Ageless Music?

In our current cultural climate, music is primarily considered a commodity for financial gain, and secondly as
a living, valid artform. In the 20th century, radio was the
main medium which delivered live and recorded music to the masses. Repeated listenings ingrained the catchiest tunes
in the minds of millions of listeners. This continued for
several generations through Rock's Golden Era until the advent of visual/audio entertainmentin the early '80s, when MTV started the trend which put visuals first, audio second. The top-selling acts of the last 20 years or so (Madonna, B.Spears, Cher, et al) have been designed mainly to promote the visual qualities of their acts. Music
has become mostly disposable, which does not bode well for the music of the past either, because the inherent cynicysm in today's market dictates that new products must be constantly produced and sold. Our youth-oriented society has no financial motivation to expose our children to musical masterpieces of the past, be they classical, folk, country, Jazz, Rock or otherwise. Traditional radio is dead. The music industry grooms our tots from an early age to respond to the latest musical trends. Art and music are always the first programs to be cut in school. Stores and malls do not play quality music either. I see no reason why they don't. It would certainly enhance the atmosphere, although I'm sure it has been determined that quality music might deter shoppers from spending money. In conclusion I'd have to say my outlook is bleak; while there will always
be afficionados like us on Audiogon, the majority of great
music will fade into oblivion within the next 100 years.
What chance would Ella Fitzgerald have today?

Music that is played often enough to be recognized, yet not played too often to be repulsive.

Musicbuff,

Very well put!

We need to teach our children (or younger generation in our household) to appreciate good music somehow or the other.

When my kids were growing up I introduced to them "Fantasia". In the last ten years I have changed three formats (VCR to Laser Disk to DVD) but I made sure that I always pick up "Fantasia". One day (that was few years ago) when I was listening to Beethovens 6th Symphony my son and daughter were wondering why I am listening to music from Fantasia just by itself, that is when I decided to explain to them it was not Fantasia first but the music came first and Fantasia was merely an adaptation. Later I bought music books and CD's identifying musical instruments, we had fun going through all that over the years.

My son is now 13 and he has some idea of how to differenciate between good and bad music. He does not get up and leave the room when I am listening to Ella Fitzgerald or Louis Armstrong. He even gets a chuckle when I am listening to the live version of Mack the Knife by Ella in which she copies the voice of Louis Armstrong. He has gone as far as enjoying a session where I was comparing few versions of Cry me a River on the LS3/5a's.

We are wholly responsible to pass on great collection of music so it survives, and there is no better way than through our own children.

While I would agree that 99.9% of popular music that's out today is crap, I tend to wanna be more optimistic. As far as comtemporary music that will survive the ages, I would think that's pretty hard to foresee, seeing as music is so subjective (believe it or not there are those who think Cher as a creative force). Myself, being 39 years old, I could listen to the likes of Miles Davis and The Beatles all nite long (and have)! I firmly believe that the creative fury within the Beatles (especially Lennon/McCartney)in that short time frame, will not be equaled in my lifetime, but who knows. It seems to me that in popular music's recent history, everytime music seems to be in an uninspiring rut, some artist or band breaks through to shake things up. Frank Sinatra, Elvis, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Elvis Costello, The Clash, Prince, Nirvana, etc., to me are all examples of this. More recently, the music of Ryan Adams, Beth Orton, Paul Westerberg, Dave Koz, James Horner, Sade, Diana Krall, etc., keep me inspired and hopeful. Will this music be ageless? Who knows. All I know is I'm not buying and listening to music now in the hopes that my kids or their kids will approve of and say "wow".

I'm with Beatlebum whilst Musicbuff makes some very good points the heratening thing is that if you look at the biggest selling albums of all time,the vast majority are pre-MTV.
That's not totally related to the original query but I think most music historians will discriminate-we might be in a shallow era for music but it will probably regarded as such.
History is full of such moments on many levels.