Music Quality (forwarded from Thane Tierney)

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 12:07:43 -0700
> From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
> Subject: Music Quality (forwarded from Thane Tierney)
> To: dave () farber net
> Cc: lauren () vortex com
>
> Dave,
>
> A record industry friend of mine (who has been having e-mail problems with
> comcast) asked me to forward you the item below, relating to the "music
> quality" discussion from IP that I forwarded to him.
>
> --Lauren--
> Lauren Weinstein
> lauren () pfir org or lauren () vortex com or lauren () privacyforum org
> http://www.pfir.org/lauren
> Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
> Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
> Co-Founder, Fact Squad - http://www.factsquad.org
> Co-Founder, URIICA - Union for Representative International Internet
>                      Cooperation and Analysis - http://www.uriica.org
> Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
> Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
>
> ------- Forwarded Message
>
> From: "Thane Tierney" <cauchemar () comcast net>
> To: "Lauren Weinstein" <lauren () vortex com>, dave () farber net
> Sent: Saturday, August 23, 2003 9:35 AM
> Subject: Re: music quality
>
>  Hi Lauren,
>
>  This is an interesting question, and one that has obviously occupied a
>  significant amount of processing time in the cranium. I think there are
>  several reasons for the downturn, creating a sort of musical "perfect
>  storm."
>
>  1) The vinyl replacement boom is finally over. The industry had an
>  artificial boost for many years as a consequence of the compact disc.
>  That's done. The only things yet to be issued on CD are things that geeks
>  like me want, and there's not a significant enough number of us geeks to
>  make an economic impact.
>
>  2) Radio blows. How do people hear new music? Mostly from the radio (from
>  word of mouth and press also, but largely radio). With razor-thin formats
>  and tick-tight playlists, radio has raised a generation of consumers that
>  never had to develop any taste outside the music that immediately resonated
>  with them. In the golden "boss-hitbound" era of AM radio, the Temptations
>  were cheek-by-jowl with the Rolling Stones, and things got even more diverse
>  with the advent of underground FM. Any listener willing to participate in a
>  bit of a musical experiment would be exposed not only to the Beatles, but
>  also to Dan Hicks and Osibisa and Pentangle. No more, unless you happen to
>  live within the listening range of a Vin Scelsa or Tom Schnabel or Rita
>  Houston or Jody Denberg. There aren't many of them, and their number
>  decreases annually. From a musical standpoint, I believe there's probably
>  more interesting music being made now than at any time in history, thanks
>  to the dramatic reduction in the cost of producing CDs. Now anybody with a
>  $300 computer and a mic can manufacture his/her own CD; that's opened up the
>  floodgates to a massive amount of music that would never have been available
>  in the past. [Check out CDbaby.com for examples by the dozen.]
>
>  3) Competition for the entertainment dollar. Twenty years ago, for all
>  practical purposes, home computers didn't exist. Video games were still in
>  their infancy. Home video was just getting its sea legs. All of these items
>  are now major competitors for disposable income (along with the more
>  traditional things such as movies and books and concerts and the like).
>  Recorded music will never again enjoy the role it once played as the #2 home
>  entertainment medium (after television, of course). It just has too much
>  competition, and we humans have a limited amount of money, and more
>  importantly, time.
>
>  4) The singles format has disappeared. For much of the time in the history
>  of the record industry, singles were available for people who didn't want to
>  buy the whole album. The break-even point, from a consumer's point of view,
>  would be just over two hits. If you were going to buy three singles off an
>  album, you probably may as well get the album. Of course, you could also buy
>  the whole albums from your favorite bands straightaway. In fact, there used
>  to be a distinction in the press (and the minds of many consumers) between
>  "singles bands" and "album bands." The demise of the commercial single
>  (which appears to be on the verge of rebirth as a consequence of
>  file-sharing and the record industry's belated response in the form of legit
>  mp3 sources such as iTunes and the like) led to more consumer discontent
>  than the record industry was willing to acknowledge.
>
>  A study commissioned by Sony and WEA (my former employers) said that, of
>  self-identified "heavy downloaders," 45% were buying less music in 2002 than
>  they did in 2001. Of people who self-identified as "non-downloaders," 38%
>  said they were buying less music in 2002 than in 2001. That says to me that
>  downloading, while not entirely overlookable, is a comparatively trivial
>  issue.
>
>  The record industry is currently in a position analogous to radio
>  broadcasting in 1948, with the onset of television. It needs (and will
>  undergo, whether it likes it or not) a radical reinvention, and by the time
>  it's done, it may not look like the thing it once was. Think about it: in
>  1948, radio drama was the top home entertainment medium, and by 1962 (when
>  "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar" broadcast its final episode) it was dead as Bob
>  Hope. Radio, as a medium, survived handily. But most of the functions
>  performed by radio personnel in 1948 didn't exist anymore, and neither did
>  their jobs. Well, that sort of change is happening now in the record biz,
>  and I think it will ultimately be a boon for the consumer, if not for the
>  industry itself.
>
>  With hundreds of millions of files available (or soon to be available), how
>  will the music consumer decide what to buy? The won't have time, interest or
>  energy to listen even to 30-second snippet of any more than an infinitesimal
>  fraction of what's out there, so the function of a "record label" as
>  gatekeeper/taste arbiter will be perhaps even more important than it is
>  today. In the future, "brands" such as Vin Scelsa or Jody Denberg (or Amazon
>  or iTunes) may become as useful or as valuable as Warner Bros. or Sony. It
>  would be a great relief to me personally if there were someone (whose taste
>  I clicked with, of course) who was willing and able to sift through the
>  dross and expose me to things I might want.
>
>  Maybe that will be my next gig. Care to subscribe to my newsletter?
>
>  Cheers,
>  Thane
>
>  P.S. For Dave & Barry's benefit: I'm Thane Tierney, currently unemployed
>  --er, consulting-- record industry vet (WB, Enigma, Rhino, Hannibal,
>  Rykodisc, WEA) who has produced greatest hits packages by both Zachary
>  Richard and Gordon Lightfoot, and who has contributed liner notes to dozens
>  of projects.
>
> ------- Forwarded Message Ends

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