The Future of Music

Zer0 · 05-18-2012, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duga

Only audiophiles such as ourselves really notice quality like that. It really does take a trained ear. I've noticed my hearing is much more discerning than most people as a result. There is a digital watch somewhere in my girlfriend's room that goes off the same time every night, but it's very faint because it's buried somewhere. Every time I mention how annoying the beeping is, she looks at me like I'm crazy. She can't even hear it, no matter how hard she tries.

That's true in a lot of cases. I played some vinyl to my youngest sister not so long ago (she doesn't even have a CD player, she's purely mp3s) and she didn't even seem to care about the sound quality.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bam You Have AIDS

How are kids getting their start in music these days anyways? When I was a kid I used to sort through my mom's cassettes for my first musical education, and after a while was allowed to pick my own from the CD club she was a member of, and this was all before I was 10. The very idea of a 10 year old having free reign of the internet and ipods and cell phones really bothers me.

I didn't even have internet access until I was 17, and even then it was a shitty dial-up connection so downloading music was out of the question. In a way I'm kind of grateful because I probably wouldn't appreciate physical music and decent sound quality the way I do now. What I'm really worried about though is young people destroying their hearing with mp3 players from a very early age.

**Janszoon** · 05-18-2012, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zer0

I didn't even have internet access until I was 17, and even then it was a shitty dial-up connection so downloading music was out of the question.

Poor baby. I didn't have an internet connection until I was 27.

Zer0 · 05-18-2012, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

Poor baby. I didn't have an internet connection until I was 27.

By internet connection do you mean telegraph?

**Janszoon** · 05-18-2012, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zer0

By internet connection do you mean telegraph?

clk... clk... clk-clk-clk... clk... clk-clk... clk-clik

mr dave · 05-19-2012, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zer0

I didn't even have internet access until I was 17,

Dude, I didn't even have cable tv until I was 19.

I'm not going to quote the whole thing but...

Quote:

Originally Posted by duga

Streaming music will also be the end of standalone mp3 players. Throw an app on your phone, and you can listen to whatever you want. Why would you need an mp3 player?

First off, welcome to being old

I don't think mp3 players will go away. My ipod has become THE key device in road trips that take me through big chunks of rural Canada that have little to no cellphone service, never mind active wi-fi. Streaming anything? Forget it.

On the actual bigger issue at hand Jackhammer nails it, I can't really add much to his comment. I really like the bit about how the media and our peers would push particular albums, it's a situation where the expansion and widening of the target market reduces the potential for upward success. It's transforming from a pyramid to a pancake.

Urban Hat€monger ? · 05-19-2012, 09:19 AM

To be honest I looked at this weeks album charts and it had the usual mix of pop, R&B, hip hop, indie, folk and compilations as it probably would have done 15 years ago so I don't really see anything changing there. As for the singles chart, they've been full of one hit wonders forever, here's this weeks singles chart from 1997..

1 Olive You're Not Alone
2 Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli Time To Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiro)
3 Eternal featuring BeBe Winans I Wanna Be The Only One
4 Katrina & The Waves Love Shine A Light
5 The Cardigans Lovefool
6 No Mercy Please Don't Go
7 Shola Ama You Might Need Somebody
8 The Rembrandts I'll Be There For You
9 Damage Wonderful Tonight
10 R Kelly I Believe I Can Fly
11 Toni Braxton I Don't Want To
12 DJ Quicksilver Bellissima
13 Rosie Gaines Closer Than Close
14 Elvis Presley Always On My Mind
15 North & South I'm A Man Not A Boy
16 Blackstreet Don't Leave Me
17 911 Bodyshakin'
18 Placebo Bruise Pristine
19 Ginuwine Tell Me Do U Wanna
20 Aaliyah If Your Girl Only Knew / One In A Million

I mean seriously how many of those do you remember?

I also think it's also too easy to get caught up in the 'everybody downloads now' way of thinking, they don't. My sister has zero interest in gadgets & computers apart from facebook & still buys CDs, so do a lot of the people I work with. My parents wouldn't know how to find & download anything from the internet if I left them detailed instructions, and even then they have no way of playing MP3's on their sound system.
It's worth noting that CD sales still account for 3 of every 4 albums sold in the UK.

While this future you're predicting might happen I think you're going to have to wait for at least 2 generations of people to die off first.

**Goofle** · 05-19-2012, 09:59 AM

I probably download more music than anyone on here, but I also own several hundred CD's and I have been buying music on a weekly basis of late.

I may not have been around back in the day, but there is no doubt that music as a whole is flourishing at the moment. The idea of an "album" losing it's value does not hold any weight to me.

There will always be artists who create worthwhile albums, and there will always be artists who include a load of filler. That is not a new thing.

Maybe the idea of the physical copy is diminishing, but it certainly isn't hindering the production of great music.

The Batlord · 05-19-2012, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban Hatemonger

here's this weeks singles chart from 1997..

1 Olive You're Not Alone
2 Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli Time To Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiro)
3 Eternal featuring BeBe Winans I Wanna Be The Only One
4 Katrina & The Waves Love Shine A Light
5 The Cardigans Lovefool
6 No Mercy Please Don't Go
7 Shola Ama You Might Need Somebody
8 The Rembrandts I'll Be There For You
9 Damage Wonderful Tonight
10 R Kelly I Believe I Can Fly
11 Toni Braxton I Don't Want To
12 DJ Quicksilver Bellissima
13 Rosie Gaines Closer Than Close
14 Elvis Presley Always On My Mind
15 North & South I'm A Man Not A Boy
16 Blackstreet Don't Leave Me
17 911 Bodyshakin'
18 Placebo Bruise Pristine
19 Ginuwine Tell Me Do U Wanna
20 Aaliyah If Your Girl Only Knew / One In A Million

The ****?

Urban Hat€monger ? · 05-19-2012, 11:00 AM

It was being used on a British Telecom advert at the time.

duga · 05-19-2012, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr dave

I don't think mp3 players will go away. My ipod has become THE key device in road trips that take me through big chunks of rural Canada that have little to no cellphone service, never mind active wi-fi. Streaming anything? Forget it.

On the actual bigger issue at hand Jackhammer nails it, I can't really add much to his comment. I really like the bit about how the media and our peers would push particular albums, it's a situation where the expansion and widening of the target market reduces the potential for upward success. It's transforming from a pyramid to a pancake.

Just playing Devil's advocate...you can cache playlists and albums from Spotify on your phone for offline use. I'm just trying to think of this from the perspective of a young kid just getting into music. With it so readily available, why go for the hunt? For the time being, holdouts such as ourselves will keep the market going, but I honestly think it will be diminishing sooner rather than later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban Hatemonger

To be honest I looked at this weeks album charts and it had the usual mix of pop, R&B, hip hop, indie, folk and compilations as it probably would have done 15 years ago so I don't really see anything changing there. As for the singles chart, they've been full of one hit wonders forever, here's this weeks singles chart from 1997..

1 Olive You're Not Alone
2 Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli Time To Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiro)
3 Eternal featuring BeBe Winans I Wanna Be The Only One
4 Katrina & The Waves Love Shine A Light
5 The Cardigans Lovefool
6 No Mercy Please Don't Go
7 Shola Ama You Might Need Somebody
8 The Rembrandts I'll Be There For You
9 Damage Wonderful Tonight
10 R Kelly I Believe I Can Fly
11 Toni Braxton I Don't Want To
12 DJ Quicksilver Bellissima
13 Rosie Gaines Closer Than Close
14 Elvis Presley Always On My Mind
15 North & South I'm A Man Not A Boy
16 Blackstreet Don't Leave Me
17 911 Bodyshakin'
18 Placebo Bruise Pristine
19 Ginuwine Tell Me Do U Wanna
20 Aaliyah If Your Girl Only Knew / One In A Million

I mean seriously how many of those do you remember?

I also think it's also too easy to get caught up in the 'everybody downloads now' way of thinking, they don't. My sister has zero interest in gadgets & computers apart from facebook & still buys CDs, so do a lot of the people I work with. My parents wouldn't know how to find & download anything from the internet if I left them detailed instructions, and even then they have no way of playing MP3's on their sound system.
It's worth noting that CD sales still account for 3 of every 4 albums sold in the UK.

While this future you're predicting might happen I think you're going to have to wait for at least 2 generations of people to die off first.

Haha, that's a fair point. However, I can also name many many bands and artists from 1997 that are remembered and/or are relevant today. I think the amount of THOSE acts is diminishing. Then again, maybe I'm just feeling really disillusioned about music at the moment and it's affecting my opinion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goofle11

I probably download more music than anyone on here, but I also own several hundred CD's and I have been buying music on a weekly basis of late.

I may not have been around back in the day, but there is no doubt that music as a whole is flourishing at the moment. The idea of an "album" losing it's value does not hold any weight to me.

There will always be artists who create worthwhile albums, and there will always be artists who include a load of filler. That is not a new thing.

Maybe the idea of the physical copy is diminishing, but it certainly isn't hindering the production of great music.

Maybe it's just me but I really can't think of a defining album from the last decade. One that everyone and their dog owned. I can think of several from the 60's all the way up to the late 90's. That in itself makes me feel as if the album art form is just not what it used to be. Sure, I can' think of albums I myself loved and of course if you look hard enough there is great music out there, but I'm talking about music everyone can get behind...even casual listeners.

05-19-2012, 09:19 AM	#16 (permalink)
Urban Hat€monger ? The Sexual Intellectual Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Somewhere cooler than you Posts: 18,605	To be honest I looked at this weeks album charts and it had the usual mix of pop, R&B, hip hop, indie, folk and compilations as it probably would have done 15 years ago so I don't really see anything changing there. As for the singles chart, they've been full of one hit wonders forever, here's this weeks singles chart from 1997.. 1 Olive You're Not Alone 2 Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli Time To Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiro) 3 Eternal featuring BeBe Winans I Wanna Be The Only One 4 Katrina & The Waves Love Shine A Light 5 The Cardigans Lovefool 6 No Mercy Please Don't Go 7 Shola Ama You Might Need Somebody 8 The Rembrandts I'll Be There For You 9 Damage Wonderful Tonight 10 R Kelly I Believe I Can Fly 11 Toni Braxton I Don't Want To 12 DJ Quicksilver Bellissima 13 Rosie Gaines Closer Than Close 14 Elvis Presley Always On My Mind 15 North & South I'm A Man Not A Boy 16 Blackstreet Don't Leave Me 17 911 Bodyshakin' 18 Placebo Bruise Pristine 19 Ginuwine Tell Me Do U Wanna 20 Aaliyah If Your Girl Only Knew / One In A Million I mean seriously how many of those do you remember? I also think it's also too easy to get caught up in the 'everybody downloads now' way of thinking, they don't. My sister has zero interest in gadgets & computers apart from facebook & still buys CDs, so do a lot of the people I work with. My parents wouldn't know how to find & download anything from the internet if I left them detailed instructions, and even then they have no way of playing MP3's on their sound system. It's worth noting that CD sales still account for 3 of every 4 albums sold in the UK. While this future you're predicting might happen I think you're going to have to wait for at least 2 generations of people to die off first. __________________ Urb's RYM Stuff Most people sell their soul to the devil, but the devil sells his soul to Nick Cave.

05-19-2012, 11:00 AM	#19 (permalink)
Urban Hat€monger ? The Sexual Intellectual Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Somewhere cooler than you Posts: 18,605	It was being used on a British Telecom advert at the time. __________________ Urb's RYM Stuff Most people sell their soul to the devil, but the devil sells his soul to Nick Cave.