Home taping’s not killing music…the internet just might be though.
Utter tosh says you? Read on…
Oh yes, without the internet – you might argue – we’d have no Arctic Monkey, look at the MySpace buzz which propelled them to stardom. Without the internet, we’d have no YouTube to see those promos and archive footage of collaborations and demos. Without the internet we wouldn’t have access to (pretty much) all the music, ever at the click of a mouse to download.
And there’s where I need to stop you. The downloads. How much do you download? How much of it is free? Oh, of course, I appreciate that some of it might be free but still with the consent and knowledge of the artist and record company – the BBC6Music MPFree being just one superb example. But how much of the other downloading is just a wee bit, ahem, suspect? Even when it’s “legit” how much downloading actually happens now?
If you work or study at home all day, you could be YouTube-ing, Last.fm-ing or Spotify-ing away to your heart’s content all day, every day for free. And how much of this do the artists ever see, financially speaking?
I’m all for the internet to spread the love of music around. I once blogged (bit.ly/replaceyourfriends) about how last.fm could (but ultimately won’t) replace your friends and I stand by that. The other thing the internet does, though, is proliferate music a lot of music.
“In the old days of the music business, which was basically before the end of the 1970s, the main barriers to “making it in music” were studio time and access to distribution. Whoever wanted to be heard adequately needed well distributed releases. That is, having recorded material in the first place. The means for producing such recordings were so expensive that at some point only big corporations could spare the funds to pay for the required studio time and personnel. The effect of this economic barrier to resources was that a couple of hundred artists and bands gained access to an audience of millions. Once a recording was produced it enjoyed a long life in the market due to the lack of competition that otherwise would have pushed it off the store shelves”
Stefan Goldmann bit.ly/littlewhiteearbuds
Goldmann goes on to explain that the advent of affordable recording equipment pretty much allowed the last 70’s/early 80’s punk and new wave scene to happen. No bad thing, I’m sure you’ll agree. The natural corollary of this is the situation we have today: just about anyone with a smartphone can make, record and – most importantly – share and distribute their musical creations.
“But Bryan, that’s great. That’s democratic.” Sure it is. But just remember this: for every Arctic Monkeys there are a dozen Rebecca Blacks.
And that’s really my point. There’s just so much out there that it can become meaningless. Joel Bryant said, “The problem today is one of too many choices, few of which compel but all of which distract.” And he’s right. Filtering out the good stuff is ever more difficult and that’s where you need some proper guidance.
The ability of software such as last.fm to say “well if you liked that Teenage Fanclub track you’re bound to love this Big Star number” is, for me, the best thing about it. It’s rarely if ever I skip a track on last.fm. I’m more likely to hit the heart icon. Often the next thing I do is open up another tab, find out a bit more about the artist – usually first checking when they’re playing live, cos that’s the best thing…but that’s another story for another time. What happens then might be that I’ll swing by their Twitter feed and follow them, like them on Facebook or – as I did this week – head into the nearest independent record shop and pick up their CD.
I won’t usually download their stuff – free, legitimate, paid for or otherwise – simply because I’m a bit of a luddite when it comes to your actual music. Though I prefer to think of myself as a purist. I love the tangibility of a CD or better yet, some vinyl.
Record Store Day in April of this year was heaven for me. The first new release vinyl I’ve bought in years – It’s Boss Time, the Springsteen covers EP – an actual NEW CASSETTE, the Frightened Rabbit/Twilight Sad demos and a host of other stuff I’d kind of had half an eye on but hadn’t got round to because I’d not been in a real shop to do some actual browsing.
See, there’s the thing. Browsing. We all have our preferred browsers: Firefox, Internet Explorer, whatever – but I’m talking real browsing here. One of the definitions of it is “to look leisurely at goods displayed for sale, as in a store.” I think you just can’t do that properly online. You need to know what it is you want when you’re buying online, to be targeted and specific. When you’re in a shop you can pick up a CD or LP and ask the folks behind the counter what it’s like. “But you can listen to samples online” I hear you chorus. I know you can but that’s not the same as asking the bloke in the shop what it’s like. Yes, they may put it on for you to hear, yes you may even like what you hear but – and here’s the thing – if they give even the slightest toss about their job (and surely they must for the wages are not the best so they must be doing it for what I shall call a higher purpose) then they’ll be able to say to you, “Over The Wall? Aye, it’s really good. Sort of in the middle of Admiral Fallow and Frightened Rabbit but with some electronica in the mix too – quite spare in places but really, really clever. Horns, drum effects, angsty lyrics in a vernacular style, not too polished, loads of energy…I’ve seen them live, they’re great live…”
That’s what you miss when you’re “browsing” your tabs and scrolling your screens. The warmth. The humanity. The soul. That’s music. That’s why you should stop reading this, open up another tab, find your nearest independent record shop (yes, there are people out there who don’t know where their nearest one is) and go down there. Get listening. Get talking. Get involved…get your wallet out.
