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I have an entirely different outlook on this, and I believe the case of the "bedroom musician" is a perfect example. The amount of young talent out there is no

by teilo 8y ago

I have an entirely different outlook on this, and I believe the case of the "bedroom musician" is a perfect example. The amount of young talent out there is not withering. It is blooming, particularly because of the low barrier of entry. You are correct that there is much more crap out there due to the low cost of entry, and the signal to noise ratio is much higher. But there is also a lot more talent than I have ever seen before. And the talent still rises to the top, because even though the internet has created a lot of noise, it is also self regulating: the noise filter has been crowdsourced. Part of it can certainly be explained by the fact that, thanks to Youtube and Soundcloud, it is possible to find talent that before would have otherwise remained in obscurity. But a significant part is not the lower cost of entry, but the lower cost of learning and inspiration. Young musical talent can develop in ways that were simply not possible for past generations. And furthermore, the easy access to the vast canon of modern music that online access have made available gives these musicians exposure to musical concepts and modalities that they might never had heard otherwise. For example, were it not for Napster, there would be no Fleet Foxes. I've seen it first hand. Not only can vocalists and instrumentalists of all kinds access vast amounts of training material for the cost of an internet connection, but they can learn from one another, be challenged by their peers, and be motivated to up their game. How many young musicians of the past never developed their talent because of the lack of access to that teacher or that group of musicians? But all of this means that the entire scene, inevitably, will lose the classic label model where popular musicians are hand-picked based upon their perceived commercial value by a relatively small number of gatekeepers. The door which gives performers access to an audience also gives the audience access to performers. Even the monetization model is radically changing. Patreon has replaced the game of "hide the royalties," and many of these new musicians do quite well, gain funding to produce a more professional produce, contract for studio time and mixing engineers, etc., and start careers. Does this mean that we will see a tapering off of "the big contract"? Yep. Good riddance. But it also means that music is returning to the commons where it belongs: where it can once more become a product of the culture itself, with an organic feedback loop between creators and audiences, rather than the culture being told what they may listen to by self-service commercial interests who create nothing on their own. The Internet is a global campfire for creators and audiences.

sonnyblarney 8y ago
Ok, this is the 'theory' of the internet, and I'm inclined to agree with it. But do you have any evidence that there are more talented musicians than ever? Because they are lacking at my local hot spots - i.e. the bands coming to town are not showcasing much of this. Obviously this has a lot to do with pop culture tastes - and maybe this is the 'other side of the equation' ie 'demand'. As for 'the commons' - no. There is no return sadly. 'Musician' used to be a job. If you wanted to hear music, it generally had to be live. When rock and roll came along, the number of horn player jobs dropped by 90% - because hey, now you only have a '5 piece' band instead of a '30 piece' band. With electronic music - there are zero pieces in the band. Just a DJ to press play and to pretend he's busy with the knobs. Tastes change, which is fine - and it's possible to do a lot with a computer, which is fine - but due to the lower barrier to entry - AND - the 'globalization' of music. FYI what is happening to pop is the same thing happening to Hollywood films, like 'Transformers' - there is literally no plot, just production values - a lot of music is being consumed in the developing world where often taste is simple. So there are no jobs for musicians anymore, which makes it hard to be in the commons. Another note on taste: music used to be pretty. It was something almost anyone could enjoy, on some level. All folk music is 'listenable'. All classical is 'listenable'. So is light rock, and easy Jazz. Broadway music - etc.. But some versions of rock, most of rap, 1/2 of hip hop - and a considerable amount of music is not 'unlistenable' to anyone but the people really into that genre. It's now really 'edgy' and contemporary. For example - Trippie Red, SixNine - even a lot of JayZ - it's only going to ever appeal to a very small group of people. My Grandfather could feasibly listen to a Beyonce song. But he literally won't understand what the sound Trippie Red is making. That there is talentless, mumbling over noise on video and touring, and that it gets vast attention - more than many musicians ... is problematic. Which gives rise to my final point hinted at above and that it's really just about popularity, not music. Trippie Red makes a little more sound than Kardashian and wears a different label - but it's almost the same thing. FYI there's a good anecdote about Puff Daddy and is AR guys. His guys would come back from the club and say 'we found a great new sound' and Puff would say 'but how do they look?'. Getting a face tattoo today is more 'key' to getting acclaim than much else, because it really sticks out on instagram (ie visual) where the competition is. I truly hope as you say there are actually more 'bedroom masters' than before, I don't see it but I hope I'm wrong.

by teilo 8y ago

sonnyblarney 8y ago

Ok, this is the 'theory' of the internet, and I'm inclined to agree with it. But do you have any evidence that there are more talented musicians than ever? Because they are lacking at my local hot spots - i.e. the bands coming to town are not showcasing much of this. Obviously this has a lot to do with pop culture tastes - and maybe this is the 'other side of the equation' ie 'demand'. As for 'the commons' - no. There is no return sadly. 'Musician' used to be a job. If you wanted to hear music, it generally had to be live. When rock and roll came along, the number of horn player jobs dropped by 90% - because hey, now you only have a '5 piece' band instead of a '30 piece' band. With electronic music - there are zero pieces in the band. Just a DJ to press play and to pretend he's busy with the knobs. Tastes change, which is fine - and it's possible to do a lot with a computer, which is fine - but due to the lower barrier to entry - AND - the 'globalization' of music. FYI what is happening to pop is the same thing happening to Hollywood films, like 'Transformers' - there is literally no plot, just production values - a lot of music is being consumed in the developing world where often taste is simple. So there are no jobs for musicians anymore, which makes it hard to be in the commons. Another note on taste: music used to be pretty. It was something almost anyone could enjoy, on some level. All folk music is 'listenable'. All classical is 'listenable'. So is light rock, and easy Jazz. Broadway music - etc.. But some versions of rock, most of rap, 1/2 of hip hop - and a considerable amount of music is not 'unlistenable' to anyone but the people really into that genre. It's now really 'edgy' and contemporary. For example - Trippie Red, SixNine - even a lot of JayZ - it's only going to ever appeal to a very small group of people. My Grandfather could feasibly listen to a Beyonce song. But he literally won't understand what the sound Trippie Red is making. That there is talentless, mumbling over noise on video and touring, and that it gets vast attention - more than many musicians ... is problematic. Which gives rise to my final point hinted at above and that it's really just about popularity, not music. Trippie Red makes a little more sound than Kardashian and wears a different label - but it's almost the same thing. FYI there's a good anecdote about Puff Daddy and is AR guys. His guys would come back from the club and say 'we found a great new sound' and Puff would say 'but how do they look?'. Getting a face tattoo today is more 'key' to getting acclaim than much else, because it really sticks out on instagram (ie visual) where the competition is. I truly hope as you say there are actually more 'bedroom masters' than before, I don't see it but I hope I'm wrong.