The Future of Music

duga · 05-18-2012, 05:03 PM

There is no denying that the music industry is changing. That has been a given for many years now. Napster all the way back in the early 2000’s signified the beginning of the end for traditional music creation, distribution, and sharing. But it’s 2012 now. It’s 2012 and I think only now are we beginning to see what this giant mess the digital world has created will leave us with.

Here’s what I have taken from recent years:

The album, though much easier to create due to the affordability of home recording equipment, is dead. While there are purists like me who refuse to devolve into the world of the single, the truth is there is just not the interest in the album experience that there used to be. The reason is because most people are casual music listeners, and streaming music as well as Youtube has made it easy to get your hands on just the song you want.

It will take much more than even a hit single to enter into legendary status. What do I mean by legendary status? I mean an artist that will be remembered for generations after the one they became famous in. There are a few holdouts in the pop world that I feel have made it in the traditional sense…Lady Gaga, for example. I don’t like her, but somehow she has forced herself onto the scene, everyone noticed, and many many people buy her albums. Madonna is sitting in the shadows wondering if she can still pull that off. Everyone else is a throwaway flavor of the month. For this reason, I feel the next few years could be considered what I like to call the “One-Hit-Wonder Era”. I’ve heard so many songs that have become giant hits that everyone has forgotten about now that it makes my head hurt. Owl City’s “Fireflies”? Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks”? Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know”? Yep…one hit wonders all around. I even think Gotye’s album is pretty good…but it won’t last.

While the above paragraph makes me seem a bit cynical, I do appreciate what today’s music scene has done for me. I’ve just been discovering the wonders of Spotify. It’s like a musical playground…most everything I want to listen to, I can. For free. While this has killed a bit of the music hunt that I used to love, it has done away with the annoyance of tracking down a download. Now if I want to listen before I buy, it’s no longer illegal. As an audiophile, I can get lost in a new music hole easier than ever. It’s just sad that I am rare. It has also jaded me to a lot of music. I am so saturated with new stuff that I rarely give albums the time I would have in the past. It’s rare these days when I feel that special click with an album.

Streaming music will also be the end of standalone mp3 players. Throw an app on your phone, and you can listen to whatever you want. Why would you need an mp3 player? I myself am starting to question its utility. I both miss my old physical music collection, which I now hope to start building up again in the form of vinyl with albums I discover off Spotify and I am also tired of dealing with so many devices. Call me a sellout, but I love having one gadget that does everything I need. The only thing that freaks me out about this is the fact it’s not permanent. Let's say hypothetically that something happens to the internet...there goes all the music I want to listen to. I love my massive music library. However, with so much streaming music, what’s the point of even having that besides the fact that its still more tangible than a streaming file?

So where do you guys think all of this is heading? I can already tell I’m going to sound like a old fart once I have kids…”In my day, we had these things called albums….and they were awesome”. I really miss them sometimes.

Anyway, feel free to post any random thoughts you have. Any other theories? Does anyone think I’m full of ****? I’ve been feeling so disillusioned about music lately…and I need to talk about it.

Paedantic Basterd · 05-18-2012, 05:11 PM

I find all of these observations very depressing, being that I'm strongly in favour of physical ownership and the album format.

I must admit that I'm also saturated with music. I can't count the number of albums I've purchased that I've only heard once, let alone the albums I thought were great but never purchased to hear again.

duga · 05-18-2012, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bam You Have AIDS

I find all of these observations very depressing, being that I'm strongly in favour of physical ownership and the album format.

I must admit that I'm also saturated with music. I can't count the number of albums I've purchased that I've only heard once, let alone the albums I thought were great but never purchased to hear again.

It's depressing for you and me both. I never thought it could happen, but I've officially entered the "What happened to the good old days?" stage of my life.

I'm still struggling with finding a way to reduce the amount of saturation I'm presented with...I know there are brilliant albums I've listened to over the past few years that I can't even remember. It's depressing because I know if I had a physical copy sitting on my desk, I'd start browsing one day, run into it, and pop that sucker in. As a digital file on my computer, it's very easy to overlook or ignore.

jackhammer · 05-18-2012, 05:29 PM

I personally think that it's a two edged sword. The art of a standalone album does seem like a dying art but only commercially. I doubt we will ever see multiple artists selling millions of albums like they did in the preceding decades because you can just grab the best/well known track off an album via the net (in whatever form) and move onto the next band.

The reverse side is extremely positive, never before have fans been able to sample and explore the sheer diversity of music because of the net and many bands both past and present are getting exposure they could only dream of even 15 years ago. Maybe that's why the album seems to be dying. The media and maybe close friends were pushing select albums and you barely had no choice other than to buy if you wanted to listen but now fans can turn around and say bollox, I found this band instead and they are 10x better so I am listening to them instead and therefore the listening demographic is much wider spread.

I agree though Spotify is generally good and I barely download anymore and don't have to worry about finding this or that link. For a five spot a month I now have Spotify unlimited and have already found some great music.

Paedantic Basterd · 05-18-2012, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duga

I'm still struggling with finding a way to reduce the amount of saturation I'm presented with...I know there are brilliant albums I've listened to over the past few years that I can't even remember. It's depressing because I know if I had a physical copy sitting on my desk, I'd start browsing one day, run into it, and pop that sucker in. As a digital file on my computer, it's very easy to overlook or ignore.

I use RYM to rate items, and if it's below a 2.5 I won't bother with it again, but that still leaves me a good couple hundred albums I liked but may never hear again.

To help deal with it temporarily, I randomize the albums in my library every day and listen to whatever it selects, but it's not the most effective solution. I'm not complaining though. It's great feeling like there's simply too much good music.

Zer0 · 05-18-2012, 05:42 PM

I was having an off-kilter conversation with a guy I share an office with not so long ago over fusing microcontroller chips with the human brain and the possibilities it could bring. It got me thinking about the possibility of streaming music directly to the human brain and doing away with the needs of mp3 players or streaming to your phone. However I think we're still a long way off from becoming cyborgs.

But more seriously, the future of music will become more and more focused on accessibility. Streaming to phones and other portable devices seems growing at the moment and in the future it could be possible to stream music to your digital watch. People are also caring less and less about sound quality with is a real shame. Vinyl, cassettes and even CDs sound so much richer compared to 128kbps mp3s and streamed audio that it's hard to figure out why people want to compromise sound quality for the sake of accessibility.

duga · 05-18-2012, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackhammer

I personally think that it's a two edged sword. The art of a standalone album does seem like a dying art but only commercially. I doubt we will ever see multiple artists selling millions of albums like they did in the preceding decades because you can just grab the best/well known track off an album via the net (in whatever form) and move onto the next band.

The reverse side is extremely positive, never before have fans been able to sample and explore the sheer diversity of music because of the net and many bands both past and present are getting exposure they could only dream of even 15 years ago. Maybe that's why the album seems to be dying. The media and maybe close friends were pushing select albums and you barely had no choice other than to buy if you wanted to listen but now fans can turn around and say bollox, I found this band instead and they are 10x better so I am listening to them instead and therefore the listening demographic is much wider spread.

True, I guess I shouldn't complain too much...having too much music isn't really bad haha. Still, I just worry that the album being a dying art (even commercially) will diminish the quality of albums in the future. If no one wants to buy them or are interested, why put your heart and soul into an album's worth of material? Great singles make me want more, and most of the time I get more in the form of a complete album. I don't like that if I want more of a band, all I can look forward to is heaps of crap and one great song.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bam You Have AIDS

I use RYM to rate items, and if it's below a 2.5 I won't bother with it again, but that still leaves me a good couple hundred albums I liked but may never hear again.

To help deal with it temporarily, I randomize the albums in my library every day and listen to whatever it selects, but it's not the most effective solution. I'm not complaining though. It's great feeling like there's simply too much good music.

That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea. It might not be the most effective...but at least some of the stuff I don't play often will get a spin here and there.

duga · 05-18-2012, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zer0

But more seriously, the future of music will become more and more focused on accessibility. Streaming to phones and other portable devices seems growing at the moment and in the future it could be possible to stream music to your digital watch. People are also caring less and less about sound quality with is a real shame. Vinyl, cassettes and even CDs sound so much richer compared to 128kbps mp3s and streamed audio that it's hard to figure out why people want to compromise sound quality for the sake of accessibility.

Only audiophiles such as ourselves really notice quality like that. It really does take a trained ear. I've noticed my hearing is much more discerning than most people as a result. There is a digital watch somewhere in my girlfriend's room that goes off the same time every night, but it's very faint because it's buried somewhere. Every time I mention how annoying the beeping is, she looks at me like I'm crazy. She can't even hear it, no matter how hard she tries.

**Janszoon** · 05-18-2012, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bam You Have AIDS

I find all of these observations very depressing, being that I'm strongly in favour of physical ownership and the album format.

I'm with you, especially about the ownership thing. I really don't like the idea of music access via subscription. It puts you far too much at the whim of what the provider chooses to carry.

Paedantic Basterd · 05-18-2012, 06:02 PM

How are kids getting their start in music these days anyways? When I was a kid I used to sort through my mom's cassettes for my first musical education, and after a while was allowed to pick my own from the CD club she was a member of, and this was all before I was 10. The very idea of a 10 year old having free reign of the internet and ipods and cell phones really bothers me.

05-18-2012, 05:03 PM	#1 (permalink)
duga MB quadrant's JM Vincent Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 3,762	The Future of Music There is no denying that the music industry is changing. That has been a given for many years now. Napster all the way back in the early 2000’s signified the beginning of the end for traditional music creation, distribution, and sharing. But it’s 2012 now. It’s 2012 and I think only now are we beginning to see what this giant mess the digital world has created will leave us with. Here’s what I have taken from recent years: The album, though much easier to create due to the affordability of home recording equipment, is dead. While there are purists like me who refuse to devolve into the world of the single, the truth is there is just not the interest in the album experience that there used to be. The reason is because most people are casual music listeners, and streaming music as well as Youtube has made it easy to get your hands on just the song you want. It will take much more than even a hit single to enter into legendary status. What do I mean by legendary status? I mean an artist that will be remembered for generations after the one they became famous in. There are a few holdouts in the pop world that I feel have made it in the traditional sense…Lady Gaga, for example. I don’t like her, but somehow she has forced herself onto the scene, everyone noticed, and many many people buy her albums. Madonna is sitting in the shadows wondering if she can still pull that off. Everyone else is a throwaway flavor of the month. For this reason, I feel the next few years could be considered what I like to call the “One-Hit-Wonder Era”. I’ve heard so many songs that have become giant hits that everyone has forgotten about now that it makes my head hurt. Owl City’s “Fireflies”? Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks”? Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know”? Yep…one hit wonders all around. I even think Gotye’s album is pretty good…but it won’t last. While the above paragraph makes me seem a bit cynical, I do appreciate what today’s music scene has done for me. I’ve just been discovering the wonders of Spotify. It’s like a musical playground…most everything I want to listen to, I can. For free. While this has killed a bit of the music hunt that I used to love, it has done away with the annoyance of tracking down a download. Now if I want to listen before I buy, it’s no longer illegal. As an audiophile, I can get lost in a new music hole easier than ever. It’s just sad that I am rare. It has also jaded me to a lot of music. I am so saturated with new stuff that I rarely give albums the time I would have in the past. It’s rare these days when I feel that special click with an album. Streaming music will also be the end of standalone mp3 players. Throw an app on your phone, and you can listen to whatever you want. Why would you need an mp3 player? I myself am starting to question its utility. I both miss my old physical music collection, which I now hope to start building up again in the form of vinyl with albums I discover off Spotify and I am also tired of dealing with so many devices. Call me a sellout, but I love having one gadget that does everything I need. The only thing that freaks me out about this is the fact it’s not permanent. Let's say hypothetically that something happens to the internet...there goes all the music I want to listen to. I love my massive music library. However, with so much streaming music, what’s the point of even having that besides the fact that its still more tangible than a streaming file? So where do you guys think all of this is heading? I can already tell I’m going to sound like a old fart once I have kids…”In my day, we had these things called albums….and they were awesome”. I really miss them sometimes. Anyway, feel free to post any random thoughts you have. Any other theories? Does anyone think I’m full of ****? I’ve been feeling so disillusioned about music lately…and I need to talk about it. __________________ Confusion will be my epitaph...

05-18-2012, 05:29 PM	#4 (permalink)
jackhammer Ba and Be. Join Date: May 2007 Location: This Is England Posts: 17,331	I personally think that it's a two edged sword. The art of a standalone album does seem like a dying art but only commercially. I doubt we will ever see multiple artists selling millions of albums like they did in the preceding decades because you can just grab the best/well known track off an album via the net (in whatever form) and move onto the next band. The reverse side is extremely positive, never before have fans been able to sample and explore the sheer diversity of music because of the net and many bands both past and present are getting exposure they could only dream of even 15 years ago. Maybe that's why the album seems to be dying. The media and maybe close friends were pushing select albums and you barely had no choice other than to buy if you wanted to listen but now fans can turn around and say bollox, I found this band instead and they are 10x better so I am listening to them instead and therefore the listening demographic is much wider spread. I agree though Spotify is generally good and I barely download anymore and don't have to worry about finding this or that link. For a five spot a month I now have Spotify unlimited and have already found some great music. __________________ It be my music and film collection. “A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.”

05-18-2012, 05:42 PM	#6 (permalink)
Zer0 ∞ Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Ireland Posts: 3,792	I was having an off-kilter conversation with a guy I share an office with not so long ago over fusing microcontroller chips with the human brain and the possibilities it could bring. It got me thinking about the possibility of streaming music directly to the human brain and doing away with the needs of mp3 players or streaming to your phone. However I think we're still a long way off from becoming cyborgs. But more seriously, the future of music will become more and more focused on accessibility. Streaming to phones and other portable devices seems growing at the moment and in the future it could be possible to stream music to your digital watch. People are also caring less and less about sound quality with is a real shame. Vinyl, cassettes and even CDs sound so much richer compared to 128kbps mp3s and streamed audio that it's hard to figure out why people want to compromise sound quality for the sake of accessibility. __________________ Last FM \| RYM \| The Final Sound

05-18-2012, 05:11 PM	#2 (permalink)
Paedantic Basterd Music Addict Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 5,184	I find all of these observations very depressing, being that I'm strongly in favour of physical ownership and the album format. I must admit that I'm also saturated with music. I can't count the number of albums I've purchased that I've only heard once, let alone the albums I thought were great but never purchased to hear again.

05-18-2012, 06:02 PM	#10 (permalink)
Paedantic Basterd Music Addict Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 5,184	How are kids getting their start in music these days anyways? When I was a kid I used to sort through my mom's cassettes for my first musical education, and after a while was allowed to pick my own from the CD club she was a member of, and this was all before I was 10. The very idea of a 10 year old having free reign of the internet and ipods and cell phones really bothers me.