Free is good
If you care about music, find an hour to listen to this week’s episode of On the Media from NPR:
As the program makes clear, nothing could be better for creatives and performers [not to mention listeners] than the complete breakdown of the twentieth-century music industry business model in the face of the persistent openness of the internets and digital media. The following exchange between Rick Karr and independent musician Amanda Palmer encapsulates the new reality for artists:
Rick Karr: You may be the only optimistic person we’ve talked to in the entire music business … ten years ago the industry was selling 13.5 billion dollars worth of records, last year … 8 billion. And we’ve heard people say that the live touring industry is collapsing because it’s consolidated to the point where it’s just unsustainable anymore. And yet, you’re sitting here and … you sound really optimistic.
Amanda Palmer: People don’t love music any less. There might be a lot less money out there in the industry, but maybe that’s a good thing … Are you doing this to be rich and famous or are you doing this because you really love music and you want to connect with people, and you’ll do it even if it just means you make a living wage? If that’s true, I’m a fan of the new system.
Classical musicians, who more than most in the music business are positioned to offer an unparalleled live listening experience and through it a special connection with listeners, have generally been slow to wholeheartedly embrace new and independent approaches to presentation, programming and media. It’s time for concert artists to put creative programming front and center and to acknowledge that the reduced relative value of media practically demands that we share it with our listeners in an effort to engage them in our live work.
And a thought related to my own interests as a music fan: If you’ve ever wondered why a contemporary classical musician would be as stimulated by hip hop as I am, consider the OTM segment on sampling and the way the technique’s obsession with musical material and influence echoes the very same process in art music throughout the centuries. Perhaps that internal musical logic is the reason why hip hop was initially misunderstood by monetization-obsessed record labels, and why it has turned out to be a hugely influential musical genre in the very era of the industry’s collapse.
