Recently, some more intensely heated conversations about music, the genre and the culture of it, have come up between my friends, and I feel inclined to speak my mind in a slightly more formal manner via our good blog here. Seeing it being music related, I feel it should be welcome to the site.
Music, as with all communication media, can be interpreted two ways. As a form of entertainment, and/or an art form of high regard and can be truly appreciated. Now, the two both intermingle and not throughout time, and this is perfectly fine and good, if not ultimately necessary. But, when a media is used as a social tool, not as art form or entertainment, then it is quite possibly the biggest perversion of something pure that I can think of. It is almost a molestation of sorts, using and abusing something pure and innocent for the sake of personal or social gain. This is best explained in examples, to show how good something can be done and what can be done to destroy it.
Bobby, some figure of our mid-pubescent, early teen childhood. Bobby has heard for the first time a new realm of music, for the sake of it, known as hardcore punk. Now, Bobby absolutely falls in love with music and everything it stands for. The sound he hears, the atmosphere it emits, and the messages it sends are all bliss to him. His life completely changes and becomes apart of this new culture, still inevitably partaking in normal society, but with these new ideals deeply rooted into his personality. From then on, his curious grows and finds more music and different music and enriches himself with all things that he finds interesting, and becomes more diverse because of it. Now, this is the perfect example of what music is as an art form. The ability to emotionally, whether in instance Bobby which is life change, to the ability to bring some emotional and intensified thought to the table for only a brief few moments is what makes something gain the identity of a work of art.
A much simpler example is necessary to explain the medium as a source of entertainment. Music in dance clubs, making people want to get up and move. The hysterical mock-ups Weird Al Yankovic concocts, making people fall over laughing. These are perfect examples of using music as entertainment, as a vice or tool to fill the boring voids they may have in their lives. Something that can make people forget their problems for a minute and enjoy something simple, and magnificent in it's ability to hypnotize it's fans for that time. Nothing is more needed in life than some sort of entertainment throughout your day to bring out of the element of monotony that is the daily grind.
These two archetypes are now easily manipulated into popularity and celebrity tools, and it sickens me to see the watering down of such an important enrichment in peoples' lives. The Bobbys of our time are quickly diminishing, and with that come the out-spurts of people that are taking a medium and using it for the sake of social acceptance. As a quintessential badge of honor to show to your importance, proving to them how cool or original you are based on what music you like. Living life behind a mask of conformity is bleeding dry the fountain of originality, and if it continues, the issue with musical carbon-copies will even grow even more and become such a huge threat to music as a whole. Guaranteed, we have our cycles of what is in and out in music, but with the advent of social networking and the internet, that line is beginning to diminish, making what used to be underground cultures and genres of music into the mainstream.
So, what do I say you take out of this whole issue? Realize there should never be a time whether you should sacrifice your opinions and taste for music based on who or what will like you for it. It is both a sad example of your easiness to conform, and your perverse abuse of something bigger and more beautiful than you or I can even begin to imagine.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Music Culture: An editorial opinion on the current state of music culture.
Stumble it!Friday, May 9, 2008
Who Owns Who: Big 4 Labels and "Indies"
Found this really cool diagram showing the relationships among all the record labels- and how they all come back to the Big 4 (or Big 6 at the time this was made).
Click the image to enlarge and see more detail.
Read More......
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Battle of the Boroughs Article in TechCrunch
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Help Out! Vote for Battle of the Boroughs on Ideablob!
Help us add another $10,000 in prizes to the Battle of the Boroughs. We're going to be giving 100% of this prize money to the winners of the Battle, so vote and we can make our contest even better!
It only takes a minute or so, and it'll make the Battle of the Boroughs a lot more fun for everyone.
Microsoft vs. Yahoo!... Who cares?
This morning I read an article on how Microsoft rescinded its bid for Yahoo!. Honestly, who cares?!
This merger should have never been a consideration in the first place, and it is less of a topic for technological and innovative debate and more a point for financial traders to speculate on. These companies are giant money pits, nothing more at this stage.
Read More......
I am absolutely certain that the only way either Yahoo!'s or Microsoft's respective lack of innovation could decline is if they were to join forces; these are most certainly not the companies shaping the future of technology. What is the last major innovation that Microsoft has made? It's Windows Vista- the operating system that die-hard Microsoft fanatics are protesting more adamantly than any other product in the company's history.
Microsoft is chasing around a burnt-out Dot Com has-been and all the while Google is quietly developing free, innovative web-based alternatives to Microsoft Office. Microsoft is starting to remind me of major record labels- not only are they blatantly ignoring their customers' cries for help, they're lashing out at them while others are silently innovating. When you start attacking people instead of improving, it's usually because you're insecure- that applies to both bullies and multi-billion dollar enterprises.
If you don't believe me, see why Microsoft is Dead.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Battle of the Boroughs Teaser Video
Here's a teaser video about the Battle of the Boroughs we're working on right now. It's the world's first battle of the bands that's going to be broadcast live through the internet- and you can also vote on it as it's happening (like American Idol) to influence the outcome.
We'll be releasing information to the press in the next few days so we'll keep you posted on articles written on it, and obviously you'll get updates as we release more details.
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