The Song's NOT The Thing!
The real reason why music is getting worse
The real reason why music is getting worse…
Rick Beato nails it (in the video below)! This is WTF happened to the music business and technology. Totally spot on… well, almost (see my response below)…
The History of the Music Business and Technology, in two acts…
Act I - Music is too easy to make
Act II - Music is too easy to consume
...and their cumulative negative effect…
And (below) Rick’s (kinda) rebuttal to some critics, who, for example, said he was too old and outta touch, and he didn’t really understand AI/technology… 🤣
Before I even start, and to completely contradict what I’m about to say, here is a totally AI-generated text-to-cloned-English-male-voice audio file of my response below. It’s way easier than recording it myself… 🤪
The Song's NOT The Thing!
I wanted to add a few thoughts of my own to this topic — the topic, I guess, being: that music has become over-homogenous, un-innovative, and that music, in particular songs, no longer holds such a value for young people today, because they have such easy access to so much music at such a low price, including, very often totally free.
Yep, songs, at least for younger generations, seem to have lost their mojo!
My first thought is actually nothing too major. I simply want to point out that in Rick Beato’s (great) whirlwind tour of the development of music technology during, let’s say, the last forty or fifty years, well, he actually missed quite a few very important steps in this development timeline. Steps which really had an impact on how pop music (for want of a better term) was created and how it sounded. Most notably he did not mention MIDI sequencing, music synthesis, music sampling, and perhaps most significantly, the transition (in professional recording studios) from multitrack tape recorders to Digital Audio Workstations, or DAWs, which, now most people, musicians or not, have in their own homes. If, for example, you own a Mac computer, you already have one, as GarageBand comes preloaded.
This last step, multitrack recording to DAWs, is, for me, the most crucial development in the creative process, being, in my view, at the same time, a blessing and a curse. The steps from, let’s say the 1930s were: from mono recording (so a single-track tape), to stereo recording (so two-track tape), leading to multitrack recording, Initially this was four-track tape, leading eventually to eight-track tape, then to sixteen-track, then twenty-four, then thirty-two and eventually forty-eight track tape recording systems (and even seventy-two and ninety-six).
The thing about, let’s say, recording on an eight-track multitrack system, was that you had a limited amount of tracks to record your instruments and musical parts on to. If you think about recording a rock band on only eight tracks you start to get the picture. Maybe you allocate two tracks for the drums, one for the bass, one for the rhythm guitar, one for the lead guitar, one for the lead vocal, one for some backing vocals, and maybe there’s a keyboard part you want to add. Well, that’s all eight tracks. So, if you wanted to get creative and add some additional ideas, you had to make decisions very early on in the creative process. Personally, I like this, I’d say it’s a blessing. I think making these decisions is a good discipline and keeps things very clear-cut.
As technology developed, and more tracks got added to the multitrack process, there were fewer restrictions on how many tracks you could allocate to your musical creations. Maybe you could have four tracks of backing vocals instead of just one, two different keyboard parts, and many more tracks dedicated to the drum kit, and so on. This meant decisions that used to have to be made early on could now wait until much much later in the recording process. You could even have several versions of a lead guitar part, and decide which to use during the mixdown stage. Decisions, for example, about quality and appropriateness, did not need to be made so early on in the recording process, and recording generally became more versatile and adaptable. However, this could end up being a curse, as you could end up with so much recorded material, with so many options and alternatives, that it became confusing and difficult to decide what to use, and perhaps the overall quality suffered.
Why am I explaining all of this?
Well eventually multitrack recorders got replaced by DAWs, which have an absolutely unlimited amount of recording tracks available, you can literally create as many tracks as you want. And because the audio is now recorded as digital waveforms on a hard drive (or other types of solid-state memory device), the audio can be easily copied, pasted, dragged, and dropped (not to mention edited and processed), and all in real-time. You can see all of the sections of the song and all the musical parts on a computer screen, and easily and quickly arrange them exactly how you want. The possibilities are absolutely endless…
Below are two very different versions of the same recording, just to highlight the endless possibilities of modern DAW-based music technology… BTW, the videos are terrible, it was me learning to use/exprimenting with video editing software, my first attempts😳… enjoy!
So, from a creative point of view, regarding technology, I think today’s musicians never had it so good. I’m not sure about what Rick Beato proposes — that all this technology potentially kills innovation. I think that depends on the mindset of the recording artist and whether they allow themselves to become over-reliant on all the easy quick fixes that modern technology puts in their hands. If they still take time to develop musical skills and develop their craft, then perhaps they’ll see ways to use this technology innovatively. So, for me, the jury is out on this particular topic. But, off the top of my head, talented contemporary artists, that embrace and innovate with technology… Grimes (also on substack here)
I think the main point for me, and a point that Rick Beato kinda missed (maybe he did mention it and I missed it), is that what is happening with streaming today in 2024 is nothing really so new. It is just a continuation of a very old story, about a small group of individuals and companies attempting, very successfully, to control the distribution of commercial music. This has been going on for donkey’s years!
If you can control the main distribution channel/s — so historically, radio, TV, vinyl record stores (and later, Compact Cassette and CD sales) — and if you own the copy-rights, or a big part of the rights, to not only the physical media but also the publishing rights for the musical content contained on it, well, quite simply, you control the financial revenue that all this generates. And, also you can control who, so which artist, and what, so which song or album, gets shifted down those distribution channels. You can control media exposure and the chart positions.
So, it’s really nothing new that some artists get featured and marketed more than others, and that chart positions are not always based upon merit! It’s nothing new that the legal contracts and agreements relating to all of this — so, recording, publishing and distribution — hardly ever favour the music’s creators! It’s nothing new that musicians get royally shafted by other key members of the music business community, not least record companies. It’s nothing new that most of the revenue goes to a tiny group of individuals. All of this, well, it’s almost like a fact of life for musicians! So, it’s nothing new that big companies control music distribution and publishing, today all done via the Internet and streaming. So, no big surprises, about any of this, all around, it has ever been thus. And no big surprise that these same companies, now and in the future, will attempt to control and capitalise on the AI revolution. I would be surprised if they didn’t!
For me personally, with all of this in mind, at some point, I had to do a whole colossal rethink about my relationship to and with music, and with the music industry.
For me, it simply comes down to how one measures success. As little as twenty years ago, so in my early forties, I could tell you, in quite some detail, about most of the top-ten singles and albums in any given week, in both the UK and the USA. Twenty years ago I linked these charts with success. Now today, in 2024, I could not name or describe to you one new song or current artist (apart from maybe Taylor Swift 🤣), and I don’t know what the relevant/important/go-to charts are anymore. At some point, I simply lost faith and interest — it all now seems so false, shallow, ridiculous and hyped.
I think how I view my relationship with music now, in 2024, is much closer to how I first viewed it as a teenager: it’s about having fun, about being excited, being creative, connecting with people locally, and connecting people. Really, it’s much more about a supportive community and shared experiences. There’s a sacred/spiritual element to music as well, something often overlooked and fundamental — about the vibrations (no, I’m not going to get all 432 Hz with you), and the rhythms, about a connection with the past, with our ancestors, and passing that on to future generations. Music is about personal achievement and going beyond barriers. It’s about going deep inside and sharing something of ourselves. It’s about storytelling. It’s about listening. It’s about becoming immersed in sound (both as an audiophile and a melomaniac). And it’s about appreciation, and being appreciated. It’s about being fully present, about chasing dreams and travelling distances.
So, for me, music, and successfully being involved in creating and performing music, is about something a lot more basic and primal than simply commercial success — there’s something more essential than simply making money, from a commodity, or skill. And, frankly, my level and depth of involvement in music, my artistry and creativity, well, that has to come from me. Music technology and AI can’t really do any of it for me, apart from making the creative process a bit more accessible now in 2024 than when I was a teenager, and for that I’m thankful.
Please note: I have another infotainment channel on Substack, called Unleashed & Unlimited, where I post podcasts, articles and content unrelated to music.🖋🎥🎙
Very enjoyable and certainly informative, Nic! Your knowledge and keen explanations help bring it all home, and I loved the Beato vids, too! I think the big "so what?" or "now what?" for me, is just doing what you and I are doing right now: Using our respective pasts to chronicle "the way it used to be," in whatever direction it may be headed NOW.
I find it fascinating that you and Rick are just a year apart in your early-'60s, while I'm on the other side of that decade, 8 months away from the big 7-0! You: Immersed in the ('80s) creative/recording side of the biz, and me (in radio and retail records) on completely the "other side," where the end-product of what you helped "lay down on vinyl" is what I dealt with on the other side: the product that I played on terrestrial radio, and sold in stores!!
What would've been REALLY cool is if I had played or sold any of the product that had your name on it (but, my analogy above still stands). But, alas, by '81/'82, I had chucked my record store key, and began college, at 28, to begin a new career!
All of that to say (getting back to our respective jobs and Rick's videos): You and I need to keep on chronicling the "way it used to be," regardless of how it ends up being, or in which direction it's headed (however depressing it is, as illustrated in the graphs Rick shared in vid 2!).
New "The Song's the Thing" readers, Nic, need to be turned on to your articles chronicling your '80s London-studio experiences! Readers (new and seasoned!) can start here: https://nicbriscoe.substack.com/p/trident-studios-soho-1981-1982-part-1
Here! Here! Such an important post given your long view of the music industry from an insider point of view and telling it how you've seen and experienced it. I think there is a lot of glamour associated with making it in the music business (and the film business as well) that hides the reality of what's going on behind the scenes and what the artists are dealing with to make their dream come true. It can be a bed of thorns rather than a bed of roses if an artist has a hit record and finds that they actually owe the record label money. Or if they get fired from the band they themselves founded. I've often been astounded at what I read in rock and pop music autobiographies. So thank you for being honest about the industry.
I also applaud your view of what music is all about and why we do it.
My question to you is around recording. I've heard or read some artists talk about how much better it is when they play together in the studio and the song is an actual performance, where they interact with one another and respond to one another in the moment and make music together. The recording is capturing that magic. Same with live albums, often more exciting than studio albums (if they play well live). I wonder if what's been lost with the multi-tracking where it's constructed from bits and pieces is the human craft and joy of creating together in the moment. I notice that when the video is constructed to give the song that human element and excitement that's missing, it just doesn't satisfy me. I love when I hear artists talking to one another on records, or clearly reacting to one another. Maybe it's why many of us do not keep up with music anymore. It seems like a solitary endeavor and makes us feel even more alone and less connected. Interested in your thoughts. Maybe it's just me!