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Musicians' Should Look To Instrument Manufacturers To Replace Record Companies.


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Musicians’ Should Look To Instrument Manufacturers To Replace Record Companies.

 

It’s an idea I’ve been working on for more than two years.

Manufacturers have a clear vested interest in the health of the musician community. Many positions held within manufacturer business structures’ know exactly what it takes to play a given instrument and would therefore have at least a sense of music and performance that is “of quality”.

 

Record companies continue to purge that kind of assessment skill from their ranks.

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Regardless of who takes over the function of labels, it's something that needs to be done...if not now, then eventually. The problem is the labels missed the boat on new technology, so now it's Apple, Spotify, Pandora, even YouTube that are calling the shots.

 

I don't think manufacturers will become the new labels in terms of developing talent, but they can sure help with the promotion and marketing angle for musicians who are vocal supporters of the company. In terms of discovering talent, what mystifies me is why the streaming music companies haven't realized it would give them a major competitive advantage if they have material everyone likes, but no one else has. As they're the ones making money on the music, it seems they would want to make MORE money on the music. It's what Netflix and YouTube are doing with videos - creating original content to try and outmaneuver each other.

 

Thing is, streaming companies have a sweet deal right now. All they have to do is provide bandwidth, an interface a four-year-old can navigate, and pay the occasional royalty. The only way they'll expend extra effort is if they think it will make them more money.

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I think manufacturers replacing labels is a neat concept, but why? There are plenty of folks who are sponsored by companies. They can use that money to record or whatever they want. They also help with marketing that artist brand if they have a big enough name to be in ads and whatnot. How would this change things, except now somebody else would have a bigger say in what a particular artist's output is?

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I think manufacturers replacing labels is a neat concept' date=' but why? [/quote']

 

Because it's a symbitotic relationship. As for the "plenty of folks who are sponsored by companies", this idea doesn't apply to those situations as it's a completely unrelated circumstance.

 

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Old models of anything die evntually. When a person uses the death of the old model as a reason for not being able to survive in the future, what is that person in the wave of change? And why should anyone listen to that person? The old models had strangle hold positions until they didn't anymore. Now the progressive among us will surge forward. When the new way is paved, guess who will be running to cash in?

The last bastards that held the power and the ones that folded up camp when the bastards lost it.

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Because it's a symbitotic relationship. As for the "plenty of folks who are sponsored by companies", this idea doesn't apply to those situations as it's a completely unrelated circumstance.

 

I'm not seeing how this is completely unrelated. Care to explain further?

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Old models do indeed become superseded as a general rule but that was a naturally resolving cycle of models that cannot be easily adapted here. We are talking about bringing talent back into the mix. I do not mean the Anderton model of knob-spinning, slide-positioning board geeks marching lock-step to industry check-listed faux-talent storyboarding. I'm talking about the actual players of musical instruments, real singers who do not need the geek-squad pitch correcting them and their collaborative effort in the studio with the geeks in humble subordination. Please describe to me your resolution for bringing that back.

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@Idunno: I do not mean the Anderton model of knob-spinning, slide-positioning board geeks marching lock-step to industry check-listed faux-talent storyboarding.

 

Please do not claim to represent my position, because you are obviously 100% clueless about what that position is.

 

@Idunno: Please describe to me your resolution for bringing that back.

 

Here's my answer. Unlike your ridiculous fulminations that disparage those getting into music, people like you should instead encourage ANYONE who wants to get into music to do so, on any level. Those into electronics don't stop there; they often want to go further, which can take the form of learning an instrument, becoming proficient at production, or even inventing their own software to accomplish a specific task (e.g., Ableton Live).

 

The more people who play music on any level, the more people will understand the music-making process and be involved in appreciating music. It's highly likely this will lead to a greater demand for quality music, especially if the phenomenon of what happened with music in the 60s is representative and not just an anomaly.

 

People like you are helping prevent the very thing you claim you want to see.

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you should instead encourage ANYONE who wants to get into music to do so, on any level. Those into electronics don't stop there; they often want to go further, which can take the form of learning an instrument, becoming proficient at production, or even inventing their own software to accomplish a specific task (e.g., Ableton Live).

 

I think about my grand parents generation in South Louisiana. They were poor with no TVs and radios that barely picked up any stations because they were in the middle of nowhere. Friday nights friends and neighbors went to each others houses, ate food, got the out their instruments, sang, and danced. Nobody made any money off of what they were doing. They did it for their own enjoyment and had a good time.

 

Technology has changed things, and continues to do so, but it's not so different now. Sure, there are some folks who are able to make a living playing music, but most are hobbyist. There isn't anything wrong with that, and you're exactly right, most people I know that play music are the ones that are out there supporting musicians.

 

and @Idunno: We are talking about bringing talent back into the mix

 

Talent is subjective and no one person gets to say what music is for everybody. You can have your preferences. That's fine and should be encouraged, but there's no need to be dick about it. If I'm completely honest, electronic music doesn't do a whole lot for me, but I also realize there's without exploration and pushing the limits we'd still be just banging two rocks together. There's still plenty of stuff out there that doesn't involve computers if that's your thing. It's a big world. Take a look around, find what you like, and go with it.

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rhino55: You are also describing an era when music was used to entertain us (as in we used it to entertain ourselves). We have fast food entertainment now. Instant. Gone are the days of waiting for your favorite song to come on the radio again so you could hear it. You can get it NOW, NOW, NOW, and soon the gratification that comes from anticipation is GONE, GONE, GONE.

And because of American Idol, and America's Got Talent, now...every Tom, Dick, and Harry things they have talent and are wanna-be singers.

 

I think part of the identity crisis with music genres, the collapse of the record label industry, and the poverty of musician's (generally speaking) is in part due to all of these trends dragging the art of making music down.

 

D

 

 

 

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rhino55: You are also describing an era when music was used to entertain us (as in we used it to entertain ourselves). We have fast food entertainment now. Instant. Gone are the days of waiting for your favorite song to come on the radio again so you could hear it. You can get it NOW, NOW, NOW, and soon the gratification that comes from anticipation is GONE, GONE, GONE.

And because of American Idol, and America's Got Talent, now...every Tom, Dick, and Harry things they have talent and are wanna-be singers.

 

I think part of the identity crisis with music genres, the collapse of the record label industry, and the poverty of musician's (generally speaking) is in part due to all of these trends dragging the art of making music down.

 

D

 

 

 

I can see where you're coming from.

 

The era of radio could also be called an era of instant gratification compared to what I originally described. Obviously technological changes have brought it to more of an extreme.

 

It's easy to blame American Idol etc but I don't think shows like that are the cause of all the wanna-be singers. Those shows are around because all those wanna-be singers were already there.

 

 

 

 

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rhino55: You are also describing an era when music was used to entertain us (as in we used it to entertain ourselves). We have fast food entertainment now. Instant. Gone are the days of waiting for your favorite song to come on the radio again so you could hear it. You can get it NOW, NOW, NOW, and soon the gratification that comes from anticipation is GONE, GONE, GONE.

And because of American Idol, and America's Got Talent, now...every Tom, Dick, and Harry things they have talent and are wanna-be singers.

 

I think part of the identity crisis with music genres, the collapse of the record label industry, and the poverty of musician's (generally speaking) is in part due to all of these trends dragging the art of making music down.

 

D

 

 

 

The art of making music got watered down dramatically when it was subjected to the visual aspect of ratings. I couldn't believe it when that happened but it did and music at large lost at least one man's respect that I know of. That spelled the end of traditional musicianship and the beginning of the sacred video for marketing music purposes. Traditional concerts also suffered the loss of borderline concert goers. Remove the video component of music - impossible at this juncture - and it will return to it's core aspect of sound alone. Technology, once again, serves to dehumanize another aspect of the arts in life by the hands of a few profiteers. It has already displaced the traditional rendering methods of fine and commercial arts to the sterile environment of electrons. It has dehumanized interpersonal relationships with the cell phone and texting technologies. Hell, even the word "texting" is not found in this site's lexicon (yet). Now the technology is shouldering aside traditional playing of real instruments. I think the whole of technology will one day render a pallet devoid of the true colors of humanization and we have champions of that in the form of the Andertons to thank for it. Good job, fellers. Keep up the good work.

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I think the whole of technology will one day render a pallet devoid of the true colors of humanization and we have champions of that in the form of the Andertons to thank for it. Good job, fellers. Keep up the good work.

 

You are out of your mind. I am in favor of putting more tools in the hands of musicians; what they do with those tools is up to them. To think that I champion musical de-humanization is the most ridiculous statement anyone could make, unless you're unaware of what I've been writing about for the past 40 years.

 

It's always the case that musicians who have feel and talent will use their tools appropriately. If you want to eliminate those tools so "the great unwashed" can't access them, then you're also eliminating those tools for people who are more than happy to move outside of their comfort zone and learn new things.

 

A keyboard player creating a drum part on a drum machine is certainly entitled to do so, but a "real" drummer working with electronic drums will come up with something that's art and goes beyond what he could do with acoustic drums alone.

 

It's like when someone from the musician's union argued with me that samplers would put musicians out of business. My answer was "Who plays samplers? Accountants?" Yes, more movies these days use soundtracks composted by a single musician rather than an orchestra. But I submit that the volume of movies has given more employment overall for musicians than the days when movies hired the same group of session musicians and orchestras to do soundtracks. And if you've been to the movies lately, the level of creativity with many soundtracks is amazing due to the blending of acoustic timbres with electronic textures.

 

 

 

 

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Now the technology is shouldering aside traditional playing of real instruments.

 

Like how the piano shouldered aside the clavichord...or lutes shouldered aside lyres :)

 

Technology creates new types of instruments, whether you're considering the piano - which allowed keyboards to have dynamics - or adding frets to stringed instruments. The piano was a direct result of Prince Ferdinando de Medici's fascination with technology and mechanical devices, which caused him to recruit Cristofori as an inventor, who in turn created a keyboard that - unlike the harpsichord - could produce variations in volume. He worked constantly to improve the technology, right up to his death; note that even Bach dismissed early pianos, saying the higher notes were too soft to allow for a full dynamic range. It took technological improvements before he approved a piano's design a couple decades later. And even after its invention, the piano remained relatively unknown for at least a decade.

 

The early pianos were high-tech, expensive monstrosities that were only the province of the wealthy, and it took more than a century before piano players acquired the same kind of status as rock stars and also, the technology became more affordable (which dovetailed with the rise of a middle class).

 

As for shouldering aside traditional playing of real instruments, electric guitar sales are flat, not declining, while acoustic guitar sales have actually increased. So have electric pianos for the home, which brings your "real instruments" into economic reach for more people compared to having a grand or upright.

 

Electronic instruments are in their infancy, like the piano was in 1700. Think of all the changes that were made to the piano to bring it to where it is today. To think that electronic instruments won't undergo a similar evolutionary curve over the next couple of centuries flies in the face of the history of all musical instruments. Are you aware of something like the Roli keyboard? It allows for exceptional expressiveness when teamed with electronic sounds, while carrying on the legacy of technical innovation which has always been a part of keyboard development.

 

It's not my fault if technology not only provides new tools for your so-called "real" musicians to use, but also makes it easier for people to get into playing and enjoying music. People who are into music don't stop with what they start with, any more than guitar players are still playing the 3/4-sized nylon guitar on which they first learned. As I've mentioned before, many DJs have found DJing to be the "gateway drug" into wanting to learn more about music and so they start playing traditional instruments. More and more EDM groups are incorporating traditional instruments into what they do; check out the videos I did at IMS on Harmony Central's YouTube channel.

 

How can anyone have a problem with people undergoing a transition from casual hobbyist to serious musician? We all gotta start somewhere. I see no downside to making it easier to get started, especially when the benefits allow further refinement of the tools that your so-called "real" musicians can use.

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The art of making music got watered down dramatically when it was subjected to the visual aspect of ratings. I couldn't believe it when that happened but it did and music at large lost at least one man's respect that I know of. That spelled the end of traditional musicianship and the beginning of the sacred video for marketing music purposes. Traditional concerts also suffered the loss of borderline concert goers. Remove the video component of music - impossible at this juncture - and it will return to it's core aspect of sound alone. Technology, once again, serves to dehumanize another aspect of the arts in life by the hands of a few profiteers. It has already displaced the traditional rendering methods of fine and commercial arts to the sterile environment of electrons. It has dehumanized interpersonal relationships with the cell phone and texting technologies. Hell, even the word "texting" is not found in this site's lexicon (yet). Now the technology is shouldering aside traditional playing of real instruments. I think the whole of technology will one day render a pallet devoid of the true colors of humanization and we have champions of that in the form of the Andertons to thank for it. Good job, fellers. Keep up the good work.

 

What you're arguing against is entertainers taking advantage of new ways to entertain. There are still plenty of "pure" musicians with virtually no video aspect to what they do. Every decent size city has an orchestra and at least one concert series. Many even have guest instrumentalist coming in from all over the world. If that's not you're thing, there are festivals all over where people camp out all weekend and play old time and bluegrass music.

 

It's also possible to have entertainers be damn good musicians. That's kind of how it's always been. If you think Mozart wouldn't have been at least as big of a douche on social media than Kayne West, you're as delusional.

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