Last week I discussed how the internet has added yet another contribution to the ever-changing music industry. The internet has begun introducing live online shows for the pleasure of any viewer who, for whatever reason, cannot make it out to a performance. This is a brilliant addition to the industry, like most others the internet has provided, but how will it affect the overall world of music. This week I would like to delve a little deeper into the history of music and explore what magnitude of change has been brought about by the proliferation of internet-based music.
The 1960’s serves as a good base for this rundown because this decade marks a time when music became mainstream and, popular to people of all classes. The sixties were characterized by big-name bands, such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, who produced albums and performed live shows across several nations. This is a similar pattern to what artists today are accomplishing but there is one major difference; how these bands made it to the top. In the sixties, the process of becoming a big-name artist was highly selective. Knowing somebody inside the industry was almost a must because getting your music heard was very difficult. If you were lucky enough to get in with the industry, you would then have to create and perform songs that were tailored to the mainstream tastes of the big radio companies. Generating radio play translated into developing a loyal following of fans that would in turn, provide support for the ban. This was not the simplest of tasks and it could easily explain why there was only a handful of standout bands in that era which, seemed to be everybody’s favorite.
Now, in the 21st century, the nature of the game has changed quite a bit. Artists are still producing albums and performing live shows as they did in the past however, the process of constructing a solid fan base has transformed significantly. It is safe to say that the radio is no longer a decisive factor in whether or not an artist is going to be big or not. I mean who really turns on the FM radio these days to hear the biggest and the best bands? Rather, the internet has swept in and has basically become the medium most focused on by artists trying to get their name out there. Producing music through sites such as MySpace or YouTube, followed by social-networking efforts to connect with fans, has really become a platform for starting a successful music career. Not every major artist right now started this way but a majority of them still use this recipe to help move their careers along. Either way, what the internet has done is provide a self-serving method of becoming a successful artist with a loyal following. This impact of the internet is not only felt by aspiring artist but, also by listeners who wish to enjoy varying types of music. Thanks to the plethora of music-based websites, almost any genre can be heard at any given time. This has fragmented the broad audience of music listeners who can now pick and choose exactly what they want to listen to and not just go along with what a radio decides to play.
This separation of a once united fan base may be the end of big-bands such as the Beatles. With everyone being capable of picking exactly which genre, and band, they wish to listen to, the chances of two random people having the same favorite artist is becoming increasingly unlikely. The internet has provided a way for users to get precisely what they desire but, it may have caused an end to the national phenomena’s we all used to be accustomed to.
Read more:
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1900054,00.html
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