Music's Lost Decade

[Bateluer]

Piracy is theft, and it reduces good music being made. If it's worth a click to download, the people who made it and the industry who helped it get made are entitled to compensation.

If you don't like 'the system' enough to not pay, don't download. If you liek it enough to download, pay.

No one is discounting these facts, the discussion is able the misdirection and ineffectual music industry targeting the wrong problems. They blame piracy for their woes instead of asking why people are pirating the music. The cost(free) of pirated music is a big factor, but it definitely goes deeper than that. Its their unwillingness to adapt to changing technologies and grow their business model with it. Rather than fight the digital distribution, they should have worked with it from the beginning. They've effectively signed their own death warrant, dug through own grave, and are currently getting into their own coffin.

Personally, I haven't pirated any music in years, buying more of my music through Amazon. But I only spend about 20 bucks a year in music, usually after I've been exposed to it on Pandora, which the RIAA tried to shut down, ironically.

 

[BigDH01]

Also no. My taste in music has changed drastically over the last few years. Are you trying to say that the Beatles and the Black Eye Peas (just for one example) are on the same level? Come on...I don't even like the Beatles, and even I can realize that the quality of music has gone way downhill into the gutter the last decade or so.

I think this is true for the most part. The best song recently, IMO, was actually a 3-part symphony and it was on Muse's last album. It's an interesting sound and I really enjoy it. I don't think it's received much, if any, play time, but it's great. Especially Part 2 (Cross-pollination). It doesn't sound similar to the bands of the 90s that I grew up with, but it is very appealing to me. I think tastes do evolve, but mainstream just sucks for the most part.

Also, I don't like the Beatles either .

 

[nageov3t]

No, he's probably right.



Also no. My taste in music has changed drastically over the last few years. Are you trying to say that the Beatles and the Black Eye Peas (just for one example) are on the same level? Come on...I don't even like the Beatles, and even I can realize that the quality of music has gone way downhill into the gutter the last decade or so.

the problem comes from comparing the best of the past to the entirety of the present.

taking the beatles out of the equation (because they were a unique phenomena that will likely never be repeated), look at Top 40 charts from the 60's and 70's. they're pretty much filled with 99% complete shit.

the number 1 song the year Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released? "To Sir with Love" by Lulu.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Piracy is theft, and it reduces good music being made. If it's worth a click to download, the people who made it and the industry who helped it get made are entitled to compensation.

If you don't like 'the system' enough to not pay, don't download. If you liek it enough to download, pay.

THere are a lot of bad excuses. Even people who spend a lot of time downloading pirated music and listening are likely replacing their need to buy some music. But here they complain there's no good music.

Yet when it comes to welfare, and other things that are "good socially" then that's okay for people to legally be able to "pirate" these services?

I'm not advocating piracy, nor am I saying that people who are "better off" shouldn't help those who aren't as an FYI.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

the problem comes from comparing the best of the past to the entirety of the present.

taking the beatles out of the equation (because they were a unique phenomena that will likely never be repeated), look at Top 40 charts from the 60's and 70's. they're pretty much filled with 99% complete shit.

the number 1 song the year Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released? "To Sir with Love" by Lulu.

The Who
Bon Jovi
Journey
Boston
Aerosmith
Van Halen
Etc., etc...there is nothing nowadays that can even compare to the quality of music from the 60's until the 90's. It's all just the same regurgitated garbage. Yes, there was a lot of junk in that time period, but there was also a ton of quality stuff that is ageless. Not so nowadays.

Nobody will care about The Black Eye Peas or Nickelback in twenty years, despite the fact that they are "chart toppers", because they are just a pop fad with no lasting power.

The Clash is another quality classic band...The Bellrays who? Nobody knows who they are. Niche music is niche.

I'm kinda curious why this is in P&N and not OT though...

 

[alphatarget1]

Amazon MP3s run specials and has a lot of MP3s that are free. 15 bucks a CD is too much for me, but 5 bucks for a whole album is something I wouldn't mind paying for.

 

[lothar]

I don't voluntarily listen to music. I must be in the minority.
I don't buy CD's or MP3's. I don't pirate songs either. I also don't listen to any channel on the radio besides C-Span radio and NPR. The only radio I have is the one in my car.

On the 2nd day of my job about 2 years ago, I turned down the volume of the stupid rap/pop songs that were playing in my department to zero and it's been quiet ever since.
No one has any idea what happened or who did what.

 

[nageov3t]

Niche music is niche.

that's what Scroob meant by good music is out there, but you've got to find it.

also, like over half the bands you listed fricken blow.

 

[Steeplerot]

Really, I think the music industry is done, and kids? They are not "into" music like we were.

For one, the music diversity is low, many contemporary artists sound like protools clones.

I hate to say it, but techno/hip hop and its offshoots will carry on. But it seems things like lyrics in music will be outdated soon.

Just my opinion. (I work in nightclubs and am a DJ)

Rock and Roll is dying, long love Rock and Roll.

Techno/House/Disco may well win this round. =(

 

[BigDH01]

the problem comes from comparing the best of the past to the entirety of the present.

taking the beatles out of the equation (because they were a unique phenomena that will likely never be repeated), look at Top 40 charts from the 60's and 70's. they're pretty much filled with 99% complete shit.

the number 1 song the year Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released? "To Sir with Love" by Lulu.

I think there is definitely some truth in this too. I had assumed looking back on the 90s and before, I would find the bands that I liked and considered to be popular topping the charts (as if people had good taste). Then I went here:

http://www.discjockey.org/topsongs.html

In the 60s, I did see some bands that I would expect. Rolling Stones, Beatles, some Doors, some Simon & Garfunkel, but not as much as I was expecting. I guess my perception of what people were listening to compared to what they were actually listening to is way off. This is especially true of the 90s. I was expecting it to be littered with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Bush, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc, etc. It's not. The seminal break-through song of the 90s alternative/grunge movement (IMO) Smells Like Teen Spirit didn't even break top 10 in 91 or 92. I guess mainstream has always been crap for the most part. I guess now there's just more crap to filter.

Just to give you an idea, my perception was that Smells Like Teen Spirit was huge for the breakout of Nirvana and following bands. In 91, people were actually listening to...

I Do It for You-- Bryan Adams
I Wanna Sex You Up-- Color Me Badd
Gonna Make You Sweat-- C & C Music Factory
Rush, Rush-- Paula Abdul
One More Try-- Timmy T.
Unbelievable-- EMF
More Than Words-- Extreme
I Like the Way-- Hi-Five
The First Time-- Surface
Baby Baby-- Amy Grant

and in 92...

End of the Road-- Boyz II Men
Baby Got Back-- Sir Mix-a-Lot
Jump-- Kris Kross
Save the Best for Last-- Vanessa Williams
Baby-Baby-Baby-- TLC
Tears In Heaven-- Eric Clapton
My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)-- En Vogue
Under the Bridge-- Red Hot Chili Peppers
All 4 Love-- Color Me Badd
Just Another Day-- Jon Secada

I can see and definitely remember listening to Under the Bridge, but the rest is completely forgettable for me.

 

[rudder]

Yet when it comes to welfare, and other things that are "good socially" then that's okay for people to legally be able to "pirate" these services?

I'm not advocating piracy, nor am I saying that people who are "better off" shouldn't help those who aren't as an FYI.

same goes for movies! If you want to be liberal with my tax dollars... I am going to be liberal with your movies!

 

[Lemon law]

Years ago the recording companies had the producers of content, namely the musicians themselves, by the short hairs because the means of mass producing content was very expensive. With the advent of digital computers and compact disks simply places the means of production affordable within the hands of the musicians themselves.

Its patiently absurd that the RIAA would paint themselves as the protector of musicians when they have always been the exploiters of musicians and remain so. And in any new
scheme to prevent the illegal downloading of music, its long past time to realize that these no longer needed parasites should be legislated from the face of the earth. That step alone would greatly reduce the price of a CD and create a system where the musician gets greater compensation.

But still no easy answers, people are pigs, and its impossible to beat the attraction of free downloads for the set of people with no morals.

 

[Steeplerot]

There has always been horrible "corporate rock" (to borrow a 80s term) in my opinion the music industry could care less about real bands starting out, and live music is VERY hard to do nowadays. Gas prices and huge distances between our cities almost guarantee that awesome garage band from your hometown is gonna be playing from a myspace profile. And no farther.

That and, younger folks can not get into bar/events until they are 21 mostly nowadays.

By 21 people already have a idea of what they are going to be into. It is too late for that garage band to meet the youth.

In other news in Europe promoters doing my same job are getting 10k people out on weeknights, here in USA? We are lucky if 300 people come out. For a world-known act. USA is in a sad music state.

 

[Craig234]

same goes for movies! If you want to be liberal with my tax dollars... I am going to be liberal with your movies!

Not surprisingly, you are a thief. You weak excuses just embarrass you.l

 

[Craig234]

Yet when it comes to welfare, and other things that are "good socially" then that's okay for people to legally be able to "pirate" these services?

I'm not advocating piracy, nor am I saying that people who are "better off" shouldn't help those who aren't as an FYI.

You are clueless what it takes for a society to do well. That ignorance easily fuels misguided ideologies - all your taxes are 'theft'. Better is the quote, taxes are the price we pay for civilization.

A society choosing to tax one better off group to provide some assistance to the worse, through the democratic process of electing people who pass that rule, isn't 'theft'.

We're not talking here about the corruption of democracy, when a wealth interest buys the policy it is enriched by, we're talking about democracy.

You are here saying what might as well be that you steal cars, but it's ok because you think all taxes are theft. It's ridiculous.

 

[JS80]

Thanks for the insight.

Who do you imagine will still be popular 30 years from now that released a majority of their songs from 2000-2010?

The Killers. They have the potential to be the next U2 (in terms of original sounding and wide listener-ship) in the next decade or two.

 

[JS80]

The Who
Bon Jovi
Journey
Boston
Aerosmith
Van Halen
Etc., etc...there is nothing nowadays that can even compare to the quality of music from the 60's until the 90's. It's all just the same regurgitated garbage. Yes, there was a lot of junk in that time period, but there was also a ton of quality stuff that is ageless. Not so nowadays.

Nobody will care about The Black Eye Peas or Nickelback in twenty years, despite the fact that they are "chart toppers", because they are just a pop fad with no lasting power.

The Clash is another quality classic band...The Bellrays who? Nobody knows who they are. Niche music is niche.

I'm kinda curious why this is in P&N and not OT though...

That's an unfair comparison. As time passes it gets infinitely harder to be more "original." Everything has been thought up of and tried, whether it's music, movies, or even business ideas.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

also, like over half the bands you listed fricken blow.

LOL! No...enough said. This is amusing coming from someone who apparently thinks "The Bellrays" are a real band. Even your comparison sucked...The Clash were an awesome band (some say they started the whole "Punk scene")...this "The Bellrays" group are a bunch of nobodies that nobody has heard of outside of a tiny niche circle of people with bad taste in music.

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

That's an unfair comparison. As time passes it gets infinitely harder to be more "original." Everything has been thought up of and tried, whether it's music, movies, or even business ideas.

No, it's not an unfair comparison. Almost all of the best music has already been released. The sad stuff nowadays is just hack-job wannabes. It's all totally derivative and totally banal. I'd rather listen to the good original stuff than some poser band trying to poorly copy a classic band's style.

 

[Moonbeam]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10004&sc=gaw&gclid=CJqExLCh1J8CFQ-lagodOQaCaw

Free and legal.

 

[JS80]

No, it's not an unfair comparison. Almost all of the best music has already been released. The sad stuff nowadays is just hack-job wannabes. It's all totally derivative and totally banal. I'd rather listen to the good original stuff than some poser band trying to poorly copy a classic band's style.

Exactly my point. Everything's been done. Like I said it's infinitely more difficult to put out good/original music now. Every song is some derivative of something that's already been done. There can only be so many combination of chords.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdVurJFMDUI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV6iM9HIpRY

by your logic we should just all listen to the beatles.

 

[spacejamz]

The music industry pretty got screwed after Napster....once the public got that taste of 'free' music, it was pretty much game over...

In this age self entitlement and immediate gratification, kids today think music should be free because they have never experienced an environment where you actually HAD to drive to a store and BUY an LP, cassette or CD...they always just get a copy from a friend that downloaded it...

Everytime I fix a coworker's home PC/laptop, their kid usually has a 10-15GB music collection on it...If I were betting person, I would guess that most of those songs were not legitimately obtained.

To top it off, you have the azzwipes here who try and justify their piracy by blaming the RIAA when in fact they just don't want to admit they are too fvckin cheap to pay for it, so they try and blame someone else so they can feel better about themselves...

 

[Kirby]

I'm not old enough to really even remember most artists from the 90s and back, but it seems today that it takes a lot effort to find good music. It's definitely out there, you just have work to find it.

 

[werepossum]

Piracy is theft, and it reduces good music being made. If it's worth a click to download, the people who made it and the industry who helped it get made are entitled to compensation.

If you don't like 'the system' enough to not pay, don't download. If you liek it enough to download, pay.

THere are a lot of bad excuses. Even people who spend a lot of time downloading pirated music and listening are likely replacing their need to buy some music. But here they complain there's no good music.

Good lord, I find myself completely in agreement with you for the first time in four years. Must . . . stop . . . head . . . from . . . exploding . . .

 

[KMFJD]

No, it's not an unfair comparison. Almost all of the best music has already been released. The sad stuff nowadays is just hack-job wannabes. It's all totally derivative and totally banal. I'd rather listen to the good original stuff than some poser band trying to poorly copy a classic band's style.

You just aren't looking for new music...all the best music has already been released? what a load of horseshit that is.