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Does The New Business Of Music Change The Way Music Sounds?

7 points by prakash 18y ago

gasull 18y ago
Also, the old business of music is changing the way music can sound. How? With sample trolling: * How Copyright Law Changed Hip Hop. An interview with Public Enemy's Chuck D and Hank Shocklee http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/20/public_enemy.html http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/20/public_enemy.htm... * Jay-Z Versus the Sample Troll http://www.slate.com/id/2153961 http://www.slate.com/id/2153961
SwellJoe 18y ago
I've been thinking for a while now about the likelihood of a return to a singles focused pop music business, like we had in the 50's and 60's. Most folks here grew up after the "album rock" generation, and so don't really remember it (I don't either), but there was a time when a single was the way bands were heard. It was possible to go into a studio for a day, cut two sides, and be on the radio a week or two later. And then do it again every two months until you had an album worth of songs. That became passe eventually, as the record labels got addicted to the bigger high of a $10+ album sale, and found that they could put two or three good singles on the album and the rest filler and make more than having to push each single individually. There have, of course, been album bands, like latter-era Beatles, and Pink Floyd, that made true albums wherein removing one track would damage the whole and listening to one track in isolation is less satisfying than the whole, but I'm talking the pure pop industry...the Motown folks, Elvis, most popular country music, etc., the people who were shooting for two and a half minutes of gold, nothing more, nothing less. Anyway, I think that's probably a good direction for pop music to go. Most 60's girl groups didn't make wonderful music...but every once in a while, something like "Be My Baby" came along, and it's sold an awful lot of records over the years (and certainly has more stamina than any Britney creation). It'd be nice if there were a strong motivation built into the industry for pop records of that quality, and if there were a channel that could be effectively used to sell one really brilliant pop tune. And, what do you know, with iTunes, Unbox, and others there is! The traditional music business has a vested interest in not seeing that happen (again, they like the now $15+ album sales way too much to accept a world in which all of their channel stuffing results in $0.99 sales). But, if a well-funded new label sprung into existence, focused exclusively on producing fantastic pop singles with good young talent, it'd probably change the face of the pop music industry. This is one of those weird ideas that doesn't really fit either the long tail or the traditional blockbuster approach, but I think it's inevitable.

7 points by prakash 18y ago

Also, the old business of music is changing the way music can sound. How? With sample trolling: * How Copyright Law Changed Hip Hop. An interview with Public Enemy's Chuck D and Hank Shocklee http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/20/public_enemy.html http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/20/public_enemy.htm... * Jay-Z Versus the Sample Troll http://www.slate.com/id/2153961 http://www.slate.com/id/2153961

SwellJoe 18y ago

I've been thinking for a while now about the likelihood of a return to a singles focused pop music business, like we had in the 50's and 60's. Most folks here grew up after the "album rock" generation, and so don't really remember it (I don't either), but there was a time when a single was the way bands were heard. It was possible to go into a studio for a day, cut two sides, and be on the radio a week or two later. And then do it again every two months until you had an album worth of songs. That became passe eventually, as the record labels got addicted to the bigger high of a $10+ album sale, and found that they could put two or three good singles on the album and the rest filler and make more than having to push each single individually. There have, of course, been album bands, like latter-era Beatles, and Pink Floyd, that made true albums wherein removing one track would damage the whole and listening to one track in isolation is less satisfying than the whole, but I'm talking the pure pop industry...the Motown folks, Elvis, most popular country music, etc., the people who were shooting for two and a half minutes of gold, nothing more, nothing less. Anyway, I think that's probably a good direction for pop music to go. Most 60's girl groups didn't make wonderful music...but every once in a while, something like "Be My Baby" came along, and it's sold an awful lot of records over the years (and certainly has more stamina than any Britney creation). It'd be nice if there were a strong motivation built into the industry for pop records of that quality, and if there were a channel that could be effectively used to sell one really brilliant pop tune. And, what do you know, with iTunes, Unbox, and others there is! The traditional music business has a vested interest in not seeing that happen (again, they like the now $15+ album sales way too much to accept a world in which all of their channel stuffing results in $0.99 sales). But, if a well-funded new label sprung into existence, focused exclusively on producing fantastic pop singles with good young talent, it'd probably change the face of the pop music industry. This is one of those weird ideas that doesn't really fit either the long tail or the traditional blockbuster approach, but I think it's inevitable.