The Declining Music Industry

[worldwide_suicide]

you're completely right, really. but im getting tired of people blaming music industry for all the shit they listen to.

music industry has made SEVERAL mistakes... but which one affects you directly as a consumer if you're still able to get the stuff you enjoy and you're still 100% able to ignore all the rest?

 

[Hypnos]

there's some funny thing going on in Germany. you cannot find a single person in the media not claiming to be a rock music fan. all of a sudden it's 'in' to like Metallica, Maiden or even Manowar. put the blame on Ozzy's crappy reality show .

 

[worldwide_suicide]

^and yet, they're still shit music fans (except for Maiden)

 

[Heckelgruber]

As noted many times already in this thread, it is probably easier than ever before to find interesting music. I'm guessing that it's also harder to find any of this good stuff on the radio and perhaps even on the high street. If you sit back and put up with whatever gets put in front of you, the music you end up with will mostly be whatever is most effectively promoted. If on the other hand you listen to your music closely and you're quite active in your search for good new things, surely these days life is good...? If you listen to crap don't blame the record industry, blame yourself.

 

[Hubster]

why is this surprising? maybe it is to someone who still avidly listens to burzum as if its something still relevant in 2006? its the facts. theres more interesting music out there now, then there was 10-15 years ago. period.

I don't listen to music for relevance. If that was the case I wouldn't listen to a single Baroque or 15th century religious music recording. And perhaps you should stop listening to every Hendrix, Doors, Beatles or Bowie album while you're at it. Your logic is flawed.

Yes, there's interesting music out there now, but I don't think that in terms of creative originality & quality, it racks up to past decades. The 21st century is musically the century of severe recycling, convergence of styles and dilution of quality. Musical evolvement since approx 1994 or so has been slowing down more year after year, and in 2006 it has almost ground to a halt. (Note: this statement doesn't account for music as literal whole, but as a generalised whole).

Originality is not a large percentage of new music these days, and thus, a new decent band is not easy to come by. Sure there are some converged acts out there doing a good job, but personally I don't think that is good enough.

 

[NFU]

I don't listen to music for relevance. If that was the case I wouldn't listen to a single Baroque or 15th century religious music recording. And perhaps you should stop listening to every Hendrix, Doors, Beatles or Bowie album while you're at it. Your logic is flawed.

Yes, there's interesting music out there now, but I don't think that in terms of creative originality & quality, it racks up to past decades. The 21st century is musically the century of severe recycling, convergence of styles and dilution of quality. Musical evolvement since approx 1994 or so has been slowing down more year after year, and in 2006 it has almost ground to a halt. (Note: this statement doesn't account for music as literal whole, but as a generalised whole).

Originality is not a large percentage of new music these days, and thus, a new decent band is not easy to come by. Sure there are some converged acts out there doing a good job, but personally I don't think that is good enough.

i think you misunderstood what i was saying. i wasnt saying the music industry is better now than all decades past. nor was i saying you should only listen to currently relevant music. half of my music taste would be cut in half if i did that. i was using burzum as a mere example, but dont worry about it...its not that important or necessary to my point anyway. what i was getting at is that the music world of today is on the up and up, not the decline. i feel the decline was the 80s and 90s.

edit: and for the record, none of the things you listed such as baroque, 15th century religious music, bowie, the doors or whatever else have become obsolete. so they are all still relevant today in some fashion.

 

[derbeder]

it is hard to speak of a decline in general in music. it makes more sense to talk about some sort of lack of new ideas or something in a given genre. it seems that people have run out of really new ideas in metal for some time now. that wasn't the case in the 80s or early 90s. there are only a couple metal bands trying something somewhat new and succeeding at it.
with other genres, it's harder to make a generalisation. electronic music seems to be getting more subtle as time goes on, for instance. there is a lot of more recent stuff out there that is way beyond what was available in the 80s and early 90s, though one could argue that it reached its peak in the late 90s.

 

[metal_wrath]

I feel the music industry is on an upwards decline.

 

[Hubster]

i think you misunderstood what i was saying. i wasnt saying the music industry is better now than all decades past. nor was i saying you should only listen to currently relevant music. half of my music taste would be cut in half if i did that. i was using burzum as a mere example, but dont worry about it...its not that important or necessary to my point anyway. what i was getting at is that the music world of today is on the up and up, not the decline. i feel the decline was the 80s and 90s.

edit: and for the record, none of the things you listed such as baroque, 15th century religious music, bowie, the doors or whatever else have become obsolete. so they are all still relevant today in some fashion.

No probs (the joys of reading someone's words with no tone of voice behind it).

 

[NFU]

were still cool hubster, i didnt mean to make it seem like i was singling you out. just refuting your view on the music industry as a whole, and thought maybe your reliance on underground extreme metal of the early 90s might have hindered your perspective on the topic as a whole.

 

[Hubster]

electronic music seems to be getting more subtle as time goes on, for instance. there is a lot of more recent stuff out there that is way beyond what was available in the 80s and early 90s, though one could argue that it reached its peak in the late 90s.

The decline of dance music quality since the late 90's is something which prompted me to move away from it, but also was something which first raised my awareness as to a degradation of music and compositional quality.

I was a big fan of house, breakbeat, jungle, garage, speed garage and techno back in the late 80's and through to the late 90's (you can also extend this to some extend backwards to baggy and shoegazing i.e. Stone Roses, early Blur as well). The rise of "doof" which literally is directional noise is shocking (now what people call trance, but I could hardly associate this crap with the compositional and aural brilliance that true European trance reigned with for some time).

I'm sure there are some composers doing some awesome work for electronic music still, however, I feel the days of FSOL, Drax, Dave Clarke's brilliance among many others has come and long gone.

It's alarming now to hear people remixing old classics (which imo, couldn't be further remixed because of their perfection) and turning it into diluted trash, and the masses swallow it whole.

It seems that kids these days, especially Gen Y and younger for the most part, have a very low standard of music. Dance music has become a dull and dumb form, no longer indicative of it's highly intelligent and creative past.

 

[Hubster]

I must say one thing though: I do feel in some ways that the "re-rise" of rock, especially with bands like Wolfmother (who I personally feel are utter unoriginal steaming hot dogshit), the pendalum is slowly swinging back to quality of music, and we may see some interesting stuff happen for the mainstream in years to come if this has any positive outcomes. We might see true creativity rise once again.

 

[Hubster]

I pose a question though:

Considering we're currently undergoing a massive generation switch, effecting all aspects of our lives, is it possible that Gen X'ers and late Gen Y's are now doing what generations before did and starting to reject stuff which is new due to simply hanging onto what defined their own youth and not moving on?

Is it possible that this is a trend which develops as you hit a certain age, and thus skews your perception of changes in music and arts?

Any thoughts?

Note: I could instantly rebutt this question myself by saying I and many others appreciate music much earlier than our own birth years, but is this enough of a justification?

 

[derbeder]

some of the djs that were big in late 90s are still playing quality stuff, eg. john digweed, sasha, nick warren, james lavelle... just go to an occasion where one of these guys is spinning and you will have a good time. i do, at least. then you've got good newer stuff like yahel and infected mushroom etc. i am not so pessimistic about dance music nowadays, really. i can't really listen to the stuff they were playing in clubs in the early 90s. compared to that late 90s was much better, and even though there hasnt been anything revolutionary since then, it also hasn't gotten significantly worse.

 

[Nothinggod]

Actually, sales figures show that the record industry is growing, if anything, and it's not like any of you morons are in a position to comment on or judge the quality of composition.

 

[Hubster]

Judging from your patheticly transparent and sales-based post, we're in a much better position than you are.

Ironically, your post is the first moronic one in the thread. Congratulations.

 

[Nothinggod]

Given that the music industry is intrinsically concerned with the sale of records, (hint, hint) I would say that sales have everything to do with whether it is in decline or not. On the other hand faux-intellectual musings about the quality of music made by people who probably couldn't even tell you the function of a dominant chord really have nothing to do with anything of concern to anyone that knows anything about anything.

 

[wankerness]

Given that the music industry is intrinsically concerned with the sale of records, (hint, hint) I would say that sales have everything to do with whether it is in decline or not. On the other hand faux-intellectual musings about the quality of music made by people who probably couldn't even tell you the function of a dominant chord really have nothing to do with anything of concern to anyone that knows anything about anything.

So why all the stink the last few years about declining record sales and the accompanying move to squash internet downloading?

 

[Nothinggod]

Here is an hypothesis; Perhaps the 'music industry' wants to justify cutting out competition generated by peer to peer sharing of music that they do not promote. By saying that peer to peer sharing causes a decline in record sales they are putting forth a justification for their anti competitive rhetoric. As for whether sales are actually declining or not, I would have to cite statistics and so on, which at this point in time I am not really motivated to do. So let's just put it down to playing devil's advocate for now.

 

[biggsy]

Given that the music industry is intrinsically concerned with the sale of records, (hint, hint) I would say that sales have everything to do with whether it is in decline or not. On the other hand faux-intellectual musings about the quality of music made by people who probably couldn't even tell you the function of a dominant chord really have nothing to do with anything of concern to anyone that knows anything about anything.

We weren't talking about sales. We were talking about quality. And yes, that quality is adjudged by us, as it is us who are here on this board right now. If you refuted every topic that the person apparently wasn't in the position to make a judgement on an issue, you'd be virtually wiping out free speech. Everyone has a right to comment. If you see these thoughts and opinions as having no validity, fine, just don't comment on them.

I think Hubster's said what I was intending in a much clearer way. The lack of originality and ideas is, in my own opinion, affecting the quality of music made for mainstream audiences and also a lot for the underground audience. I also think the generational change is an interesting idea, and I feel, truly, that I do listen mainly to songs and artists that have been heavily involved in my childhood and adolescence. Maybe I'm being too picky with todays music? Maybe instead of pulling it to pieces, I should just listen and try to enjoy it for what it is.