Music Matters

From Morguefile

Steve Guttenberg on c|net posted an article asking the question,  "When Did Music Become Unimportant?"  He makes some good points - music is generally in the background everywhere now.  That's a good and bad thing.  So there's more music than ever around us.  And because of that, we take it for granted more than ever, I suppose.  He talks about the Loudness War that caused music to lose all dynamics - necessary if music is always in the background* - causing music to lose, maybe, its heart and soul.

Guttenberg also says he fears that bands will no longer record music since there's not nearly the market for recorded music that there once was.  I think he missed the boat here.  First, I believe there will always be an intrinsic NEED in some musicians to record their music.  For some, the recording is the "definitive" version of the song - the artist's complete vision that is difficult (for technical or personnel reasons) to reproduce live.  There's also the desire to "capture the moment" - these are the songs of this year/era.

But there's also the fact that the recorded song is the gateway to the band.  Even if bands make most of their money from live shows** potential new fans need something besides the assurance of a good friend that this band/artist is worth listening to - and something to keep in front of their ears when the band isn't in town.  No, recorded music is here to stay - the incentive, even if you're not selling CDs for 18 bucks a pop, is far too high (which I've blogged about before, twice).

I might argue that music is essential today, just not in the same way as it was in the 60s through the 80s.  I remember listening to Journey's Escape and Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water laying in front of my parents stereo*** listening to the hiss and pops of the LPs.  Those albums taught me the dynamics of music**** that matter so much to me whenever I play live with a group.  "Bridge Over Troubled Water" goes from this small, quiet piano riff at the beginning to a faux ending after the second chorus that seems to build to the end, then quiet down again for a third verse which builds to an even bigger and, yes, louder, finale with a snare drum that sounds like a freaking cannon.  Whole different set of dynamics on "Keep the Customer Satisfied," which just goes from kinda loud to really loud - but the horn section is really killer in that song.  From Journey, "Don't Stop Believin'" has very similar builds to "Bridge..." - starting with a kind of quiet (though more rock 'n roll quiet) piano riff building instruments as the song goes on - by the time of the guitar lead it's soaring and then the outro is loud and high...

So, anyway, I guess those days are kind of gone.  It happens.  Some of the music I like - like Gungor or Jenny and Tyler that don't seem to fight the Loudness War so much as make great music.  And they seem to be doing okay.

But the point is that music does still matter - just differently.  Music is everywhere now - it's the soundtrack of everything around us - it's hard to escape music.  And that means for musicians there's probably a bigger market than ever before - though maybe at lesser per unit price than in the past.  The point, though, is that music is everywhere.  And, yeah, it's mostly in the background - but is that so bad?










*If the volume levels dip and rise too much, we'll be distracted by the background music, and it will no longer be, well, background...
**I don't know whether or not this is true, but Guttenberg makes the point and it's touted as being the new reality in the music industry...
***Which was a big wooden piece of furniture - which my mom still has.  I wonder if it still works.  I'd LOVE to have it refurbished....
****Not just dynamics, of course, arrangements, layering of instruments, studio effects, stereo panning, etc.