Recording - January 2015 - 72
Nobody Cares About
Music Anymore
Guest editorial by Sven-Erik Seaholm
People say all kinds of things in a
crowded bar. Only this one wasn't
crowded. At all. Which is how it came to
be the focus of our conversation.
Here we were once again, at an annual charity event that in years past has seen
its walls nearly bursting from the amount
of people jostling to see and hear at least
a dozen of the scene's best performers,
which in years past had included the likes
of Jewel, Jason Mraz and Switchfoot.
"Man," I muttered as I surveyed the room,
"There sure are a lot fewer people this
year." By most standards, there were still
plenty of folks in attendance, but comparatively, this year's attendance could
almost be described as "spotty."
article goes by that he didn't write, see, or
at least hear about. When it comes to having an opinion about music and people's
attitudes regarding it, this dude has credentials.
Maybe it was that he continued smiling
the whole time, or the fact that nearly my
entire income is derived from music. Or
that music, the very thing that has been
the impetus for my entire career path to
now had somehow fallen out of favor, like
plaid pants, hula hoops, or pet rocks. All
things considered, this exchange did
freak me out a little.
Our facial expressions must've prompted him to expound further in an effort to
clarify his point, but this only served to
muddy the waters further. Climate,
Facebook, Pandora, and even the NBC
television show The Voice were offered
up as possible villains over the next several minutes. It all seemed to add up in
certain ways, but not all ways.
I mean, we were still here, weren't we?
There were plenty of other music patrons
in attendance as well, including some
In this same way, streaming audio has
become one of the fastest growing facets
in an ever-evolving music business. Sites
like Spotify, Google Play, Sony Music
Unlimited, Rdio, and Pandora offer users
previously unimaginable access to almost
anything a listener desires. Even that desire
itself can be quantified, through aggregating one's music choices and generating a
taste profile that can subsequently be
catered to by steering customers toward
'similar' artists. Sort of an "If you like that,
try this" approach.
What's not so great is the artist's role in
this new business model. Unlike record companies of the past, where at least some of the
talent was nurtured, developed and promoted through profits that the company reinvested into itself, these subscription-based services are currently just providers of contracted content. They have so much of it at their
disposal, in fact, that the contract itself is currently at the center of considerable controversy. Artists as varied as Taylor Swift, The
Black Keys, Radiohead, David Byrne, Pink
Floyd, and Beck have recently removed their
We need to clear away the fog of consumer entitlement
before it smothers the one thing that means so much to us: the music.
"Well, c'mon now," the voice behind
us flippantly declared with an air at once
jovial and matter-of-fact. "Nobody cares
about music anymore." It wasn't the
words. I've heard worse. It wasn't the evidence, though it seemed all the more evident in that instant. It was the person.
As I turned to see where that little
nugget of surely dubious wisdom emanated from, I was taken aback. This was no
sports-preferring yahoo on the third drink
past his last one. Nor was it one of our
friends, needling us in an effort to get
under our skin. This was possibly the most
active person in our local music scene.
As a singer, songwriter and bandleader,
this person is playing most weeks somewhere. When he's not playing, he's at
someone else's show in support. I mean
every night. He is a published songwriter,
with many songs that have been placed in
TV and movies. He has toured every two
years in Europe for decades. He releases
a compilation album featuring local artists
every year. He is a recognized pop music
historian, author and advocate. On top of
all that, he is a music journalist that is so indemand that hardly a local music-related
72
RECORDING January 2015
passersby who'd paid their cover and
stopped in to listen. Or were we simply
the last of the true believers, congregating
to collectively tilt at the towering windmills
of technology and short attention spans?
Just as things have shifted in the way
listeners consume music with regard to
cost and ease of access, so too have their
feelings with regard to what that ownership is worth. As indie singer-songwriter
Aimee Mann recently told the Telegraph,
"I think people have a totally different
relationship to music these days. There's
a feeling that it's cheap, easy, disposable-and it's free and it's there. Then
you start thinking it should always be
free, and always be there."
In the mid-'80s, the Compact Disc was
spreading in popularity at an astonishing
rate. Discount bins were suddenly overflowing with LPs and cassettes, whose
sales had plummeted like winter mercury.
While the advent of digital audio brought
with it amazing strides in audio quality, it
was ultimately the CD's durability, portability and perhaps most significantly its
ease of use that ultimately won the hearts
of music buyers.
entire catalogs from Spotify, citing unfair royalty terms, especially for new artists.
From all appearances, we as musicians
and audio professionals are facing a
gross devaluation of our product. I
believe that this demonetization has a
trickle-down effect that we can all palpably see and feel-not just at the point-ofsale for the recorded product, but
throughout the avenues of creation, performance, recording and production.
My hope is that this is only a temporary
situation, that we can fairly re-monetize
our wares and services and heighten consumer awareness with regard to the
"sweat equity" invested into making
something that seems so effortless to consume. We need to clear away the fog of
consumer entitlement before it smothers
the very essence of the one thing we can
agree means so much to us all: Music.
We can. We will. We must.
Sven-Erik Seaholm (seaholm@recordingmag
.com) is an award-winning independent
record producer, singer and songwriter.
Check out his website at www.kaspro.com.
http://www.kaspro.com
Recording - January 2015
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - January 2015
Contents
Recording - January 2015 - Cover1
Recording - January 2015 - Cover2
Recording - January 2015 - 1
Recording - January 2015 - 2
Recording - January 2015 - 3
Recording - January 2015 - 4
Recording - January 2015 - 5
Recording - January 2015 - Contents
Recording - January 2015 - 7
Recording - January 2015 - 8
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