The Way The Music Died

You have to be awake at 4am to find this stuff on TV, but the website gives all sorts of great particulars. The title is a twist on the phrase coined by Don McLean in American Pie which traced our demise from the date February 2, 1959, when Buddy Holly, Big Bopper & Richie Valens crashed in a snowy field. For me, the day the music died was December 8, 1980, when John Lennon was shot.

Although we had lost, perhaps, our innocence, we certainly had incredible music after 1959. However, I defy anyone to successfully argue that the 25 years since 1980 have produced better music than the 25 years before it. The world of music is a world filled with death and tragedy along with the magnificent highs it produces. It will die many deaths and be reborn as often.

The program I highlight here is a great synopsis of how the industry operates, and it will probably go a lot faster than reading this blog. Though, if you really want to know, and don't mind all the extra opinion and analysis, I suggest IntoFreeMusic. The reason I write about this stuff so much is because when people understand the process by which music, and other entertainment, is filtered before it gets to them and the economics of the industry, they will use their dollars and computers wisely to improve our selection of meaningful art.

Anyway, the day it died is far less interesting to me than the way it died, or the way it is changing. As a matter of fact, I don't quite understand why PBS takes such a dour tone. The music isn't dying. The music is being resurrected. It's the music INDUSTRY that's dying, so that the music itself can live. Nothing is more worthy of death than the music industry which has been killing music, not to mention human brain activity, since it became a billion dollar sector and attracted the sharks.

First it became a commodity, and then, via MTV, it became a visual commodity. The music itself took a back seat to those marketing and visual factors to the point where we get to stars as profitable as Britney Spears who succeed almost totally on the basis of visuals, promotion & production. Yes, we reached some low points, boxed boy bands etc. You know, people have a right to be entertained without having their minds or hearts stimulated. And I don't have a problem with anyone offering up that opium.

My issues with the music industry, film, TV, radio, print and many other industries, including, increasingly, the tech sector is the lack of a free market. Yes, crappy art bothers me, so I try not to patronize it. As long as alternatives exist and the economics of the sector have sufficient checks and balances, I'm ok. If Britney is popular because there are more people who enjoy watching her tits bounce than there are people who enjoy listening to Fiona Apple, no problem. When Clear Channel, who owns every major market in the country takes the Dixie Chicks off their stations because Natalie Mains criticizes Bush, I got a big fucking problem. Especially when the powerful broadcasting lobby has Congress exponentially expand the number of stations a company can own.

I prefer not to focus on death but rebirth and the important date for me was July 29, 2000, when Napster defeated RIAA's first try at an injunction. Hank Barry, the triumphant Robin Hood telling the public, hey, we got your music back... come and get it. Well, we came, we got it. The internet has changed everything, and though we need to be vigilant, I think it will be an uphill battle for entertainment entities to control content and price the way they did before. Music is becoming less something you buy, and more something you do.

Musique est mort? Viva la musique!