Too Much Music
David Byrne of The Talking Heads said recently that most people have all the music the could ever want or need. I have to agree with him; music is everywhere, and the sheer abundance of new music that's being produced by independent artists and being uploaded to MySpace every day is overwhelming. There's certainly well over 24 hours worth of new music being produced every day, which means that no person is going to be able to listen to all of it.
Music to be special just because of the economics of recording and distributing albums. But music is no longer scarce. I'm old enough that I remember wanting to write and record music as a teenager, but not being able to afford the equipment that would have enabled me to get decent results, and distribution was still a challenge. (My teen years pre-date Napster.) Now, of course, that's all been upended. I managed to buy decent recording gear for a few hundred dollars and I can produce as much music as I'd like right in my living room.
And, just as easily, so can everyone else. That means it's becoming harder and harder to write a song that really captures peoples' imaginations. Creating high-quality music isn't a huge obstacle. And there's so many people experimenting with different styles and sounds of music that it's becoming more and more difficult to write a song that sounds truly original on its own. Lots of people are trying, and that just increases the amount of clutter that's out there.
I posit that much of the music that enjoys massive commercial success (e.g. Lady Gaga) isn't musically or technically superior to a lot of the amateur content on the Internet. Sure, there's a lot of garbage on MySpace...but there's also songs by independent artists that are really well-written, technically proficient, and sound professionally produced. So why does Lady Gaga get all the fame while so many hard-working amateurs struggle?
What Lady Gaga, U2, and all bands that sell out large stadiums for performances are offering to fans is belonging. Part of the appeal of Lady Gaga (or any other mainstream act with a massive following) is that fans instantly, by virtue of listening to her music, get to become a part of a large group of people. Even if their music isn't discernibly better than that of amateurs, people want what everyone else wants. They want to buy something to fit in with their peers.
So how do you write a song that does that? Or a better question: once you've written it, how do you market it that way?
Music to be special just because of the economics of recording and distributing albums. But music is no longer scarce. I'm old enough that I remember wanting to write and record music as a teenager, but not being able to afford the equipment that would have enabled me to get decent results, and distribution was still a challenge. (My teen years pre-date Napster.) Now, of course, that's all been upended. I managed to buy decent recording gear for a few hundred dollars and I can produce as much music as I'd like right in my living room.
And, just as easily, so can everyone else. That means it's becoming harder and harder to write a song that really captures peoples' imaginations. Creating high-quality music isn't a huge obstacle. And there's so many people experimenting with different styles and sounds of music that it's becoming more and more difficult to write a song that sounds truly original on its own. Lots of people are trying, and that just increases the amount of clutter that's out there.
I posit that much of the music that enjoys massive commercial success (e.g. Lady Gaga) isn't musically or technically superior to a lot of the amateur content on the Internet. Sure, there's a lot of garbage on MySpace...but there's also songs by independent artists that are really well-written, technically proficient, and sound professionally produced. So why does Lady Gaga get all the fame while so many hard-working amateurs struggle?
What Lady Gaga, U2, and all bands that sell out large stadiums for performances are offering to fans is belonging. Part of the appeal of Lady Gaga (or any other mainstream act with a massive following) is that fans instantly, by virtue of listening to her music, get to become a part of a large group of people. Even if their music isn't discernibly better than that of amateurs, people want what everyone else wants. They want to buy something to fit in with their peers.
So how do you write a song that does that? Or a better question: once you've written it, how do you market it that way?