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The music app is the new album
We all used to buy albums. Those of us of a proper age used to buy the real things in real record shops, to play on real record players. Or same, only on cassette or minidisc. Younger readers who grew up in the mp3 age can now, if they like, partake of a taste of that, with the difference being that it is an elected style choice now. Back then it was our only way.
We, here on this forum, buy iOS apps, and wonder why we do it. Most of us parallel it with how we used to buy more expensive gear, hardware synths, even desktop plugins, and we can’t quite get over how cheap these iOS apps are by comparison. Those with jobs (are there any on this forum?) feel the guilt and start musing over which hardware synths they must buy as a penance.
There’s another concurrent phenomenon, too. The learning and understanding vs ease of use thing. So many times a person will buy an app and not have the slightest clue how to use it (at least not until the videos emerge). This is a manifold occurrence. It could be because the purchaser is not familiar with the type of technology in the app; or could be because the app presents it in an occluded manner for various reasons. Impedances to understanding could lie anywhere along the line between the user and the manufacturer. Most apps, though, aren’t so immediately familiar or intuitive that nobody needs help, or there’d be no discussion of them at all (it’d be “isn’t Garageband wonderful” “yes, it’s wonderful” “okay, what do we talk about now?”).
Then there’s another phenomenon (or more usually, a noumenon) and that is the innate drive to actually do something productive with the apps we’ve spent money on (which to be fair must have been equally the case in previous ages, desktop music, hardware synths, and probably even back as long as musical instruments could be purchased and stared at). We feel that we’ve failed if we spent money on a music making app for it to remain in the wooden crate in the rain outside our imagined music making factory.
It occurs to me that the true reason for those apps isn’t actually to make music with. That’s merely an incidental decoy side-effect. The true reason is to be the functional equivalent of an album. The thing we bought albums for, and the thing we buy music making apps for, I posit, is actually the same reason. Also, those of you who were computer games players, the same applies. The thing games players repeatedly bought games for (surely one is enough?) is the same itch. Albums, we didn’t just listen to, but “explored”. We listened to, yes, but then we went deeper than the groove on the vinyl. We analysed, we re-created, we imagined, and we, like, totally, believed our album covers. We lived that adventure, actively practicing it over and over.
The hidden purpose of a music app, a synth or sequencer or effect, is to act as a goal or self-challenge or game or a promise of achievement. It’s okay never to make a single piece of music with a certain synth or sequencer, as long as you’ve gone past the blue dot and tried it out. The purpose of the app is to provide a little adventure, of experiencing, learning, adapting, critiquing, and evaluating. Not to be a musical instrument. If it becomes one, that’s a nice bonus. Take the example of generative apps, or any app that can cause sounds that go on and on and on. Isn’t that like listening to your own little personal album? Isn’t that purpose enough? Why does it need to fit into a yet-to-exist song? The job is already done. Or, take the case of apps that have a rich and deep synthesis ability. Surely the exploration and gratification of rich lush complex sounds in response to clever touch interface interpretation much like a game or exercise plaything, with learning and reflex practicing built into the activity? Why should your Nave masturbation session ever find itself in a yet-to-exist song? The job was already done. Or take the example of any sequencer or arpeggiator — why do people do crosswords or sudoku?
In conclusion, then, I shall make myself another cup of coffee.
Comments
So, would this app-as-album thing also include an element of tribalism?
There also albums-as-apps like Thom Yorke's Polyfauna or Byork's Biophilia(which is actually broken:()
I'd agree , the money I would normally have spent on albums , books and mags has now been channeled into music apps . I still buy the other stuff , but only for stuff I really want , where before it was regular ' just buy anything ' weekly treats . Unfortunately in ten years time the apps will probably have gone into the ether - whereas some of my rarer book and album purchases are now worth hundreds lol
Yes clever.
Earlier today between my bout of head pain, I programmed a sound in microTERA and I played it. My imagination was full of how that sound (a lead) fit into my imaginary humming of songs of my past.
I played it. I twiddled a few knobs (well touch screen representations). I was on stage doing Billy Curries slightly awkward synth playing dance. I was flicking back my over lacquered Durany hair and arpeggiating to the world. I held a long powerful note, sucked in my cheeks and gave my best Numan stare to my imaginary audience.
My apps job was done!
I was happy
Thom*
I've been thinking all these lines as well. The apps are the new album. To put into another perspective: music production apps/technology is the new emerging "music industry". People no longer pay much to listen, but clearly they are paying to create, at least somewhAt at the moment. I think over time this will become more obvious and mainstream
yeah, that's right...really should have bought a guitar back then, instead of all those albums...
Humm ... that made me think. Why did I buy albums, my first guitar, my first DAW, way too many apps?
Sounds dumb, but I think it's always been a fantasy to be able to make music like the stuff I listen to. There's an external part - the fantasy of being recognized as some kind of rock star - but mostly it's internal. Like ... "What would it be like if I could become someone who could make that music that blows my mind, instead of the mediocre, boring, waste of space I sometimes feel like I am?" I think whenever I listen to music, it's always like, "How would I do that? What would it be like to be able to play like that?"
When I began listening to music as a teen, it was so far beyond my imagining that I could ever do something like that. No wonder we idolize rock stars. Well ... a lot of it for most people is their image and persona ... but for me it was always about the music not the personalities. I bought a guitar. I learned some licks. And I found a funny thing. As soon as I could play some of those songs, they lost a little of their magic. I got the temporary high of "Wow look at me being a rock star!", but followed by a bit of a letdown knowing that indeed mortals can do this kind of thing. But, there has always remained so much music beyond my abilities, that the process will repeat forever.
So many years later the process continues, only now substitute "apps" for "guitar" and "albums" (though I still play guitar, and still suck at it). "Wow, look at me making a bass drop!!" I can still remember the first time I put together a realistic drum loop. There was a free version of Fruity Loops (it was still called that back then) included with Guitar Tracks Pro, which I bought to record my guitar. It came with some stock loops, but none of them fit what I was playing. I forget how, but I discovered the sequencer and samples in Fruity Loops and was able to put together a loop that ... holy shit! ... sounded like something off an album. I could jam over it, and I sounded like I was playing on an album! That glimpse of being able to do that...
Didn't last long, but its those little moments that I think keep me coming back to the iPad to suck up another app and another night making music. I don't finish up a lot of tracks but it's a great escape from the rest of ... life. Much healthier and cheaper than drugs and alcohol.
Belew. Flux. That is all.
@wim
Very well said. Thats pretty much my perspective. Hell, I rarely listen to other music these days unless I'm in the car or at an event or a friend wants to play something. If I'm at home, my musical needs are more than satisfied by the wide variety of sounds I can produce myself.
My teenage daughter has become my sole DJ. Once she got off the death-metal thing I was shocked to find I like most of the stuff she comes up with. I kinda want to make a stealth soundcloud account and see what she thinks of some of my stuff. If she knew I made it of course it would be crap, but other than that, if I get big enough bass I could probably pull it off.
The music app is the new Pandora.
You could argue that anything that grabs one's obsessive attention is the "new album."
I like bourbon a lot. Coffee is good, too.
Meh. https://forum.audiob.us is the new album.
Legit.
I have become less obsessive about buying stuff. Then, I'm not a synth guy, so that endless garden of delights is not something I stray into it. I have been studying daily for my conservatory exams as well, playing a bunch, and really starting to get into composition and recording. So I am using it all, and having a huge amount of fun doing it. But I also still listen to a lot of music. I have a paid Spotify account, and I enjoy old music, and new music, and I go to concerts on a regular basis.
I miss buying albums. I missing going to the record store and browsing, going over the album cover in minute detail and the liner notes, and listening over and over again. At the same time, I don't think my enjoyment of music has changed that much over the decades, either in listening, or creating, and the latter has certainly gotten more so.
I'm guessing most of us here don't have flash cars and big houses - so what if we spend a few quid a week / month on apps - you're a long tome dead brother , enjoy !!! My Friday might MASSIVE APP SPEND OUT of twelve British new pounds includes Notakil and Tap Dealy , and the jam of joy I've just had makes it worth every penny
I too miss albums. A lot. There was a flow and a larger experience with the whole package of songs, cover art, liner notes, listing of who played what on which songs, special thanks ... pretty much a thing of the past.
On the other hand, sadly, I find it sometimes difficult to listen to a whole album any more. All those songs in a row by the same artist? And how often do I have time to just sit and listen to 40 minutes of music straight through any more? Damn if I haven't fallen prey to the times. Of everything being a single. Of remixes. Of mashups. I never used to think any remake was anywhere close to as good as the original. Now, I'm mostly hearing and liking the remixes first, and then sometimes going back to the original and finding myself somewhat disappointed.
It's all so confusing and upside-down! I'm gonna need to buy several apps tonight to console myself.
Ha ha, good post
It does seem that attention span has fallen victim of the times for me, although I look at my sons and realize how vast the difference is in a generation.
Many fond memories of flippin' through LP's at the local record stores. Some were cheap enough to take a gamble (used to focus on album covers and instruments used), but there weren't the scores of streaming solutions available then. That was several decades away.
I would say that apps have helped fill that hole in some ways and beyond in other ways. I'm definitely a hobbyist, but producing music is on a different plane to listening to it. Much better to be active!
I grew up in Charleston, SC which isn't very noteworthy in terms of music, but we had one great prog station that I'll always cherish. WWWZ was fantastic for that time and place, introducing me to fusion and prog. Here's one group I "discovered" using the album cover/instrument method.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=RDEMJt8MgVbt5Xbk1JLC6oZxHQ&params=OAI%3D&v=MTclHg3Sd9Y
I don't mean to come across as a prog exclusive though. Far from the case.
@funjunkie27 - Prism (?) Records, run by the freaky albino guy was an awesome record store in Charleston back in the 80s. There was another decent store, but I can't remember the name.
The simpler explaination is "dopamine hit". We all crave it in one form or another. I still buy albums in the store ... on CD. Here in Japan Cd and record shops still abound. Buying an app in the "app store" is not the same as getting out and about treasure hunting in the real world. So those real world options keep my app purchases at bay.
Wow! Never thought I'd run into someone who remembers the Prism, and its owner, @MrNezumi . I'll pm you to chat.
And the Prism was where I found the album I posted.
I am still into albums, maybe it helps that i can listen to them at work. The idea of listening to a collection of a bunch of songs is like watching a stream of movie trailers to me. Big mixes i get but simple, this song, that song, some other song doesn't do it for me.
I bought so many great records and bootleg tapes from Randy after he moved his operation to Columbia. A blast from the past!
I used to make friends in record stores...
I’m one who parallels it with how I used to buy (or lust after) more expensive gear, and now it’s wow, this stuff’s so cheap. It’s like they made music-making into a game with a room full of toys I want to play with while kicked back in the comfort of my chair. Since MIDI was invented, I’ve been fascinated with being able to put together orchestrations of sounds and immediately hear the result. There’s the dream of creating a masterpiece, but you’re right, playing doesn’t have to lead to a final product, or any product at all other than just the fun of seeing how something works and making interesting noise with it.
YouTube is my album store. I walk the aisles daily.
I've never gotten away from albums. I'm 31 now, and there are only 2-3 per year that absolutely thrill me. 1-2 of those are probably ones I wrote or played on (yes, I am satisfied with my work). Still, the feeling I get when I hear those select few still draws me in to listen to the full 'disc' time and time again, just like I did when I was a kid. And keeps me on the hunt for more. They'll always be out there.
I read the initial post as an idea of iPad music apps filling a certain void, and they definitely do. I'm not ashamed that the countless number I've bought rarely get used for an end recording, because the cheap, new toy aspect is invaluable. Keeps me young in a way, and the synapses firing.
Tap Dealy, the Dublin drummer I've never yet met....