Spotify, one of the leading digital music services, recently announced that their premium accounts have increased to 40 million and along with the free accounts they have, they have reached the extraordinary number of 100 million users! Apple music comes second with about 17 million users! How about that?!I do not care about the digital services and I’m not trying to make any kind of advertising but it’s weird that people (and especially the youngsters) are choosing digital music services so as to listen to music. Isn’t that something? It’s exactly the opposite of what we used to do… the opposed way of how we used to listen to and evaluate music.
Nowadays, everyone is listening to music through their smartphones or tablets, with their headphones and that’s it. They believe that this is the “only & right” way to listen to music. They do not even care about the music quality. It doesn’t make any difference whether they listen to an MP3 of 128kbps or 320kbps or to a WAV. They think they can listen to music properly through their cheap earphones, while they are on the run or while surfing the web.
Is this really the future of music? Some digital music platforms where anyone can listen to music for around $7 or euros per month? How much do the artists/bands get out of it? How much does the digital music service get for their services and to pay their workers? If tomorrow there was no other way for someone to get music, will artists, bands, music studios, musicians etc. have the chance to live out of music with digital music services? Have any of those who use those digital music services ever thought what it takes for a single track to be recorded and produced in order to get them? How many people are working and how much money does it need to get produced properly? Ha – who cares about such things, right?! As long as anyone can get music and have their smartphone full of tracks then nothing else matters!
My generation or the generation before it, used to think totally differently about music and they had a huge respect for the bands, the artists, the musicians and music itself. Back in my days, we were longing to listen to a new album, get the vinyl or the CD in our hands, see the cover artwork carefully, read the lyrics & the credits and then play it in our Home HiFi stereo system, which we had spent quite some money on in order to listen to music in the best way possible. We even got some “big” expensive HiFi headphones (not earphones) so as to have a highly accurate sound.
I cannot foresee how all this will end up but as long as the fans do not respect and support music the way they should, then this won’t have a fine ending. Just reconsider how many bands and artists are struggling to make it through – yeah they are not only the big ones that are being paid loads of money - and how many studios, sound engineers, producers, mixers etc. cannot make it anymore and they are forced to shut down their music studio and deal with something else. Music is not meant to be recorded, mixed & produced on the PC, iMac or laptop, but on a fully equipped music studio by people who have studied sound engineering among other things. It’s OK to record on one’s PC, iMac or laptop for their own convenience, but here we are talking about music that’s meant for the masses.
Support the bands, the artists, the labels and the musicians by getting the CD, the vinyl or even the digital stuff by them directly or the labels… if you wish your beloved band/artist to make music for quite some time.
PS1: Please do not get me started that the bands/artists should give their music for “free” and they should tour continuously in order to make money, cuz you obviously do not know how the whole touring thing works and you do not have a clue about how a small band can tour and if they can make money out of it. They can even lose some by paying for everything themselves. That’s another big story though…
PS2: GR’s Spotlight Model for October is the hot as hell Wildcat. Check out her interview and pics here.
PS3: This month’s editorial is dedicated to guitarist & vocalist Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane & Jefferson Starship), who passed away a few months ago. Paul was a gifted songwriter too and he wrote some great tunes during the 60s, 70s & 80s. He will be totally missed. We are very grateful for his contribution to rock music in general… May He Rest In Peace…