Hear anything good lately?

Sorry I've not posted much this month, my time seems to slip away faster during this season than any other. I did script a guest post Sunday on Nate's blog and you can read it here.


In other news, there was a helluva good article last week by Bob Lefsetz, as he casts his eagle eye on the music biz. While I'm a big fan of Bob's blog anyway, this quote pretty much boils down the problem with the music industry, and it really stood out for me:

We don’t have a theft problem. We’ve got a MUSIC problem.

This business is too long in the tooth. It used to be run by renegades, now it’s controlled by major corporations, only interested in the bottom line. It’s all about the money, baby.

And then, as I'm cruising thru the days that follow, someone pointed out an older NYTimes article about Walmart's deal with AC/DC in selling their new disc, "Black Ice." And in that article was a very interesting quote from the head of Columbia Records:

“If you want to be a physical band, you better make an alliance with a strong physical retailer,” said Steve Barnett, chairman of Columbia Records. “It’s a great way to sell the new album, the catalog, the game, merchandise and DVDs.”

By the way, when ol' Steve says AC/DC is a physical band, he means they're not available on one of the digital download stores, not even at walmart.com. In other words, their music is currently being pirated because there isn't an option to buy it online. (Yep, I said it, and I wish someone could prove me wrong, but that's not gonna happen.)


And then, I'm on the treadmill this morning, finishing out the Sound Opinions podcast (Best of 2008, yeah!) and into the podcast from the groovy gang at Buzz Out Loud (#873, 12/16/2008) when they bring up this juicy bit of info - a recent study suggests that people are listening to music LESS. And these folks are also listening to TV less as well, but not quite as much.

Overall audio consumption – whether music (73 percent), television shows, news or information sources (68 percent) – is a large part of consumers’ day-to-day lifestyle. But, the study found that consumers appear to be listening less than they were three years ago. The percentage of consumers reporting daily consumption of music has fallen to 73 percent from 91 percent while TV show audio listening has dropped to 68 percent from 81 percent since 2005. Only audio from playing games has remained stable at 34 percent.

“Gone are the days when consumers purchased a single type of content, to play on a single type of device, exclusively for dedicated audio listening,” stated Steve Koenig, CEA’s director of industry analysis

Now, let me tell you where I'm coming from and where these things lead my thoughts...

I listen to a LOT of music. I hear between three and five different CDs a week, plus a couple dozen different singles, and all of these are in all different styles. (For instance, just a few weeks ago I listened to Kayne West “808’s and Heartbreak,” the Killers “Day & Age,” Trace Adkins' “10,” and Tom Jones “24 Hours” and found enjoyable moments in all of these, as well as some less-enjoyable moments. Let's just say I have a voracious appetite, which is helpful considering the demands of the job.)

But when I ask folks that I meet [or just run into] what they're listening to, it's a lot of humming and hawing (unless they're just as music-crazy as I am), finally mumbling "whatever's on the radio." Really? You don't change the station when a commercial comes on, or when a song that you don't like comes on? "Ummm, yeah, sometimes." Or they just say that they listen to everything, which is a load of crap - and I know, 'cause I do listen to damn near everything (more recently, it was the soundtrack from “Cadillac Records,” Panic at the Disco “Live In Chicago,” Brandy “Human,” Fall Out Boy “Folie a Deux,” the All-American Rejects “When the World Comes Down," and Britney Spears “Circus” - I listen to Britney so YOU don't have to!). But they sure can tell you what their score on Rock Band was last night! (Ye gods... yes, I know it's a fun little videogame, but playing an actual instrument is MORE FUN. Trust me on this.)

Getting back to where this all leads - Bob's right. People just don't care about the music anymore. The product is dead. Thanks, all you bean counters that have run the music biz into the ground. 'Preciate that. Because the worse that the music biz gets, the more greedy and corrupt cesspool/black hole of a moneypit that it becomes, the more it will alienate the public from the product it so mercilessly dispenses. And the public will turn away and shuffle off after poking the dead corpse with a stick once or twice to see if it's really dead.

(Sorry, I get that way even after limited exposure to Britney's "music.")

Then we can go out and listen to some real music, made by people who are driven to create because they can't imagine not creating; there will be wandering minstrels again, who spread their tales thru their own little cults of followers, invisible to the indifferent masses but able to make a living - not a rockstar living, mind you (the days of Led Zep and the Beatles are long gone, baby) - but be comfortable and do what they love to do for people who love them for doing it.

Music will flourish again as the business crumbles, and if you want proof, look at this year - the death spasms are becoming more evident and there was a metric shitload of great music that you won't ever hear on the radio (unless you get Sound Opinions or Musicheads on your NPR station, right?). Fans will pass USB drives to their friends, downloaders will scour music sites such as Largehearted Boy, 3Hive, Fluxblog, Passion of the Weiss, Word the Cat, Fluokids, Pinglewood, or Stereogum to feed their need for tunes that resonate, fans will hold virtual meet-ups on Facebook, and shiny happy people will hold hands and laugh.

So - heard anything good this year?