Why Music Has Lost it’s Charms (Article)

@tylermunns While I understand the attachment to physical media, I have well over 3500 vinyl. Isn't the true intrinsic value of recordings the music itself?

As far as the business model of streaming, don't blame it on streaming, nothing inherent to streaming that makes it unfair to artist's renumeration. Blame this on a society/culture that doesn't value artists in general, mass taste means only a few artist reap vast majority of rewards, the rest are lucky to make a living salary or do it expecting little or no income.

For those who think the golden age of music all in the past, music business models existent in those days were far worse for vast majority of artists. Extremely limited number of labels controlled entire music business, percentage of artists getting studio time for recording miniscule. I often think about how many great artists were never recorded, what a waste. Funny how people often remember things with rose colored glasses.

He's wrong, same old garbage that was said about music in the 1920's, 1940's and then the 50's , 60's , 60's , 70's etc. And as for RAP, I heard the same complaints about Bob Dylan lyrics back int he 70's, the older folks thought he was deranged talking about laying across my big brass bed (Sex!), act just like a little girl (underage sex!), blowing in the wind (drugs of course!), Weathermen, a name taken later by a terrorist group (See! He wants to kill cops!), crazy and disgusting music, never last they said.....

My older sister and brother-in-law hate any music that isn't 1950's type rock and roll. Which means many of the artists this author points out in the article that he says are great and classic, they can't stand listening to and think of it as garbage. It's tan opinion not fact. So just because he doesn't like Rap, it's not good music. That's an opinion, not fact. Hell, Bach would have hated Tchaikovsky. My Dad was in WWII listening to 40's music and couldn't stand 1950's or later music. And made fun of music from the 1920's as "My Dad's type of music. Horrible." 

What will be classic and still listened to in 50, 100, 500 years? Who knows. Especially this guy. '

Because you may not like what some music says or is about, or understand what it's actually trying to say, doesn't make it bad, it means you don't like it, Which is fine.  

Which is why I listen to every type of music and consider value in all of it. I obviously have favorites and ones I don't listen to often, but I'll try and understand any music. And I'll try more then once also. 

(...rather than waste space:  The Hives, Hate to Say I Told You So)

@mahgister ...If ever in your company, I will happily listen to your setup and your music.  Even if it happens to be here than there....

Just made a typo, 'hear' for 'here'....interesting, that... ;)

Classical forms were supported by the 1%'ers of those times and places.
They were also subject to rude crowds and fistfights post-debut....
Pardon if I don't see much differences, other than the centuries between. 😏

I listen to what sounds good to me, and repeat and mark what and where it is.

Sofar reminds me of the Roches...who reminded me of the Andrews Sisters, the Everly Bros., and other harmonic groups even back into classics...

Big Band I grew up to, along with polkas (which remind me of mariachi ), the crooners Crosby, Sinatra, Spike Jones....

I found the 'bubble gum music' of the white guys kept me initially from the Beatles...Fortunately.  The later stuff had some intelligence behind it... ;)

Jazz for awhile....listened to the LA stations, too early to own my own at the time.
A good move, overall.  Most, if not nearly all, were terrible to listen to then.

That changed, didn't it...the late 60's > 90's gear was a blizzard of available means to make music sound 'real'...more or less, just like now.

(Interlude)

Currently: Classics thru NOW.

EDM, Trance, Chemical Bros.(The Test), Prodigy (Narayan), Sound Cloud, Spotify, and billiard balling through YT following my eyes for the ears.

Hi, @mapman ....Down with you on it....following my arc... ;)

It's either where music goes, or it's back to the logs 'n rocks by the fire... *L* ;)

This is relative recent and nice to my ears....

...but nice to work to as well.

My Walsh eat this up with room for dessert.... ;)

A good week to y’all, J

A long time ago, music was very simple; then it became more complex (and therefore more expressive). Now it’s become less expressive again, which some interpret as "it sucks."

Up until the year 1000 AD music was only played with the seven natural notes (e.g., the white keys on a piano). The Bb note was "discovered" in 1025 AD in Italy. By 1450 AD, our 12 note scale was fully available on a piano keyboard and in some church organs. 7 white keys and 5 black keys that could be sharps or flats depending on the song’s musical key. By 1700-ish, Bach was composing all sorts of inventive things in new keys, including resolved dissonant suspensions. Stravinsky and others extended this to use dissonance without resolution. Erik Satie wrote a whole song composed of tritones ("the devil’s interval"). Each generation pushed the envelop.

The music of the 1920’s-1940’s used resolved dissonance, diminished chords to link key changes, etc. Think of anything by Hoagy Carmichael, like "Georgia on My Mind." Jazz just mixed all of this with the blues of Black Americans (which came from African microtonal music, which is why trills are used on the piano to approximate these microtones). Early rock and roll simplified things again, mostly to just three chords. It was considered by many derivative and trite compared to big band music, classical or jazz, but by the 1960’s (Beach Boys "Warmth of the Sun", Beatles "Because") musicians were introducing augmented and diminished chords, and changing keys. Jazz got experimental (Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck), rock got experimental (Yes, ELP); jazz-rock got experimental (Frank Zappa). All this exention of music was "inspired" more than "copied blatantly" (some things crossed the line, like "Here Comes the Sun" vs. "He’s So Fine", even if subconsciously).

There are a number folk-rock songs based on classical songes ("Blackbird" is based on Johann Sebastian Bach’s "Bourrée in E minor", Paul Simon’s "American Tune" based on Christian passion hymm "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded".)

Rap began in the 1970’s and the Sugar Hill Gang got the first #1 single ("Rapper’s Delight") in the genre in 1979. A lot of that music uses samples, which changed what it meant to copy someone’s song. Nowadays, many pop songs are assembled rather than composed. Songs like "Fantasy" by Mariah Carey are just a melody line added to a sample of the Tom Tom Club’s "Genius of Love". The "original" songs of the modern pop genre don’t have more than 3, or at most 4 chords in a song. There’s no tension, no resolution; just the same hook repeating throught the song... Drum samples ensure there is no variation in the beat, also contributing to the monotony.

The ears of 50 and 60-year olds remember that "golden age of rock" where songs were much richer from chord / key change perspective, or jazz. They appreciate that Guitar George knows all the chords. But to hear those strange chords, strange time signatures, etc., you have to go off the beaten track of listening. There are gems to be found, but they’re not in the industry’s factory of 3-note songs, samples, and other rubbish. Luckily, streaming provides access to a good fraction of those people who are just trying to make good music, rather than "be famous."

With so much music out there, I listen to what I like, and I always try to find time to understand some music that’s outside my realm of experience. Sometimes I like the new stuff... a lot of times, I don't...