Warning: High-and-mighty Soapbox-style preaching on it’s way…..
There – you’ve been warned. If you’re still reading, I’m assuming you have given permission for me to speak my mind.
A couple of years ago, I read a fantastic article about the devaluation of music as an art form. It discussed how a piece of music had been devalued from AN EXPERIENCE, to AN ALBUM, A SONG, eventually ending up being worth $0.99 on iTunes, or free from online file-sharing. Thus, music is now considered worthless by most of the western world.
Blame it on lossless, virtually free, distribution. Blame it on the general quality of the product (commercial music as a whole). Blame it on kids that weren’t raised properly, and the parents that (mis-) taught them. Who knows, who cares?
I seem to be alone with this pet peeve, but I really hate seeing two people sitting next to each other, sharing headphones. Someone wrote and arranged that music, recorded it, mixed it, produced it, and stamped their name on it. And the listeners have chosen to ignore 50% of that. Not to mention that a stereo recording is never meant to lose one side. It throws off the other side, along with omitting (in some cases) entire melodies or themes.
Comparing art forms, you’d never go to an art gallery to see a specific piece and see a curtain draped over the left side of the painting. If you did, you’d see a furiously screaming artist demanding respect for the work he’d poured himself into. And chances are you’d understand his point. Music? Get’s none of that respect.
I complained about this to a friend, Celeste, who pointed out that as a consumer the listeners had every right to use the product as they saw fit. That I, as the creator, had sold my rights for the $0.99 paid. And she’s not entirely wrong.
So, I’ve removed the BUY option from my Soundclick page. Now it’s only available for streaming. Now it’s my GIFT, and it comes with a condition: Treat it with the respect it deserves, or ignore it altogether and move on.
I didn’t write or record this music for profit. I did receive some, and I’m thankful to those that bought. I earned enough to pay for my divorce in fact, but it’s not worth selling the respect I have for the art.
I’m dropping out of the industry side. For the love of the art, it’s pure again. Love it or leave it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I beg to differ on the sharing point. Music is meant to be shared. While two people sharing headphones may be losing out on the technical aspect, they're fully appreciating the social aspect of music. One person, one (set of) headphones is a very new development. Compare 50 years (a rough estimate) with thousands of years of sharing - either singing together or listening to a concert or one person singing for a crowd.
ReplyDeleteOoooooooooooh what a very hot, rich topic: the value of art and how it's meant to be "used" as a commodity, if it is a commodity at all.
ReplyDeleteThe artist in me likes to keep business and commerce far, far away. Something is lost the minute art becomes "for sale." However, art is also worth of the respect that one should recieve for successfully making it one's livelihood. It is indeed not only of value, but extremely valuable, depending on the "user"---the subjective quality of art makes it so.
I too prefer art for art's sake whwn it comes right down to it, but damn, sometimes I wish I had more time for my art and the only way that's ever gonna happen is if I can stop working assholian day jobs to support myself while I do the "art" in my free time.
I am gonna go blow my brains out now.
CM, thanks for your comment. The problem with halving the headphones is that they are intentionally omitting 50% of the sound. They cannot hear the half not coming through their one speaker. Shared music is ideal, but shared in whole. Live music is a whole other beast, and the only similarity would be if one randomly disabled 1/2 of the instruments while the musicians were playing.
ReplyDeleteSusan, i feel your pain. For me, my day job does nothing but support my love of music.