How One Generation Was Able to Transform the Music Industry

[garylkoh]

The title of this article is "How One Generation Was Single-Handedly Able To Kill The Music Industry", but I read it differently. Very Different.

Some take-aways:
1) Some companies like GUESS, Red Bull and Steve Madden have spent over $1.3billion sponsoring music festivals, venues and tours;
2) Youtube (84%) and Pandora (71%) are the top sources for music discovery by 12-24 year olds.
3) In 2003, there were 800 label-employed musicians - down to 190 in 2013; and there were 300 independent musicians in 2003 - up to 1,830 in 2013 (according to US Labor Statistics)
4) The American music business is now firmly in the hands of music artists and consumers, no longer the labels and industry - we have an unprecedented opportunity to shape the future.

As audiophiles and the audio industry, what do you see as our role?

http://elitedaily.com/music/how-one-generation-was-able-to-kill-the-music-industry/593411/

​

 

[Peter Breuninger]

Youtube is also the biggest highend audio media distribution and influence platform.

 

[rockitman]

#3 is quite interesting...I feel the music I like to listen too is long over....nothing in the 2000's has inspired me much.

 

[jazdoc]

As audiophiles and the audio industry, what do you see as our role?

Today it is rare for an artist to make money on recorded music. IMO it is imperative to support live music and buy physical media. As audiophiles. we have the ability to improve the quality of physical media by voting with our pocketbooks, especially analog where audiophiles purchase a disproportionate amount of new vinyl

 

[garylkoh]

#3 is quite interesting...I feel the music I like to listen too is long over....nothing in the 2000's has inspired me much.

I think that part of the problem there was mentioned in the article - technology is cheap, and much of new music is made without ever stepping into a recording studio. Which also means that there are now millions of music artists who have no idea how awesome a high-end hifi system can sound. Which means that they will not make their music high-quality enough for many of us audiophiles to matter.

It's a recursion with no good end in sight - how do we get our hobby to the wider audience so that young music lovers are aware of the better quality reproduction available so that music artists will do a better job than what a Mac and $200 monitor loudspeakers can reproduce?

 

[rockitman]

I think that part of the problem there was mentioned in the article - technology is cheap, and much of new music is made without ever stepping into a recording studio. Which also means that there are now millions of music artists who have no idea how awesome a high-end hifi system can sound. Which means that they will not make their music high-quality enough for many of us audiophiles to matter.

It's a recursion with no good end in sight - how do we get our hobby to the wider audience so that young music lovers are aware of the better quality reproduction available so that music artists will do a better job than what a Mac and $200 monitor loudspeakers can reproduce?

Excellent explanation Gary. Hi end is doomed if the buyer doesn't demand the best from studios. Maybe our generation is generating enough noise evidenced by the seemingly increase in licensed RTR offerings ? I guess that is wishful thinking.

 

[garylkoh]

The entire high-end industry is doomed unless we regain relevance.

If you look at the big picture, how popular do you think the music that we usually demo is? The problem is - someone new walks in the door of the audio store and asks for a demo. The salesman audiophiles sits him down and plays him a piece of jazz. He has a higher chance of playing him something relevant if he plays Christian/Gospel!

If you don't believe me, check this out: http://research.google.com/bigpicture/music/

At the Newport Show, I was hanging out at the Thorens/Roksan/Elac showcase outside the Wilson/Constellation room. If a couple comes by, the guy goes in the room and the gal hangs outside, I'll offer her to sit down and play "something interesting". If she has a smartphone, I'll ask if she has some music that we can play - via bluetooth. The number of times she played jazz or Diana Krall? Zero. If she didn't have music with her, I played Lorde, Dead Can Dance, Goyte or Massive Attack.

 

[zztop7]

Down the tubes

http://market-ticker.org/

"Like most Apple developments, the news emerged from a leak. 9to5Mac has learnt that Apple submitted a specification to its MFi (Made For) licensing program for headphones which connect using the company’s proprietary Lightning port instead of the standard 3.5mm jack. Furthermore all it will take for the Lightning port to start accepting these new headphones is a firmware update."

Right. And what is likely to come with that is a >>> delete <<< of the standard headphone jack.

You know, the one that let's you >>> choose <<< which set of headphones you wish to buy?

zz.

 

[RogerD]

Like a lot of things,as the older generation dies off much experience amd talent go with them. The absence of trained recording engineers,using well equiped studios,is taking it's toll. I don't ever expect to ever hear music like was recorded in the golden era of the 1950's and 60's. Even though technology is supposed to make up for escalating costs,it never does. So be it,atleast I'm old enough to have witnessed the best.

 

[JackD201]

The entire high-end industry is doomed unless we regain relevance.

If you look at the big picture, how popular do you think the music that we usually demo is? The problem is - someone new walks in the door of the audio store and asks for a demo. The salesman audiophiles sits him down and plays him a piece of jazz. He has a higher chance of playing him something relevant if he plays Christian/Gospel!

If you don't believe me, check this out: http://research.google.com/bigpicture/music/

At the Newport Show, I was hanging out at the Thorens/Roksan/Elac showcase outside the Wilson/Constellation room. If a couple comes by, the guy goes in the room and the gal hangs outside, I'll offer her to sit down and play "something interesting". If she has a smartphone, I'll ask if she has some music that we can play - via bluetooth. The number of times she played jazz or Diana Krall? Zero. If she didn't have music with her, I played Lorde, Dead Can Dance, Goyte or Massive Attack.

For young uns, I lean on music from the Armada label which records/produces in 24/96. Their 12" singles, CDs and even MP3s generally sound good.

 

[rockitman]

Like a lot of things,as the older generation dies off much experience amd talent go with them. The absence of trained recording engineers,using well equiped studios,is taking it's toll. I don't ever expect to ever hear music like was recorded in the golden era of the 1950's and 60's. Even though technology is supposed to make up for escalating costs,it never does. So be it,atleast I'm old enough to have witnessed the best.

+1

 

[garylkoh]

For young uns, I lean on music from the Armada label which records/produces in 24/96. Their 12" singles, CDs and even MP3s generally sound good.

Thanks, Jack. van Buuren is one of my go-to DJ's. His 12" singles and albums are also very well done. Are high-rez downloads available?

 

[JackD201]

Not yet AFAIK but rumor is that he has plans of releasing them. He performs using the native 24/96 as do others on his label. Schultz, Shah, Berlin et al.

 

[FrantzM]

Like a lot of things,as the older generation dies off much experience amd talent go with them. The absence of trained recording engineers,using well equiped studios,is taking it's toll. I don't ever expect to ever hear music like was recorded in the golden era of the 1950's and 60's. Even though technology is supposed to make up for escalating costs,it never does. So be it,atleast I'm old enough to have witnessed the best.

I would beg a different perspective... And new talent come up too. We must open ourselves t the new sound , to the new music some of it is in my opinion very good ( I know this is wildly subjective and personal) but I must say that some hip-hop artists will surprise you by the value they put on production. Snoop Dog comes to mind.
We can remain mired in the past and proclaim that all that is old is great and that we will never see anything better. Or we can look at things differently and note that recording technology has advanced to a point where high quality is highly accessible.. e.g Korg ADC: Quality that would cost millions can now be acquired for thousands. We must encourage the youth to listen and to understand what High End Audio is all about. Time for the old to pass knowledge and experience to the intrepid, eager, adventurous and curious young. Some of them are producing music of the highest caliber. Open up your minds and ears what we are now saying is what our grandparents were saying, this is as old as the world and we must admit that they were not right in their assessment ...

 

[RogerD]

I would beg a different perspective... And new talent come up too. We must open ourselves t the new sound , to the new music some of it is in my opinion very good ( I know this is wildly subjective and personal) but I must say that some hip-hop artists will surprise you by the value they put on production. Snoop Dog comes to mind.
We can remain mired in the past and proclaim that all that is old is great and that we will never see anything better. Or we can look at things differently and note that recording technology has advanced to a point where high quality is highly accessible.. e.g Korg ADC: Quality that would cost millions can now be acquired for thousands. We must encourage the youth to listen and to understand what High End Audio is all about. Time for the old to pass knowledge and experience to the intrepid, eager, adventurous and curious young. Some of them are producing music of the highest caliber. Open up your minds and ears what we are now saying is what our grandparents were saying, this is as old as the world and we must admit that they were not right in their assessment ...

Frantz,

Listen to any living stereo recording ie Rodeo,Grand Canyon Suite or Rhapsody and find me a better recording. Or find me a better recording engineer than David Sarser and Lewis Layton. Everytime I hear these recording they are a marvel and others might have come close,but fail on the whole of the work. Thank God I can chose what I listen to and I not only relish in the past,but salute those that strove to produce such great recordings and had principles and such understanding to accomplish this glorious feat.
As far as todays music,some of it enjoyable,but a lot of it is pure manure. And I'm still waiting for the latrest and greatest technology to surpass simplicity.

http://www.reevesaudio.com/vintagesessions.html

http://www.reevesaudio.com/studiothree.html

 

[garylkoh]

We do relish the past and salute those who produced great recordings using the technology of the day.

However, I am hoping that we can all also open our minds to the future.

Time is a great filter - I'm sure that there was also a lot of pure manure recorded and released in the 50's and 60's. There's more music than ever being produced and released. Some of it in garages and bedrooms - because today it is possible. If we do not embrace the present, there will be no future for the high-end.

 

[FrantzM]

Frantz,

Listen to any living stereo recording ie Rodeo,Grand Canyon Suite or Rhapsody and find me a better recording. Or find me a better recording engineer than David Sarser and Lewis Layton. Everytime I hear these recording they are a marvel and others might have come close,but fail on the whole of the work. Thank God I can chose what I listen to and I not only relish in the past,but salute those that strove to produce such great recordings and had principles and such understanding to accomplish this glorious feat.
As far as todays music,some of it enjoyable,but a lot of it is pure manure. And I'm still waiting for the latrest and greatest technology to surpass simplicity.

http://www.reevesaudio.com/vintagesessions.html

http://www.reevesaudio.com/studiothree.html

Gary


I don't have any qualms about the performances. They are up there but in term of recordings there arein my opinion some excellent recordings out there that are as good. I could pull several from the Reference Recording Catalogue or Harmonia Mundi and I can argue that Keith O. Johnson is as good as Layton was. We may not yet have a Wilma Cozart Fine and I am just snatching those examples while working on a project. There are several other examples of contemporary fine examples of recordings.
Yesterday music was also full of manure, it wasn't all great music. Even back then for every Mozart, Bach , beehtoven or Cesar Franck there were countless of drivel whose music is best but forgotten... True the signa to Npoise ratio may be lower with so many "Artists" today but , I think you got my points.

Last but not least .. One could argue that a PC and ADC is as simple as one can get and produce great recordings.

 

[RogerD]

We do relish the past and salute those who produced great recordings using the technology of the day.

However, I am hoping that we can all also open our minds to the future.

Time is a great filter - I'm sure that there was also a lot of pure manure recorded and released in the 50's and 60's. There's more music than ever being produced and released. Some of it in garages and bedrooms - because today it is possible. If we do not embrace the present, there will be no future for the high-end.

Gary


I don't have any qualms about the performances. They are up there but in term of recordings there arein my opinion some excellent recordings out there that are as good. I could pull several from the Reference Recording Catalogue or Harmonia Mundi and I can argue that Keith O. Johnson is as good as Layton was. We may not yet have a Wilma Cozart Fine and I am just snatching those examples while working on a project. There are several other examples of contemporary fine examples of recordings.
Yesterday music was also full of manure, it wasn't all great music. Even back then for every Mozart, Bach , beehtoven or Cesar Franck there were countless of drivel whose music is best but forgotten... True the signa to Npoise ratio may be lower with so many "Artists" today but , I think you got my points.

Last but not least .. One could argue that a PC and ADC is as simple as one can get and produce great recordings.

One man's manure is anothers bouquet of roses

I still stand by what I have expressed ^^^ in my prior post.

 

[Asamel]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/09/business/media/free-music-at-least-while-it-lasts.html?_r=1

 

[mep]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/09/business/media/free-music-at-least-while-it-lasts.html?_r=1

And I quote:

The convenience of pushing a button on a handheld device that streams wirelessly to a speaker is always going to trump hunting down a CD with marginally better sound and plopping it into a player.
Think I’m the only lazy one? Sales of digital downloads dropped a whopping 13 percent in the first quarter of this year after falling 5 percent in 2013, which was the first year since the debut of iTunes that sales of digital music dropped.

This is what I mean when I talk about digital couch potatoes. It's not about the sound, it's about the convenience. And for many, can they listen for free?