Tech stars are indeed todays rock stars. All the allures that once belonged to musicians now belong to techies, and thats not a bad thing at all. However, music still holds more than enough ground to be an influencer and advancer of culture. One of the major problems: the influence reflected off what continues to reign as popular today (for the most part) no longer advances us forward or makes us think. Tech, on the other hand, does influence culture and makes us think, plus the creativity / freedom once seen in popular music eras of the past now resides in the tech sector. Another huge issue - the system is broken. Musicians just arent incentivized to pursue their craft as a lifelong pursuit (i.e. a career) when the cards are stacked so high against them. Streaming may be the new paradigm, but the perceived value of music from the public continues to remain low, especially with the next generation of music fans being conditioned to access music for free (or almost free). For todays music artist, making a living is the new success and touring / merch / publishing continue to be the primary viable ways to do so. If youre not up on that, or if youre not among that top 1% making that real money, youre basically out. Whereas in tech, the sky really is the limit in the amount of money to be made, and its just cool to be in that field now. So if youre a young person going through college, which field would you be more likely to enter? We have to ask ourselves: what purpose is popular music serving today, and are we OK with such a unifying tool being used this way? And, when will we see more middle-class musicians thriving? Music is just too precious of a tool for humanity to not be used in ways that move us forward the way tech does, and it certainly needs a platform to sit upon that isnt just a money machine for only a select few. Wow, my first Facebook rant. =) Ill just end this here, but Ill leave you with this interesting read from Forbes. And, please - let me know what you think. Would love to hear your thoughts and continue the discussion in the comments. Peace & love from Ibiza!
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 22:33:21 +0000
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