partly due to the sheer amount of novelty work that has taken up valuable real estate in the consumer conscience. I don't want to rail against novelty works totally, it is still work and a great way to develop skills for more serious works. I write and record ridiculous songs all the time, but in my opinion they do not hold up to the lasting artistic importance of many of past decade's classic performances.

Thanks for the links Ernie, I'm enjoying this discussion.

we are in such a culture shift for the good and bad....with technology deliverables.....but there is nothing comperable to live music in the moment because we are still human beings even as culture changes all around us. I try to get to live music when I can as I also juggle time, money and a big ol' bowling ball. But when I got I tend to see the same folks there and it is because they've had the experience and repeat the good. But there are so many people I know who have NEVER really seen live music of any kind outside their laptop/tv. All of this fascinates me and I too enjoy the discussion and thinking about all of this.....'artifacts' from concerts as I like to think of them rather than 'souveniers' are not unimportant in establishing identities/building an audience. It is hard to know how to be an audience these days on the other side of the room/stage/screen. As a non-musician here. Just keep going. We make the road by walking.

True, Sloan and Laurie. I enjoy live music, but I also think that "recording arts" are just as valid as "performing arts," and for artists that choose to only record and not play live (e.g. XTC, the late Glenn Gould) things will just get harder. I have no good solutions for this problem!

technology keeps so much alive....I am so enjoying the many archives available and I like the compost of rich soil, where time is timeless, actually. But there is something about the human connection in person as well....but I say this as someone with a clear unapologetic addiction to the download archives. Technology as tools of thought changes our consciousness, it has been proven since we moved from oral culture to tablets to bible printin' to interactive hyperlinks, like this handy dandy little conversation. Very cool... (I always enjoy your posts...the sacred and the profane ones.)

 

[GarethSE]

I think there's generally far less of a market for that particular brand of music that involves the musicians taking a shitload of drugs and going off on one, or at least far less of a MAINSTREAM market.
King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Miles Davis.. All of this would still find appreciation if it were released now (and still does find an appreciation, there's a whole new generation of kids getting into this stuff who weren't around when it was released, I have plenty of Miles Davis on my CD shelf,) but it'd be far less widespread.
I do think that the enjoyment of music with more depth than a teaspoon is lessening over time, but it'll see a resurgence, just as grindhouse and exploitation style cinema is currently going through a revival, or at least I *hope* it'll see a resurgence.
When I was a kid I was getting played Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Tori Amos, Sinead O'Connor, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, all that good stuff, what do we have now? Rebecca Black and Attack Attack?

 

[ratsapprentice]

Rebecca Black and Attack Attack?

Milli Vanilli, Bucks Fizz....... same shit, different decade.

 

[GarethSE]

True enough, but would you see King Crimson in the charts if they were releasing say... Larks Tongues in Aspic in this day and age? I don't doubt that the ratio of good music to shit music hasn't really changed, I don't doubt that in the slightest, but the ratio of how much of the music with any depth finds its way to us to how much fluff finds its way to us (in a mainstream, chart oriented sense, at least) most definitely has.

 

[ahjteam]

the entirely awful shit (black) and the really good stuff (white) is the only thing that you will remember. thats how memory usually works. the gray mass from between is usually the part that gets forgotten, but the amount of shitty music has stayed the same since the dawning of time.

For example if we look at the 1987 "hot 100" from billboard.com, honestly I don't even know more than maybe 20 of the songs on the list: http://www.cylist.com/List/400300148/


edit: 15. not 20.

The ones that I confess that I know:

4. I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) - Whitney Houston
7. Here I Go Again - Whitesnake
10. Livin' On A Prayer - Bon Jovi
11. La Bamba - Los Lobos
15. With Or Without You - U2
23. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2
40. Land Of Confusion - Genesis
44. Touch Me (I Want Your Body) - Samantha Fox
49. Hip To Be Square - Huey Lewis & The News
56. Carrie - Europe
58. La Isla Bonita - Madonna
59. Bad - Michael Jackson
67. Stand By Me - Ben E. King (I gotta admit that this song is actually REALLY good, and cheesy too)
74. Wanted Dead Or Alive - Bon Jovi
98. (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party) - Beastie Boys

I mean, these were number 3 and 6 on the list... I've NEVER heard of them before:




And honestly, I've heard the Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now and Walk like an Egyptian before and when I listened to them I was like "Oh, that song!" and same goes most likely for many other songs too, but who really knows any other song from the Bangles other than Eternal Flame?

 

[ratsapprentice]

the entirely awful shit (black) and the really good stuff (white) is the only thing that you will remember.

I'm with you there my Northern brother

 

[jipchen]

the entirely awful shit (black) and the really good stuff (white) is the only thing that you will remember.

I totally lost it after reading this sentence

 

[EerieVon]

but who really knows any other song from the Bangles other than Eternal Flame?

Hazy shade of winter is a really good song, much better than the original

 

[TravisW]

It's remarkably easy to look at the past with the glasses of forgetfulness. And, admittedly, there have been times where the charts reflected some pretty remarkable sales trends.

But, it's really easy to look back on a decade that you don't particularly remember and think that it was chock full of winnage. When I was a teenager and was getting heavily into Zeppelin, Rush, Pink Floyd, and the like; I thought that the 70's would have been a fantastic decade for listening to the radio.

Then I discovered the number one hit in the USA on the day I was born (Dec 19, 1975):


...and I also discovered that half of the crap that I absolutely hated on AM radio was a hit from the very same decade.

 

[xFkx]

the entirely awful shit (black) and the really good stuff (white) is the only thing that you will remember.

 

[Skyweaver]

Maybe a little off topic....but I can take my 3 daughters to an Iron Maiden gig, but they cant watch MTV

1. The music utter shit
2. It's fuckn soft porn !

To find decent music these days you just have to dig a little harder

 

[GarethSE]

what was that you were saying about shit black music..?

 

[Terminus]

I think it was just a bad metaphor for memorable bad music and memorable good music, guys.

 

[GarethSE]

YKNOW ITS HIP TO BE SQUAAARE

 

[JBroll]

I must object to the 'quality filter' statement - there were plenty of things that *filtered*, but I'm not convinced that a lot of the filtering tended to correspond to quality. The filtering of yesteryear has been replaced with more word-of-mouth filtering, no doubt, but it is depressing to hear the things that were popular thirty years ago and failed to age well.

Jeff

 

[ahjteam]

you are quoting me out of context

You do know the saying that people see the world only in black and white (like "this song either sucks or rocks"), but not the big gray mass in between that is mediocre. Thats what I meant.

 

[crillemannen]

I still the music industry hit the all time low somewhere between 1995-1999. Songs like:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68ugkg9RePc&feature=player_detailpage[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6r1GrApjiM&feature=player_detailpage[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDNuzBLolcU&feature=player_detailpage[/ame]


Yeah and it is pretty bad today to!!! But in the 60-70-80's then the music was done with some kind of budget and even that "Fly robin Fly" is listenable because it still has a nice arrangement. And that 80's list someone posted is just awesome

 

[Williamn]

Meh same old same old.. People always say "oh things were so much back then with Zeppelin, Rush, Pink Floyd, Deep purple" and then totally forgets how much shit there actual were.

I guess its a age thing as im sure back in those times old timers was thinking "wtf is this shit.. silly teens and their shitty rock music".

 

[ratsapprentice]

you are quoting me out of context

sure...

 

[Saculus]

Hazy shade of winter is a really good song, much better than the original

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFRx4PkXeVM

The Less then Zero soundtrack is a classic 80s record. Its where Slayers Inna Gadda Devida is found.