Is the Internet killing music?

mp3killindustry

Home taping’s not killing music…the internet just might be though.

Utter tosh says you? Read on…

Oh yes, without the internet – you might argue – we’d have no Arctic Monkey, look at the MySpace buzz which propelled them to stardom. Without the internet, we’d have no YouTube to see those promos and archive footage of collaborations and demos. Without the internet we wouldn’t have access to (pretty much) all the music, ever at the click of a mouse to download.

And there’s where I need to stop you. The downloads. How much do you download? How much of it is free? Oh, of course, I appreciate that some of it might be free but still with the consent and knowledge of the artist and record company – the BBC6Music MPFree being just one superb example. But how much of the other downloading is just a wee bit, ahem, suspect? Even when it’s “legit” how much downloading actually happens now?

If you work or study at home all day, you could be YouTube-ing, Last.fm-ing or Spotify-ing away to your heart’s content all day, every day for free. And how much of this do the artists ever see, financially speaking?

I’m all for the internet to spread the love of music around. I once blogged (bit.ly/replaceyourfriends) about how last.fm could (but ultimately won’t) replace your friends and I stand by that. The other thing the internet does, though, is proliferate music a lot of music.

“In the old days of the music business, which was basically before the end of the 1970s, the main barriers to “making it in music” were studio time and access to distribution. Whoever wanted to be heard adequately needed well distributed releases. That is, having recorded material in the first place. The means for producing such recordings were so expensive that at some point only big corporations could spare the funds to pay for the required studio time and personnel. The effect of this economic barrier to resources was that a couple of hundred artists and bands gained access to an audience of millions. Once a recording was produced it enjoyed a long life in the market due to the lack of competition that otherwise would have pushed it off the store shelves”

Stefan Goldmann bit.ly/littlewhiteearbuds

Goldmann goes on to explain that the advent of affordable recording equipment pretty much allowed the last 70’s/early 80’s punk and new wave scene to happen. No bad thing, I’m sure you’ll agree. The natural corollary of this is the situation we have today: just about anyone with a smartphone can make, record and – most importantly – share and distribute their musical creations.

“But Bryan, that’s great. That’s democratic.”
Sure it is. But just remember this: for every Arctic Monkeys there are a dozen Rebecca Blacks.

And that’s really my point. There’s just so much out there that it can become meaningless. Joel Bryant said, “The problem today is one of too many choices, few of which compel but all of which distract.” And he’s right. Filtering out the good stuff is ever more difficult and that’s where you need some proper guidance.

The ability of software such as last.fm to say “well if you liked that Teenage Fanclub track you’re bound to love this Big Star number” is, for me, the best thing about it. It’s rarely if ever I skip a track on last.fm. I’m more likely to hit the heart icon. Often the next thing I do is open up another tab, find out a bit more about the artist – usually first checking when they’re playing live, cos that’s the best thing…but that’s another story for another time. What happens then might be that I’ll swing by their Twitter feed and follow them, like them on Facebook or – as I did this week – head into the nearest independent record shop and pick up their CD.

I won’t usually download their stuff – free, legitimate, paid for or otherwise – simply because I’m a bit of a luddite when it comes to your actual music. Though I prefer to think of myself as a purist. I love the tangibility of a CD or better yet, some vinyl.

Record Store Day in April of this year was heaven for me. The first new release vinyl I’ve bought in years – It’s Boss Time, the Springsteen covers EP – an actual NEW CASSETTE, the Frightened Rabbit/Twilight Sad demos and a host of other stuff I’d kind of had half an eye on but hadn’t got round to because I’d not been in a real shop to do some actual browsing.

See, there’s the thing. Browsing. We all have our preferred browsers: Firefox, Internet Explorer, whatever – but I’m talking real browsing here. One of the definitions of it is “to look leisurely at goods displayed for sale, as in a store.” I think you just can’t do that properly online. You need to know what it is you want when you’re buying online, to be targeted and specific. When you’re in a shop you can pick up a CD or LP and ask the folks behind the counter what it’s like. “But you can listen to samples online” I hear you chorus. I know you can but that’s not the same as asking the bloke in the shop what it’s like. Yes, they may put it on for you to hear, yes you may even like what you hear but – and here’s the thing – if they give even the slightest toss about their job (and surely they must for the wages are not the best so they must be doing it for what I shall call a higher purpose) then they’ll be able to say to you, Over The Wall? Aye, it’s really good. Sort of in the middle of Admiral Fallow and Frightened Rabbit but with some electronica in the mix too – quite spare in places but really, really clever. Horns, drum effects, angsty lyrics in a vernacular style, not too polished, loads of energy…I’ve seen them live, they’re great live…”

That’s what you miss when you’re “browsing” your tabs and scrolling your screens. The warmth. The humanity. The soul. That’s music. That’s why you should stop reading this, open up another tab, find your nearest independent record shop (yes, there are people out there who don’t know where their nearest one is) and go down there. Get listening. Get talking. Get involved…get your wallet out.

  1. The internet isn’t killing music, people are, because they expect something for nothing, I think there’s also a drought of vocal support for things beyond that which can be a ‘viral’ sensation on Youtube, and usually what goes hand in hand with a viral is something that can be derided.

    It weirdly boils down to an old ‘customer service’ thing that I’ve had hooted at me when I worked in retail, and that was that people are so much more willing to talk about a bad experience rather than a good one, and I think that’s true of a lot of things, people will much more happily share a FAIL than a WIN, and that’s true for music too, people seem reluctant to really champion new exciting music and instead it’s left to those viral videos or the bands with the moneybags behind them.

    I don’t think the situation is as dire as many would suggest though, and regardless of the state of record shops, ticket sales, etc. there will still be people making and selling music, it’s just a shame that the interesting and exciting artists will always find it so hard, but that’s the nature of being creative and different, and sad the truth about popular tastes, though that does sound a tad snobby! (Maybe I’M wrong because I don’t like Swagger Jagger!?)

    Anyway, personally I like the internet because it introduces me to so many new and interesting bands, which I then follow, talk about, endeavour to see live and ultimately BUY the physical records either on vinyl or CD.

    I just think people expect things for nothing these days, and I don’t think that’s down to the fact that anyone can make music/films/etc, I just think that’s down to selfishness.

  2. I think part of the problem is the feel and actuality of the shortened ‘life cycles’ of how we seem to consume music. The feeling of needing to be at the very front of the ‘new’ music thing. I don’t think the ‘passive exploration’ and discovery for music is there yet. If you’re walking through a record shop, you can dip in and out. The trouble with the net is that the perceived ‘value’ is based in views/hits/likes. Last.fm seems the closest to a passive discovery; you don’t feel you’re being coerced or badgered. It’s a difficult thing for an unsigned artist too, as how do you offer your music to someone passively? Or get the word out, amongst all the noise? You just get lost.

    I think the nature of a lot of the music services, is that you feel like it’s all a bit like an advert, and over time people’s goodwill is eroded and it’s even harder to ‘reach’ people. A lot of the services don’t know the content they’ve got. Having an advert before a video seems nuts to me. Putting an advert for another artist, around a video of another artist is even nuttier. Art is de-valued (in the popular channels) by the way it’s being showcased and cluttered by white noise. Moreover, the ‘value’ of the promotional voice of bands has been flattened – each crap band takes up the same value as a new undiscovered gem, in terms of them saying ‘Hey, check us out’. So people tune it out, and so it devalues further.

    I also think there’s too much focus in articles that write about the method of distribution over the actual content. So blogs will talk about the fact so and so’s big on such and such a social network… what about the way they phrased something? The value of the art itself.

    I agree with Owain about people being selfish. Moreover, it’s a generation growing up through never having paid for music. I think advertisers may be able to fund some artists indirectly. It’s information overload at the moment and the services aren’t fully developed. It’s too early to say the internet has killed music.

    It does feel like a bit of a mess though.

    That’s my initial opinion, for what it’s worth.

  3. Right, this is going to be part comment and part self-plug (sorry, but needs must).

    1) You are not a luddite, the physical product has so much more value and in the end people will remember and return. Good on you.

    2) Stuart, i agree with. The Majors killed the life cycle of music by needing everything to be an instant hit. Remember when songs rose to no1 in the charts? If they aren’t there by the thursday of their release the bands are dropped (ok, melodrama, but…) and they initially did it by killing the 4-track EP and creating the 2 x 3 track CD single format. Same song on 2 discs with additional crap to generate more revenue and potential chart sales.

    They wanted high turnaround to generate higher instant short term returns. And through that they have created the sense that music is disposable because it is old hat almost as soon as it is released.

    Stuart is also spot on about services not knowing what they’ve got and peddling stuff they have investment in (ie by bigger labels). if you want to discover new music you actually have to go to blogs and smaller music websites. Fanzines basically. Because the rest is a part of the machine that peddles what it is told/asked/paid to peddle. there is no love of music there, just accountancy and product.

    3) But what is killing music isn’t the internet, and it isn’t even P2P, it is the business itself.

    a) It still sells shite to kids, and given that is its business model that is where the PR money goes, which is what clogs up the column inches and airwaves which means real music doesn’t really get a look in and the kids are taught to like shite and when they get a year older ditch the shite they were listening to because it isn’t cool and move on so a new wave of ‘must have’ shite is peddled and so on.

    It is McMusic and it is clogging up the system as much as shite DIY stuff.

    b) it is greedy and insane and has created it’s own demise. It shouted about P2P thinking it could grab some dough from it, fabricating lost revenue figures and trying to change government legislation, but what it actually did was bring awareness to how easy it is to download stuff for free.

    it also helped the creation of Spotify, and if anything will kill music it is Spotify. The economics don’t add up. It doesn’t stop P2P kids but it does stop real music buyers spending money on physical product because they can simply get everything for £60 a year.

    bye bye CD sales, hello £0.0000000000000003p per stream, if you’re lucky.

    I’ve written more about this (Spotify and other reasons for it’s demise) here, if you are interested:

    Is Spotify Just Another Nail in The Coffin?

    4) Music isn’t dying anyway. ha ha. Sure the Majors are fucked but who cares? Music will be around long after they become solely archive libraries and McMusic outlets and the good stuff will sell, and the good artists will earn a living… and why should you expect to do more than earn a living from music? The rest of us earn a living. MTV Cribs is old skool, just do it and try and get by. if you have to work too, tough, so do the rest of us.

    5) Damn this is long. I should have done the self-plugging first.

    Anyway, we do something that acts like a filter within independent and DIY music. Like a mate going through MySpace and pointing you at the stuff that was good.

    Anyway, we have relaunched as an online Music & Culture magazine with the format and aesthetic of print mags (and we’re rather chuffed) so if you’re curious about being shown new stuff in a nice, simple and aesthetically pleasing manner, then stop by:

    http://www.eyeseesound.tv

    Right, apologies for the length, but it’s a subject i enjoy engaging with. And thanks for allowing the spam 🙂

  4. I’m really interested in this discussion but I have to go out in a minute so I’ll throw in a few of my thoughts and hope to come back to it later!

    As Stuart said above, I agree it’s too early to say if the internet is killing music, it may very well kill a lot of the industry as it exists now unless it adapts pretty quickly.

    Anyway, here’s my basic view on the ‘free’ issue: I am a musician but I am also a music fan. I want to earn a living from music (HAHAHAHAHA) but then I also want new music to listen to. As a musician I should be against music being free and the ease with which it is possible to steal it if it;s not free.

    But I’m not.

    I have always taped music and copied cds and so have all my friends, it’s how we found out about new stuff. Nothing has changed except the means with which we share stuff. The internet as a ‘copying tool’ may well be causing people to lose money either directly or by fostering a culture where music is expected to be free BUT it is up to the ‘industry’ to find a way of stopping us doing that and until then we’re going to keep sharing because I want to let my friends know about music I love and I want to hear music they love.

    People want to make music and [people want to listen to music. This will never change. I am proud to be a part of that interaction both as a fan and a musician. The money changing hands is secondary to the creation of music. The industry, no matter how powerful it may appear, is just a result of these human desires and it needs to catch up. x

  5. Hey some guys, some very interesting points coming out of this. I think the title itself is intentionally provocative but it is needed at the moment. I think the internet has been a double edged sword for music, on the one hand musical discovery and. However its also increased the feeling of transience and disposability that all of you have touched on(retweeting and liking an artist/label won’t pay their rent). I also strongly agree with ESS’ theory on the industry killing itself. It fought with digital for way too long, rather than seeing it as an opportunity it tried to shut down services like Napster/Kezzaa without realizing the shift in consumption sooner. Instead carrying onto charge 15.99 for the latest Simply Red album. Music fans felt ripped off by CDs and thus that was one of the reasons why they saw

    When they finally got their act together with itunes it was a pathetic platform mostly dominated by the majors. Also since the download inclusions the chart has become devalued and debased to such an extent that its driven by ringtone shite…It was always full of novelty now in the main its full of unlistenable nonsense…Also for the artist its hard big impact the physical product is dying whilst people make an example of live/ticket sales as some kind of compensation, now those are falling due to the recession and other factors, many indies have no where else to go. Some may say sure musicians should HAVE to work two jobs as well as play in a band. But how can they devote the time, energy and possess the backing to improve their act/music when it has become an expensive hobby. I agree Spotify is also a failed model too, sure its fine and great to have the ability to stream new releases but what lies behind that for the artist? And what’s the actual model for labels to thrive in that environment? As far as I see it Last.fm could have potentially been a better platform as it included unsigned acts too/ But they too ruined it by removing the full stream option…
    The answers aren’t clear as yet, but as Owain says passionate individuals and labels will probably always survive its just the form may be different. It’s a shame that music has been devalued to such an extent where other forms of media still seem to retain a semblance of value in the physical product. One can only hope the rise in vinyl sales continues and increasingly innovative and reflective platforms allow those unheard gems to flourish,

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God is in the TV is an online music and culture fanzine founded in Cardiff by the editor Bill Cummings in 2003. GIITTV Bill has developed the site with the aid of a team of sub-editors and writers from across Britain, covering a wide range of music from unsigned and independent artists to major releases.