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Not necessarily Bruce-related, although that’s evidently where my preference lies…
Someone put it to me the other day that the MP3 generation has ruined music. Not through ease of pirating, but because it’s so easy to use music as what he termed “aural wallpaper”.
He said something that amazed me, but that I find myself agreeing with the more that I think about it … that people (at least in the UK) don’t care about music anymore. So long as they have their background “wallpaper” noise, they’re happy. People no longer have a passion for it.
Perhaps asking you all is preaching to the choir, but looking around you, do you agree with him?
Hmmm. If he’s arguing that the loss of fidelity resutling from MP3 compression is what turns it into “sonic wallpaper”, I disagree. If passion for music survived the phonograph (at least as it sounds on playback systems assembled by mere mortals) and the cassette tape it will survive the iPod. Done properly, MP3s sound far superior to even the $$$$ Nakamichi tape decks of yesteryear.
But if he’s arguing that what’s to blame is the constant availability of music, 24/7, with random playlists, no tape flips, and 800 hours in your pocket, maybe he has a point. Maybe that does make the music a little less special, a little taken for granted.
I work on a college campus and see lots of kids walking around with their iPods and their earbuds and I wonder just how much they care about what they hear (especially with those ***awful earbuds). But would these kids be any more likely to be passionate about their music if the only place they could hear music was on a dedicated system in their home?
Thinking more about this sonic wallpaper issue: People have been using FM radio to provide background music for a long time. I don’t see MP3 playlists as qualitatively different – in fact with the control users have I think someone playing MP3s of their own choosing is probably MORE engaged in the music than someone listening to the radio (especially in these days of ClearChannel). Sometimes at work I’ll fire up my computer speakers and tune my internet radio to a station I know won’t play anything all that engaging – for the explicit purpose of drowning out other less pleasant sounds. (If I fire up a Bruce show, even in MP3, I’m liable to get too wrapped up in the music and not get any work done.
) I don’t think this makes me enjoy it any less when I get a chance to sit down at home and fire up a tasty show on my home stereo.I’d say I’m pretty passionate about my music. I’ve put a lot of time and money into making my home playback system sound good. At the same time, I have an iPod and love it for bringing tunes with me in the car etc. I think MP3 and internet radio are wonderful things, exposing me to music I’d never hear otherwise.
If people don’t care about the music anymore, I think it’s because they aren’t finding the right SOURCE MATERIAL, regardless of the playback format. I’d blame ClearChannel, the big record labels, and the standards of the current pop music market before I thought of blaming MP3s.
Will_S wrote:If people don’t care about the music anymore, I think it’s because they aren’t finding the right SOURCE MATERIAL, regardless of the playback format. I’d blame ClearChannel, the big record labels, and the standards of the current pop music market before I thought of blaming MP3s.Interesting point, Will. It got me thinking of where I have found new music that I have some passion for. Very little comes from listening to mainstream radio. Here are a few sources that have introduced me to music that I have felt passionate enough about to go buy it on my own…
– Stuff my friends play. Often times it just takes being able to hear what someone else hears in music they like to dig it just as much or more than the other person.
– KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic. Though I live on the east coast I listen to this radio show on the net. This show features all hand-picked music and gets a lot of music months before other stations. This show has a lot of influence in the industry as well. It is largely responsible for the success of Norah Jones and Coldplay, among others.
– Napster. I listen to the radio stations on the pay service. I recently found James McMurtry though Napster. I’m really liking this darker side of country. Where most country music is about the man sitting in the front of the church who is hard-working, patriotic and loves his family, McMurtry would rather sing about the red-eyed guy sitting in the back who is hungover from the night before.
– Artist Collaborations/Covers. I’ve found a lot of great music by looking up guys Bruce has worked with (like Chris Whitley) or artists he covers (like Sam Cooke).
As for Si’s question….
Yeah, I think most of us use music for background noise, some more than others. I remember a friend telling me how she burned a cd to play for a trip to the beach. It used Outkast’s “Hey Ya!” for 3 different tracks. Of course this is just background music… it’s music that just acts as a way to control the atmosphere around you, whether it be to you pumped up or get you so bored that you focus on your work instead of the tunes.
After all, it seems like the best music has the catchiness needed for background music and the quality that makes it worthy of more intense listening. I guess it’s a lot like The Simpsons in that respect… if you really get it it becomes 10 times better.
That’s enough rambling for one night… this is a forum post not at dissertation after all.
I find this topic very thought-provoking. I know many people who do indeed use MP3s as “aural wallpaper” to close themselves off from the annoyances in the outside world for awhile. Personally, I have found that the MP3 format has given me the opportunity to hear music I otherwise might never have considered listening to. As Will S. has said, most commercial radio in the US is a joke (at least it is in my neck of the woods). Satellite radio can provide some interesting choices, but I’ve found I have to scan through several channels to find something that really catches my ear-maybe that’s just adult A.D.D. kicking in.
I believe people’s passion for music can change as they age/mature. As a teenager, I listened to the same radio station all the time; I didn’t care what they played. In college, I was exposed to a variety of music and became a more discriminating listener. Today, music on the internet is allowing me to refine my musical palate even more. I think it all depends on how people use the MP3-they can download or create an unoriginal playlist or do a little searching and find music that really peaks their interest.
Jackie
I agree. Many people play mp3’s only and we all know due to the compression, the music loses quality and fidelity. And if you do some critical listening, and listen to a real cd vs an mp3 version, you will certainly notice the difference. But unfortunatly, most people dont’ care and are content with the mp3.
) I don’t think this makes me enjoy it any less when I get a chance to sit down at home and fire up a tasty show on my home stereo.
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