Re: [microsound] the great depression of experimental music?

[john saylor <js@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

hi

( 04.09.23 08:56 -0700 ) j.frede:
> has the CDR killed experimental music labels?

or the network.

the economics of music distribution have changed. with formats like
flac around [to say nothing of the ubiquitous mp3] it is so much easier
to distribute music over the web, that other ways of doing it just can't
compare.

to me, *that* is what's going on. the independents just don't have the
big guns that the big 5 do- but i've got to think the same thing is
coming their way.

it just seems so much better to distribute music this way.

> or is it the fact that now with the ease of writing music with
> software, that it takes so little time to get the same effect people
> spent months working to get with gear before this flood of bedroom
> composers hit the "market"?

i think distribution is the key. methods to produce music have been
changing ever since someone starting humming instead of singing.

> could this end up causing a massive drought in the experimental music
> community... or will it mean that the only way to get new music is by
> downloading it,,,?
> being a record collector for many,many years this would be tragic to
> me....

why tragic? if the music is formost, it will still be available. just in
a more ephemeral format than before [and music is so ephemeral anyway].

> i know that we will all/most of us will continue to pursue our work in
> this field,, out of passion and interest,, but at what point to music
> careers became music hobbies?

depends what you mean by hobby. 

if you define a hobby as something that you don't make 'your daily
bread' from, then prolly more and more musicians will become hobbyists.
this actually frees up the music, as there is no constraint to make it
'marketable'.

on the other hand, if you mean a hobby as some kind of distraction from
the main work of your life; i'd agree there are many musical hobbyists.
[which is good] but there are also musicians who need to work as
software engineers [and so on] as a hobby in order to do their real work
of music making. their hobby pays better, but their minds are always on
the music, and it's the music that makes them want to get up out of bed
in the morning.

-- 
\js     ]: http://or8.net/~johns `_$?/>    "_".:+`)/        @      

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