The internet not only broke news, it broke music. First came the loss of ubiquity. You just can't reach everybody. Kind of like the Democrats complaining that the Republicans are not reading the "New York Times." THEY HAVE ALTERNATIVES! Ditto on cable news, never mind the endless niches purveyed online. Why should it be any different in music? IT"S NOT!
So what we've got in music is the three major labels selling the blandest, easiest to market music while stripping the number of new releases like a newspaper in a backwater trying to survive. There's consolidation, a focus on the bottom line... Meanwhile, the aforementioned "New York Times" flourished by adding cooking and games and product advice...and now has 11.4 million subscribers. Meanwhile, the labels are focusing on superfans, a subset of the overall audience. They think it's growth, but it's really marginalization. Focusing on net, they're forgoing gross.
But you've got to sell something the public wants to consume.
Doesn't a diss war between Kendrick Lamar and Drake look quaint and out of touch today? The whole world is watching, as they did at the Super Bowl, and the supposed victory was Lamar putting the stake in the heart of the Canadian rapper. This is no different from the Marvel movies released by the major studios, who've marginalized themselves into irrelevance. Once again, fewer releases in fewer genres, overhyping material that most people don't ever want to see. Meanwhile, after eradicating comedies because they don't translate overseas, China's market is now filled with domestic product, they've just had their highest grossing pic ever!
If you're looking for the future, what's happening, don't go to the boardroom of an entertainment company, go to social media.
So music demand blew up with the Beatles and the ensuing tsunami professionalized the business. Money was rolling in in the seventies until the audience got sick of being served lowest common denominator crap, like corporate rock and mindless disco. The business crashed and then was resuscitated by MTV, an entirely new paradigm. But then hair bands came along like classic rock and despite indie rock and rap making inroads in the nineties the channel turned to half hour non-music shows, after all it was TELEVISION, not music. Television is long-form, music is bite-sized.
And then came the excitement of Napster. All the music you ever wanted, even that which was never sold commercially, was at your fingertips. Took ten years to figure out distribution, but Spotify ushered in the on demand streaming culture fifteen years ago and the music scene has been moribund ever since.
You see it's now about software, i.e. music. And innovation is lacking. And it's harder than ever to make a living period, never mind in music. So those who might have been innovative and testing boundaries are in other fields. They just don't want to take the risk of being broke.
Meanwhile, there are singing competition shows. The lionization of no or little talents with brand extensions. The music is no longer the end result, but just a means to become a brand. And despite pledging fealty to the fans, acts can't wait to separate themselves from them, flying private, showing off their wealth, illustrating rather than being just like the listeners, they're completely different.
People keep asking whether they'll be playing the music of today at the parties of tomorrow, how much of today's music will last decades... Almost none of it! Heard Bobby Rydell recently? Fabian? Just because it sells once doesn't mean it lasts forever.
Music is just like it was before the Beatles. A business, but not the cutting edge. Tripe sold to the brain dead.
But then came folk music. Which grew out of social consciousness.
But today's generations are all disillusioned, and would rather focus on their screens than worry about the state of the nation.
Until they do.
Want to take the pulse of the nation? Just go on TikTok. Immediately after the Zelensky/Trump/Vance kerfuffle, there were videos on the platform. Where were the musicians? Silent! Or getting wardrobe fittings. Or complaining Spotify, et al, just don't pay enough per stream. Meanwhile, these musicians don't understand the payments just like MAGA doesn't understand the facts. But it makes a good story! The U.S. sent $350 billion to Ukraine! Only the truth is it was less than half of that and Europe sent MORE!
In the folk music era it was about performance rather than sales too, just like today. And acts showed up everywhere for the cause. There was a pulse. Sure, people wanted to get paid, but not each and every time.
You see it was about hearts and minds. Uniting the audience and the performers. As I said above, now they're separate.
And there's no tradition. I may remember the sixties, but the frame of reference for those coming up today is Mariah Carey, or Maroon 5. Trifles. No nougat present.
So if you're waiting for protest music...
It ain't gonna be like it was in the sixties... Because the whole world is not listening to ANYBODY! And if everybody is not listening, the musicians don't want to write and play it. And they're not arbiters of truth, they're just cottage industries trying to get rich.
The spark has to come from somewhere.
So just like Netflix stole Hollywood's lunch, the public has stolen the power of music, the immediacy, the truth. That's right, TikTok is more vital than today's music. And it spreads to YouTube and Instagram Reels too. Everybody wants to play, unfiltered. Sure, there are moneygrubbing influencers, but there's also a ton of truth.
So... Just like politics will be saved by spontaneous generation, the same thing will happen with music. Someday. Maybe not even for a long time. First and foremost it must be innovative and different. Which is anathema to the food chain, because there's no instant cash. The outside takes a while to percolate before it gains traction.
As for the money...
It's not about money, it's about POWER!
Bezos, Zuckerberg, Musk...they blow with the wind. They've lost all credibility. All they're worried about is their power.
Meanwhile, the "New York Times" has tons of power and its asset value is a fraction of Amazon or Facebook or Tesla...
If you're getting into music to get rich...
You've got it wrong.
We want truth. The cash comes afterward, if at all.
Today you play and you see if your music catches on. If it doesn't, change or give up. But the trophy for last place generation believes it's entitled to attention and riches, that somehow it's been screwed. No, you're just not good enough, sorry.
And back in the day, in the sixties, you'd be stunned how few albums some of the legends sold. You're complaining you can't get paid, THEY NEVER GOT A ROYALTY, EVER!
So if you're looking for music to lead in times of crisis... Keep looking, it ain't gonna happen. Music is mini-moguls, and no one in the industry has a backbone, for fear of pissing off a potential customer. It's more like General Mills than the Beatles.
So if you want to know which way the wind blows...
Go on social media.
Do not listen to a record, even though everybody in the music food chain will tell you you're wrong.
Music blew up as a result of free thinking, individuals putting it all on the line, not holding back punches.
Today everybody holds back. The musicians, the Democrats. That's part of Trump's appeal, he lets it fly. You can too. That's the modern game.
But you must have something to say and say it well.
And most people don't.
But we're looking for leaders.
AND WATCH THE PARKING METERS!
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