"Rather than do that however, let me focus instead on how today's music delivery system of choice is turning art into mere commodity."

Rock and Roll has been "mere commodity" from the get go.

To pretend that the internet has made it so, is both, naive and dangerously wrong.

To be a bit horribly personal, you have written about Fleetwood Mac, Run-DMC, Alan Parsons Project, and Neil Young--all acts who would never place art above commerce, no matter what you think. If you are serious about decrying the mercenary aspect to Rock's mainstream, you should think about supporting the undercard. Otherwise you come off like a fool.

While the acts that I have reviewed in recent weeks have to varying degrees, indeed made loads and loads of cash, I disagree with your notion that these are all bands who put their commercial goals before their artistic ones.

Neil Young in particular has made something of a career of going against the grain often to his own commercial detriment. For every album Neil Young makes like a "Harvest" for example, he turns around and makes two or three that are as off the wall and decidedly "non-commercial" as Trans or Greendale. His record company once even sued him on the grounds of "failure to deliver commercial sounding product." So that doesn't exactly sound like someone who puts his bucks over his art to me.

I am glad that you seem like my writing enough to read everything of mine that goes up here though -- at least judging by the laundry list of my articles you ran down.

And just for the record, I do indeed support the so-called "undercard". And the fact that the Internet affords bands that would otherwise never be heard is a great thing, and I believe that I said so in the article.

Again, the flip side to all of this though is that as the end result of these new delivery systems, the music business has reverted to being a song or single driven machine like no other time since before people like the Beatles and Dylan kicked those doors down some forty years ago now. And if people aren't buying albums that strtech music toward new boundaries--speaking of the commerce aspect-- then what point is there in continuing to make them?

I appreciate your comments, and I likewise stand by mine.

-Glen

Neil Young can do what he wants, he's made his millions, he commodified his work a long, long time ago; whatever art he does is gravy...he's rich...thus he does not worry about a Trans. No one can touch him.

...Regardless though, the "music industry" is what you make of it. If you still regard it as viable, that is your bad luck...go to the store and buy in bulk...No one is forcing you to download singles. Buy Records if you want. They still make them.

No one is forcing you to take the short route. Let the later/younger generations be content in their own way of doing things... I think you can still buy Yes and Abba in record form.

Neil Young can do what he wants, he's made his millions, he commodified his work a long, long time ago; whatever art he does is gravy...he's rich...thus he does not worry about a Trans. No one can touch him.

...And he did so for the most part by defying convention and writing the sort of great, lasting songs and albums (yes, "albums") that contributed greatly to rock music's original renaissance as an a respected art form.

If downloading individual songs is something which by it's very nature discourages complete albums even being made (since presumably no one listens to them all the way through anymore), again I have to ask then what is the point? How does music move forward on any sort of artistic or even technological (in terms of recording technique) level?

The fact is that the experience of listening to music IS being depersonalized, and the "revolution" of downloading has played a significant role in this.

Now that Abba though -- there was a great singles band.

-Glen

Glen- I can appreciate your pov and your article because it is a good one,but, I think you are going a little overboard(this coming from me,ofcourse).

If I remember correctly, the whole single song thing started with 45's...Right? That didn't stop artists from selling whole albums, did it? Then they started producing "single" cassettes. They even had "E.P." CDs. Thus, the album as a whole still moved from the shelves...

I personally love the internet because I can find all the obscure & hard to find stuff that would've been impossible to order at a "Brick & Mortar" from all over the world and then dump it onto my Zune and still have the CD artwork to look at while I play my songs. But, I can agree that the record labels need to stop supporting the "cookie-cutter" mentality and once they do that, I feel it will open the doors for more diverse acts to make the ends meet.

BUT, let's not forget... It's the people with pioneering foresight that see these as challenges with a solution not just a problem. Let's not also forget that there are plenty of companies that focus on producing new technology that can keep the audiophile in all of us content. Especially, when Internet 2 becomes financially feesable(?) for us consumers we will be able to download,with great speed, the high quality audio and dump it onto our 1 terrabyte Ipods, Zunes or whatever else may be out. Don't forget about the movies we could watch on the go as well!!

*BTW* the movies that I watch on my Zune quite a bit...

Mr. Guppus,

Perhaps I need to restate my real point somewhat. I think that the Internet is a great thing in as much as it offers access to music that likewise might never find an audience at all, such as in the case of the more obscure metal bands you for instance favor. That is a good thing, no two ways about it.

What I find problematic is the fact that this same sort of instant access has pretty much broken things back down to their least common denominator in terms of the way that music is actually being created. Of course there have always been "singles", and singles themselves are not a bad thing. But the emphasis, up until now at least, has been on singles designed to promote a broader work -- that being "the album".

Aside from the fact that many albums these days are comprised of a few singles with the rest being "filler", you still have to ask the question of where does this leave room for the creation of a broader work? If single songs are to be the emphasis, then what motivates an artist to record music that stretches boundaries or is more experimental? How will we ever get to find out what the next innovations in studio technology may be if most music is heard largely through speakers small enough to tuck into your pocket (or fit into your ear)?

Hell Brian, as a metal fan, where does this "revolution" leave the time honored eighteen minute heavy metal guitar solo?

There's got to be a middle ground somewhere though I admit. I mean once the genie's out of the bottle, theres no going back right? I guess what I would like to see is a way that these new delivery systems (which inevitably WILL replace the CD right?) could somehow marry themselves to more of an emphasis on carefully thought out, more realized works of art (at least as opposed to the personalized top forty stations that they are in their present form).

Thanx for the comment.

-Glen

Hi. I'm a musician. Here's my take.

Music has always been a commodity. Clearly. Record companies, and their paid surrogates - the radio stations, have always made the choices for the consumer. Nothing new. It's here, though, that we
see the effects of a cultural dumbing down process that has been in place for decades. The lowest common denominator keeps getting lower. You can actually hear it. Turn on the radio.

What is new is the delivery method and consumer taste. In terms of delivery, all that's happening is that the consumer is carrying around a few hundred 45's in an mp3 player. Sure, the mp3's sound inferior to vinyl, but the consumer doesn't care. They have never cared. And, most of them don't even know. Nothing is going to change that. They choose to sacrifice quality to have it now. Instant gratification. America.

What has happened, I think, is that the consumer is more interested in what the music does for him/her than about the artist. That's a
bit of a shift. Prior, I think the two were more closely linked. What emotionally moved the consumer was more emotionally associated with the artist. It was a psychological thing. This is the shift that is killing CD sales. The cultural shift has coincided with a delivery system that augments that change. Now, I don't have to buy the whole magazine for just one article. And, I don't really care about the magazine, anyway.

The artist's body of work is not at risk. It has never mattered to the average consumer, anyway. Beatles fan? Yes. Own all their albums? Nope. Pink Floyd? Yes. Nope. Dylan? ...... Presumably, the consumer will select additional singles from an artist if they like one of the singles.

We are in the middle of a change in technology. It's like the industrial revolution. Some business models don't work anymore. In this case, we're talking about record companies. Couldn't have
happened to a nicer bunch of people.

m..
intodown

"What I find problematic is the fact that this same sort of instant access has pretty much broken things back down to their least common denominator in terms of the way that music is actually being created."

I personally think it's just that the mainstream/pop is just showing its true colors.
I can agree with Mr. Clark but I would change his statement to say,"Music has always had an ability to be a commodity". If these so-called musicians that are filling the airwaves feel like following a formula then that's their decision and that's most likely how they ended up with a contract in the first place. You always have a choice...

Honestly, Glen, I have always had to dig for the stuff I liked since I was a teenager because places like Strawberries & Tower didn't carry the shite that I was/am into. This new business model still doesn't affect that scene. Never did ,Never will..HAHAHAHAHA(Sorry,an old 7-up commercial popped into my head).

I personally think that the real musicians will wrap their heads around this problem and find other sources to make their works available. They have always done that.

Sorry, I wish I could elaborate more but I gotta get thine ass to work.