Inside the Collapse of the Music Industry - Docomentary

[Nestor]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OXyjvlb9q8

[nebelfuerst]

Although I admire some songs for their absolute perfection in sound engineering/mastering, the requirement to book a studio to produce some music also priviledged some annoying bands, while it prevented better bands to become noticed.
Technology like scope and online music distribution enables skilled people to become noticed.
But as the number of competitors explodes, more niches are exlored, which generates progress.

AI in song writing is scary and interesting, as it quickly reaches a level of acceptable quality, but I never saw AI reaching perfection.

[valis]

I'm not in the least worried about AI. Do we wade through bad music now to find the good stuff? The home recording explosion in the 70's is/was attributed to a glut of music to wade through in that era, and people decried the loss of the studio as a gatekeeper even then. Did electronic instruments, and software instruments ruin music? Or did I spend the last 20 years seeking out creations that utilized new tools in ways that tickled my ear's fancy?

Also, I used to work in high end post production environments where billing thousands an hour translated into millions of dollars in gear. NLE's (Avid etc) destroyed that model, did it ruin things? Well, reality TV is a direct outgrowth of the fact that throwing a few cameras into the public and having someone edit the result on a computer made the lower costs of production explode this kind of content against other things being produced. This started in the early 90's with COPS and The Real World, at least in the US. Yet I still find shows to enjoy even in the streaming era, when you can film things on a mobile phone (use a RED phone if the iPhone bothers you, but the iPhone can be fitted with lenses and bokeh boxes, records in uncompressed 4:4:4:4 ProRes, etc) and edit it on a tablet or laptop with ease.

It's good to be mindful of the ways a given craft can be eroded, but I have embraced AI tools to create again new sonic palettes not heard even with our synths & samplers, to do stem extraction well beyond what we could do before, isolate elements, generate something exactly like a sample I like but without being encumbered with copyright clearance issues...etc etc.

At the end of the day we can also differentiate between enjoying the act of live performance from a player who has mastered their instrument, the output of someone who knows their studio gear or software well enough to achieve things that are solely the realm of the intellect (no kinesthetic practice of playing an instrument needed), or even select sounds out of generative tools that create massive sonic palettes for curation and (hopefully) creative use in our works.

The real marker, and it's obvious when you are familiar with a given domain or genre, is who is using something creatively versus derivatively and without inspiration. Beware of black-pilling regardless of industry or domain. We are supposed to be sources of inspiration and vision as much as possible.

[Bud Weiser]

Although I admire some songs for their absolute perfection in sound engineering/mastering, the requirement to book a studio to produce some music also priviledged some annoying bands, while it prevented better bands to become noticed.

Now tell me what´s "annoying" and what´s "better" when talking about bands from the past !

At times when most big recording studios existed,- the bands/artists just only made some demo tapes and when a (major !) record company´s A&Rs and marketing team imagined the overall package (lineup, appearance, music and formability to make it an act) being worth the investment, they payed for the production and advertisment, ideally in co-operation w/ a publishing company.
Very promising artists and/or their producer got advance payment to realize the production.
In most cases the company also designated the producer who sometimes also decided for additional studio session artists regardless what the band´s lineup was and both, the record company and producer looked for "ideal" songs for the act, regardless if the artist/band was able to provide songs or not.
It was all about to have everything under control and to max out profit (if possible).
The artist got his contract and was happy about being a signed act, got some commission/royalties which was typically some small percentage (6% +) and from there performing contractual obligations in sense of negotiated terms.

In fact, "annoying" and "better" still is matter of taste and at the end of the day, the (masses of) customer(s) decide what´s successful and what not.
It´s still a music industry, regardless of it being physical music sales or digital music sales.
And EVERY artist is happy when he/she has a hit,- no ?

Technology like scope and online music distribution enables skilled people to become noticed.

Noticed,- yes.
But that doesn´t make the music better and in most cases also doesn´t generate hits and/or commercial success.
The quality of gear was also never responsible for creativity and success and there are countless examples making that evident.
Today, the music biz works simply different than before, but I can tell you it was way easier to make a living from music in the past than it is "today".
Mid 70s ´til end of 90s was the best period to do so IMO.

But as the number of competitors explodes, more niches are exlored, which generates progress.

What kind of progress?
I heard and still hear more and more bad music the more the number of competitiors explodes.
Already a guy like Joe Zawinul mentioned in an interview before he died in 2007 "I only hear bad music ...".
But as I said above,- that´s matter of taste !

And as long as "making music for a living" still becomes more and more regressive,- I don´t recognize any progress in that.

AI in song writing is scary and interesting, as it quickly reaches a level of acceptable quality, but I never saw AI reaching perfection.

Perfection was also never neccessary to be a successful artist.
Also there,- countless examples out there.

All you need is a very good idea, some musical skills, lots of luck and a good marketing team for the right product placement in the web.
It´s like a lottery win or like randomly being at the right place at the right time.
That´s why it´s stoll called a "HIT" !



Bud