Are you positive about the future of the music industry?

[Tranquil010]

A part of me thinks were in a phase right now - and the new phase, maybe a decade from now.. we'll see Tower Records closing doors.
When the boom of Napster came about, that was a HUGE event in music.
I have been guilty a number of times having 30 gigs of downloaded music on a hard drvie. But now, beatport, I am addicted to that site.

When I used to buy records back in the day, I would spend $12 for an A and B side.. TWO TRAKCS - thats it..!
Now at beatport, maybe two times a month, I'll pick up $20-$30 of singles. I think beatport is a great service.

Like we've all been chatting about, for independent artist, and artist who are flooded with creativty, who can actually sing or play instruments.. Performing is a great tool for them. It can be totally benifical.

Though, it's to bad watching lip sinkers (cough;l;l;l;l; Ashley Simpson
) and other's who are drivin to the top by their last name.
I think that with todays youth culture, 11 year old girls wearing G-strings - sex appeal fuels top 40 and current music.
It's sometimes nice watching some knuckle dragger shake their ass on tv (remember britney spears at the 2001 mtv awards - - I bet thong sales have shot up since then haha
)
But at the end of the day, i bet britney's producers and engineers have used Auto tune a few times.

mp3 downloading, iPods, American Idol (who else made it big other than Kelly C.?) , napster, limewire, bittorrent, wanna be trance producers putting cheesy synths in Bow Wow's music, and the same music played over and over on pop radio - like D.C.'s local Hot 99.5 .. lol
I feel were in a aweusme time for music. the technology is ridiculous and is going to only get better. But on the flipside of that, I dont think record sales will ever be the same... movies too...

[leonard]

I should say that there are still alot of independant music labels putting out alot of great music. More springing up every day, more closing their doors. It's a cycle, life and death. I still buy vinyl, lots of it. Issues limited to say 200-300 releases. It's obviously a niche market, but what isn't. A vinyl release isn't necessarily about the music alone, it's more about the object. I know alot of the stuff I have, if I had it on mp3, I wouldn't value it so much. I'd still like it , sure, but firing up your compy or ipood to listen to a piece of music, wich lots of the time has noticable artefacts (iTunes anyone?), is not the same as dusting off an old piece of wax, and firing up the old record player and sitting back. I thinks that's another thing about the digital music revolution, it's become too accessible for me. I like to think of releases as almost snapshots in time (especially when theyre limited). I can look back at my collection and say, "yeah, emember that phase?". I can't do that with one click buying, if you know what I'm saying. And some releases come in beautiful elaborate packaging, with artwork, posters, bonus discs, I can't get that with downloadding the latest single from wherever. It just doesn't do it for me.

[mikemc]

American Idol (who else made it big other than Kelly C.?)

The network, and all of the advertisers

[djadonis206]

I like to think of releases as almost snapshots in time (especially when theyre limited). I can look back at my collection and say, "yeah, emember that phase?". .

Music in general does it for me that way - like if I'm listening to old Orb or Chemical Brothers it just takes me back to that time

so does grunge rock - so does hip-hop

I sold off all my crappy dance music a few years ago so all I have now is jams - I only buy jams...now that I'm finally getting what djing is, finally

but what you're talking about, it's all about a particular song or artist I haven't heard in a long time

Puffy Little Clouds

[forge]

some great replies, thanks

Vinyl will never die

Ipods are actually cool - whether you like that division of Apple or not they are a godsend...it's kind of revolutionized the way I think about music and manage my music

I think the future is very bright indeed for all aspects of music - digital, live performances and vinyl

It's only the true haters who will think one is dead and the other is not

nah man, it's not about being a vinyl "hater" at all - it's sheer economics - when there are so many download sites around putting out good music in what is already a very difficult time to justify the cost of vinyl production now, it will just become out of the question

dont forget, what we think is a fast broadband connection now will be slow really soon so actually downloading wavs will be totally commonplace - no more artifacts - no more people whinging about downloads - it will just be normal

I just cannot see how anyone besides wealthy DJs who dont mind throwing money away knowing it will be a loss will want to press up vinyl - and of course as it gets more that way, then it will become even more expensive to do - and so on

so with all that in mind, really the question is where does that take the industry?

most replies here show people fully see the whole downloads/iPod thing as the big major thing that IS changing music unrecognisably for ever

No doubt there has been a huge change - but where does it leave us?

Is it further fuel for the ADHD consumer short attention span "40 seconds? I want it now!" times we're in? Is that a bad thing or does it keep us on our toes?

Personally I do sometimes feel like maybe I was born 20 years too late, I love the technology, but I also really liked the "age of the studio album" - my favourite Beatles was post 1966 and I always prefered listening to an amazingly well produced album on headphones at home than seeing a band live - that's one thing the iPod is killing off - sure it might have been more of a hassle to take out 15 tapes, but it also forced you to decide what kind of mood you were in and would often mean listening to all of some great albums

and am I the only one that sometimes feels totally overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of choice out there? Sometimes it stops me listening to anything at all bar old CDs because I just dont know where to start

having said that, I totally love Beatport and like the other poster am pretty addicted to it

[djadonis206]

Well put Forge

But here's something I think about - we're online and pretty connected to the online world so news usually hits us first, even if it's a rumor

You don't see an advertisement for Live 6 in Computer Magazine for at least 2 months here in the states - let alone in Guitar Center

So, it's easy to be that further ahead on what's really crackin'

By time everyone catches up with us we'll be on to the next thing

also, with that in mind some people just aren't connected - sure a Import record will cost $15.99 sooner than later but still some peole will still fork out the cash...I hope Platinum Records doesn't stop selling vinyl because it's like my little chill spot

I go everyday at lunch, it's on the strip so I stop in when I'm "on the pish" and talk loud and fuck around - all the guys are my friends and you can make some good connects at the record store

I think the community at the store is alot tighter and real then the community on line - sometimes

[D DAS]

I am not even sure how positive I am about the future of the human species industry.

[j0shu@]

^
i concur

i didnt read all the posts above, but i absolutely abhor how itunes is put together. the whole $1 a song thing is cool, but the copy protection, 128kb bit rate, non file name reading id3 tag ipods, and whole chunky clunky itunes interface is crap to me. and they scratch ridiculously easy.

having a 30Gb hard drive so small is kind of cool though.

[MrYellow]

Things are going great, record companies are getting pushed out, talent is making a come back.

-Ben

[forge]

Well put Forge

But here's something I think about - we're online and pretty connected to the online world so news usually hits us first, even if it's a rumor

You don't see an advertisement for Live 6 in Computer Magazine for at least 2 months here in the states - let alone in Guitar Center

So, it's easy to be that further ahead on what's really crackin'

By time everyone catches up with us we'll be on to the next thing

also, with that in mind some people just aren't connected - sure a Import record will cost $15.99 sooner than later but still some peole will still fork out the cash...I hope Platinum Records doesn't stop selling vinyl because it's like my little chill spot

I go everyday at lunch, it's on the strip so I stop in when I'm "on the pish" and talk loud and fuck around - all the guys are my friends and you can make some good connects at the record store

I think the community at the store is alot tighter and real then the community on line - sometimes

you're right - these days I spend alot more time in the *virtual* company of people who are online and well connected - I do forget there are still alot of people who aren't so up to date - but even there with digital TV and multimedia workstations that let your granny get online it is still changing there too

yeah, there are definitely things I miss about being in on the vinyl loop - I left my records and decks with a mate in the UK because I thought I wouldnt need them and it's expensive to send things to the other side of the world, but there is that other side beyond just the tunes themselves like you just said

but then I was usually that dickhead who couldnt remember the names I got from the DJ so I went in going "do you have that one that goes "boom cha boom cha boom cha" being looked at with the contempt I deserved - so digital is always better for me..

so what then do they start putting more CDs aimed at DJs out? It's already a pretty widely accepted thing now that loads of DJs play CDs - big names too

Then again someone here postd a link to that new numark IPod deck - pretty sound idea really - taking jst your iPod to a gig and mix it up with one of those would be a pretty easy thing to do and no different sound wise to playing MP3s any other way...

but anyway Ableton is catching on in such a big way now, there arent many around who arent aware of it now - in which case the downloads is by far the best option......now if Ableton were to do a traktor/beatport thing and sync up a shopfront...(*kidding*)

but with the whole wireless broadband thing it's pretty cool to be able to open up your laptop before a gig and pull down some new tunes!

maybe the next thing to support should not be Mackie controls etc but iPods??

[bazylp]

Depends on whether you're a positive or a negative person or whether you're going through a positive or negative stage in your life right now.
The music industry has always been, and will always be, there (maybe not in the form we know it today). Artists (and music companies) will continue to make money from it. Some people will make more money from it than others of course. Nothing changes and nothing will ever change (except for the end of the world, if that's ever going to happen, or maybe it is going to happen, and will always happen anyway, so nothing changes). Birth, life, death, birth, life, death...

[downtone]

Vinyl will never die
<snip>
I think the future is very bright indeed for all aspects of music - digital, live performances and vinyl

It's only the true haters who will think one is dead and the other is not

nice

[forge]

Depends on whether you're a positive or a negative person or whether you're going through a positive or negative stage in your life right now.
The music industry has always been, and will always be, there (maybe not in the form we know it today). Artists (and music companies) will continue to make money from it. Some people will make more money from it than others of course. Nothing changes and nothing will ever change (except for the end of the world, if that's ever going to happen, or maybe it is going to happen, and will always happen anyway, so nothing changes). Birth, life, death, birth, life, death...

no I think you're right that there will always be a music industry - but what I was referring to moreso was the "recorded" music industry - it will always be possible to sing for your supper, I agree, but what about those of us who are more writers than performers? Is it time for us to quit?

Personally, I'm pretty convinced playing live is the only way to earn any money now - maybe things like merch. if you have enough of an image - and maybe CDs at gigs, but I'm interested to hear how it works for other people and if there are people still doing well of their tracks and if they have noticed a big change over the last few years

[forge]

by the way, i couldn't answer this poll because i simply don't believe that there is much of a music industry to speak of.

There's a huge entertainment industry, but music as a pure artform is already nearly dead as a commercial entity.


.lm.

interesting you say that lm, do you really feel that? Do you think it's evolving into something else? - "multimedia"? is the full sensory experience expected now?

Ben Elton's book "this other Eden" set 100 years in the future when it's called "advertainment" and the movies are all about the products they promote, one of the little details he put in was that radio still lived on because it's something people can listen to while they are doing something else.

I think he has a point - likewise, if you walk into a supermarket you will hear some faint song over the in store system that will invariably get stuck in your head - might be a pile of celine dion chlamidia discharge, but it could also be Queen, or the Beatles, or even something new etc etc

surely people will always want and expect those "soundtrack to life" songs everywhere?

What do you mean when you say it's dead as a commercial entity?

[leisuremuffin]

well, i think that the folks who leonard mentioned, who are putting out runs of a few hundred pieces and not really making very much money are the folks who are actually the remains of the music industry.

No company who's purpose is to make money is interested in music if they can make more money by fabricating an entertainment entity like the "pussycat dolls".

-and-

No indy label can survive for long unless there is an audience for what they're selling. They need people who are actually interested in music.


So here the problem i see:

How are young people going to even get interested in music if they don't know that it's something that happens to your ears and body, not your eyes and wardrobe?

How many teenagers do you think could sit through an hour of a live John Coltrane performance if he were alive today? There are certainly some, but i would guess that most would be bored to tears.



Of course, all of this is meaningless if you don't mind working in the entertainment business.

Personally, it's not for me, i've tried. I like *music* and i'll probably go to my grave broke (but happy) because of it.


.lm.