The next order of business for OB

[zeb]

https://medium.com/cuepoint/the-devalua ... cf5f26a888

The Devaluation of Music: It’s Worse Than You Think

In their many (justified) laments about the trajectory of their profession in the digital age, songwriters and musicians regularly assert that music has been “devalued.” Over the years they’ve pointed at two outstanding culprits. First, it was music piracy and the futility of “competing with free.” More recently the focus has been on the seemingly miniscule payments songs generate when they’re streamed on services such as Spotify or Apple Music.

These are serious issues, and many agree that the industry and lawmakers have a lot of work to do. But at least there is dialogue and progress being made toward new models for rights and royalties in the new music economy.

Less obvious are a number of other forces and trends that have devalued music in a more pernicious way than the problems of hyper-supply and inter-industry jockeying...

[Leatherhead]

I don't know. There seems to be a whole lot of good music being made these days.

[godeatgod]

if you no happy with yr music kill yerself mate

[godeatgod]

throw yourself off a bridge

[BurtReynolds]

woah

[godeatgod]

can we just get rid of everyone thats over 40 and start over

[zeb]

Are you in a bad place right now, godeatgod?

[LetMeSleep]

[William Bloke]

I'm over 40 and I think the possibilities for music distribution are in the best position ever, solely because of the technology available. The problem to my mind is one of legal issues and the inability of rights holders to allow the beautiful possibilities that could be to eventuate. If What was a membership site at $50 a month I'd happily pay that price, so long as my music availability was download to keep in whatever format or quality I chose. Hell, limit me to 25 downloads a month and there's $2 bucks an album that wouldn't otherwise be in the revenue stream.

iTunes is the devil of all software in my mind, streaming qualities vary from the decent to the atrocious and the stuff that you discover on a whim that you want right now you often just can't easily get. The legal channels are stifled by rights issues and yet the perfect distribution platform already exists, albeit illegally.

I agree that creators of music should be able to draw an income from the distribution of their tunes. I think they are held back by a huge brick wall of legalness that as far as I can tell for now seems insurmountable. I would hope that at some point the music industry gets behind some sort of compromise solution to try and make the best of the situation as it is - not like the bad old days when the only way forward was to terminate (rather than talk to) Napster and sue grandmas and little girls. I think the world has spoken and $25 CDs are not cutting it anymore.

(Re: that last line - truthfully, having always purchased my music through independent music stores for all my days, and living in Australia, I can't remember a time when I have not paid $25 for a CD, excepting bargain bin shopping).

[BurtReynolds]

heh a 50 dollar a month music service would die a horrible death. 2$ per album is not a good value when the same album can be had for free. The audience that can tell the difference between a flac and a spotify music stream is insignificant.

edit: the rest was boring and dumb.

[BurtReynolds]

Oh no, people only hear classical music in movies and video games and not concert halls?!!!!!??? What a society of uncultured ruffians we've become! Did he just time travel here from the 1700s?

[bart]

Oh no, people only hear classical music in movies and video games and not concert halls?!!!!!??? What a society of uncultured ruffians we've become! Did he just time travel here from the 1700s?

[LoathedVermin72]

And by music I don’t mean the popular song formats that one sees on awards shows and hears on commercial radio. I mean music the sonic art form — imaginative, conceptual composition and improvisation rooted in harmonic and rhythmic ideas. In other words, music as it was defined and regarded four or five decades ago, when art music (incompletely but generally called “classical” and “jazz”) had a seat at the table.

aaaaaand this is where I stopped reading. What a pretentious, out-of-touch douche.

[William Bloke]

heh a 50 dollar a month music service would die a horrible death. 2$ per album is not a good value when the same album can be had for free. The audience that can tell the difference between a flac and a spotify music stream is insignificant.

edit: the rest was boring and dumb.

I'm not saying that it would work, just that I'm a fan of What's distribution platform and would gladly pay for it should I have to. I appreciate that most probably wouldn't, and in reality you will soon be dealing with a generation of consumers that have never had to pay for their music (and conversely a generation of musicians who have never really received an income from their recorded work...)

You're also right on the streaming quality thing too - the few that care are indeed insignificant. People will settle for any old crap in the main. But man is streaming most often absolute shite. Spotify get $12 a month out of me so my 12 yo daughter can keep up with the the top 40. And to be fair she wouldn't have a single complaint about the quality.

I haven't read the article referenced. Dude sounds like a tosser though.

[Strat]

Man, i love my RDIO streaming. 320kbs for $10/month.

IM not going to buy cd's and nor am I going to stash them in my car. Im all for digital and I would gladly pay more to ensure the artists get their piece of the pie.

Of course, I will also buy the records and keep them stashed all over my apartment because i love the Romanticism of it and will gladly play $25 for what buying a record entails.

[Birds in Hell]

What a society of uncultured ruffians we've become!

I think he has a point.

[Norah]

What a society of uncultured ruffians we've become!

I think he has a point.

of course you do

[Strat]

What a society of uncultured ruffians we've become!

I think he has a point.

of course you do

I used to think Spenno was an 85 year old grandpa but now im wondering if im not off by 100 years.

[super nintendo chalmers]

OH MARONE...

[Birds in Hell]

What a society of uncultured ruffians we've become!

I think he has a point.

of course you do

I used to think Spenno was an 85 year old grandpa but now im wondering if im not off by 100 years.

I only had time to give it a cursory read earlier so I'm hesitant to agree with the article wholesale but I certainly do have a degree of sympathy for the idea that the popular arts have become aggressively and unavoidably more low brow and that all of us are probably poorer for it. I realise this makes me sound like a dreadful curmudgeon but I don't hold myself apart from that criticism - I think my tastes are as deeply flawed as anybody else's, probably more so. I've unavoidably been shaped by that culture too.

As an aside because it's briefly mentioned in the piece and it seems like something that's often brought up in these discussions, I'm not remotely persuaded that there is anything inequitable about the payments flowing to artists from streaming services. A few cents per streamed song honestly seems about right to me, it's not as though the listener doesn't have the option to pay more for a permanent copy in some form if they choose to.