The Internet: All the music in the world and nobody’s buying

[microtonic]

Remember when all this music was supposed to be a good thing, and how the mp3 was forever going to revolutionize and democratize music? Blog post right here wonders why there's a ton of new music every day on download sites like Beatport, even though nobody seems to care...

http://phatsobrown.wordpress.com/2009/1 ... ys-buying/

[davepermen]

there's too much music for anyone being able to have everything. so before the internet, we didn't knew. regional things could be regional successful, and great on it's own. and then the internet came, and people thought everyone now can sell globally. yeah, they can, but does anyone care? and buy? no, because there's too much.

before beatport and the such got hip, going around the world was interesting as clubs played different sound everywhere, each dj having a different repertoire of music. nowadays, they play beatports top 100, and done. (if at all.. most likely the top 20 5 times a night ).

how to change that? maybe a bit by specialing oneself with ableton again. making own music, being "identificable" at a gig. so getting 'local famous' might be cool again? and for some, it might be then the way for breaktrough to worldwide success. but only for some. we can't have 10000 world leading music producers.. just doesn't work that way..

[microtonic]

Good points sir.

[Da hand]

It's all about building a following of people who like your music. It was like this before, it is like this now, and it will be like this in the future. Simply putting out music, placing it in a store - online or retail - and waiting for the sales to happen will never amount to anything. It never did before and it will not do so now.

[hacktheplanet]

You seem to forget that the majority of people who go to clubs don't go for the music.

[mdb]

One word - Oversaturation

[necho]

so getting 'local famous' might be cool again?

YES! Devolve, localize, rebuild the community! Onwards!

[Da hand]

You seem to forget that the majority of people who go to clubs don't go for the music.

That really depends on the club or the night. There are many clubs and nights where people do very much go out for the music.

[UKRuss]

Clubbing died in the late 90s. Music followed soon afterwards.

[jeskola01]

Probably becuase the vast majority of the music out there is not promoted or advertised, you have to go out and find it yourself.
Yeah there are people who enjoy "digging thought the crates", and the people who support and buy from these are the people genuinly interested in you and what you have to offer - unfortunatly the masses prefer to be spoon fed, with the mentality of "Why spend days searching for that progressive house gem if you can just buy the tracks that Digweed is playing from his beatport chart" through to "if it's not on the radio/TV then it must be rubbish"

Remember aswell, average Joe Smith out there does not collect and listen to music - they listen to music in passing wether that be on the radio on their drive to work or it's on in the kitchen radio when they have breakfast - and that is their only exposure, and in most cases is all they are really after. I'm sure your mum or dad may have great taste in music, but can you see them sifting through pages and pages wasting hours of their time looking for that sweet gem, when they can just turn on the radio and get some instant gratification of some girl of Xfactor (hey, that's a nice song ). I just don't think people really care.

[UKRuss]

we're all just a bunch of chin stroking producer geeks making music for each other, seeking internet glory and praise from our peers.

In fact though, we don't even bother listneing to each others music (Link Your Music Forum case in point)

That's it. I'm selling everything.

[necho]

I think if anything, we are witnessing the death of RECORDED music and the rebirth of LIVE music. Music has been around for thousands of years, but recorded music is a very recent phenomenon. Pre 20th century, musicians never expected to become rich - it was about art and entertainment, not fame and fortune. The technology that allowed for the mass production of a physical object that contained music created a "music business" - a means of quantifying and capitalizing on music.

Now, the technology has eaten itself.... the internet has caused oversaturation and the abundance of recorded music has, in a way, devalued the actual experience of listening to recorded music in your living room, or on your iPod.

So now, hopefully the emphasis will return to live, performed, collectively experienced music...

And technology can help with that.... which is why LIVE is the best DAW!

[Jarvisimon]

Nobody has yet mentioned that 99% of music in any particular genre is quite samey. Everyone is copying the 1% of originality that is present, diluting it to such an extent that it all becomes quite worthless.

And yes, I agree totally that music should move itself back into the field of Live Performance if anyone here is to make a bean out of it. However, realise, that nobody is going to make a lot of money this way either, seeing as venues are limited and audiences are finite.

So in the end, it'll be down to whoever makes the music people most want to hear, which instantly leaves out 95% of everyone making music on their computers.

Fun hobby though perhaps not something we should rely on to help us pay the bills.

Perhaps it's time to cancel your order of that new controller!

[UKRuss]

Perhaps it's time to cancel your order of that new controller!

Already done.

There is a huge market in terms of developing software, hardware, controllers, monitors, teaching, mixing, mastering etc.

Its' nice to have a hobby and it's even niceer to be able to strive for professional productions even if we don't find it original.

I'm liking the whole 'local fame' thing. My new project is all about that, songs that relate to my town, the people, hopefully they'll get it and I'll score a few local gigs and a bit of an audience. Will be fun, even if i don't make any/much cash from it.

[crumhorn]

I worry that so much freely available music has had the effect of devaluing music in general.

I used to have a small collection of a hundred or so CDs and LPs which were all special to me. Each one chosen and shopped for, lovingly cared for and listened to constantly. I now have a hard drive with more than 100GB of mp3s on it (including most of the music I previously owned and treasured), but I find I listen to music less, and when I do I just tend to put my player on random and skip anything I'm not in the mood for, just using it as background music
really. I might as well just put the radio on.

Recently I recovered my old turntable from the loft and went through my old vinyl. It was wonderful, flipping through the collection and choosing what to put on the turntable next. And I found myself really listening and getting involved with the music in a way I haven't experienced for years.

Ban the random button!