The future of Music.. does it really matter??

[SimonEdward]

Hello.. Just read an article (see link below) about where the music industry is likely to be headed over the next 10-years. The views are by the 'best and brightest' in the music business today - apparently.

[url="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324436104578579112994316642.html?mod=WSJ_EUROPE_LnS_MIDDLEPhotoFeature"]http://online.wsj.co...DLEPhotoFeature[/url]

[b]What do [color=#ff0000]YOU[/color] think..? Does any of this really matter..? It would be interesting to hear your views...........[/b]

I've picked out a few of the slightly more interesting views of the 'best and brightest', who are described as: - The Musician; The Producer; The Record Label; The TV Producer; The Streamer; The DJ; The Promoter; The Manager; The Mobile; And "The Grassroots"..

Excuse my ignorance, but It had not occurred to me that 'The Music Biz' could be so complicated..

"Over the next 10 years, producers of electronic dance music and hip-hop will continue to have a huge influence on all forms of music. Hip-hop and dance production styles have the flexibility to merge with almost any other type of music. This allows for a lot of cross-pollinating, and it's creating some genre-bending stuff. Many artists now are trending in this direction because of the music's immediacy. The ability to make people want to dance is such a powerful way to communicate art". (A musician).

"Consumers are busy. They don't want to work very hard to figure out what to listen to and they just want a moment of relaxation and break............ This is where the music industry is going. Ultimately the best music services are going to be the ones that simply allow the user to press a button and press play and the user will instantly get what they are seeking without having to think...". (A Mobile industry person).

"The record industry is all but over, but the live set of the industry is very strong and ticket sales are as buoyant as ever". (A Promoter).

"Signing up bands is a big problem at the moment because there are too many bands going out too often. There is no uniqueness about them. And there are not enough bands that are big enough to play, so they are going back to the existing bands". (Another Promoter).

"Because everyone is releasing... a lot of really good music goes unnoticed... and there's a lot of bad music out there as well, but you've got access to so much more than what you had, listening to a CD". (Someone who plays records).

... In some ways, I'm a bit confused.. but, is this what's already happening today anyway? Over to you BC'ers................... Edited July 7, 2013 by SimonEdward

[xilddx]

Very interesting, Simon, thanks for posting it.

I think we'd do well to remember they are talking (American) pop culture, and new jazz to some extent.

There are some very interesting opinions on there, none of them really surprised me, but the one that stood out for me was the fact that we are getting much more immersed in electronica, with the result that kids are not learning instruments these days (if that's indeed true, not sure) so they don't identify with the instrumentalists in the same way they used to. I think that's probably not got the impact the guy thinks it does, but I sort of agree with him, it's just about the size of that market, and the rate of shrinkage. I have many friends who have never learned an instrument but are music junkies, and buy funky new music even though they are in their 40s and 50s.

It's the young 'uns who are important though, how are they consuming music? The drugs scene which has often influenced pop music trends is too dilute and varied to have any influence, and drugs are now not really linked to music in the same way, so I think because of that the music scene is also very dilute. There's no scene to follow other than electronic dance music and the DJ is king. You need a scene for bands to prosper.

[flyfisher]

The future of music will sort itself out and predictions about it don't matter a jot except to pass the time of day.