Megatrax Blog

In posts during the last year, I have had some not too nice things to say about some of the trends that I have observed in today’s music industry (the broadest definition of that term).

I have bemoaned the death of the album format, the rise of talent born in the shallow end of the talent gene pool, the damage that instant-access-to-every-song-ever-recorded-at-any-second can do to our ability to reflect and gain perspective on lasting, meaningful musical quality, and the sometimes plastic-y, tinny sound of CDs…among other horrid criticisms.

Recently, while searching for other writers who share exactly my same views, so that I can feel confirmed, I can across this opposing viewpoint, a viewpoint that is a reflective, positive view about the state of current music recording.

This article, “Today’s music industry: Not the same old song and dance,” was written in 2009 by Greg Kot, the Chicago Tribune’s music critic. Obviously, this article is not new, in fact some of his references (to Whitney Houston, for one, and to CDs, for another) are dated. Look beyond that to this affirmation of what is good about this industry .

I particularly like his closing paragraph:

“Indeed, the new way of doing business has hardly done away with the past. On the contrary, cutting-edge technology that allows artists to connect with their fans 24/7 is building up an appetite for the oldest form of music distribution: the troubadour with the guitar (or laptop) slung across his back traveling from town to town to play for people. That’s one musical experience that can’t be digitized.”

Joe Falkner, Division Manager, Aircast Custom