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Barriers to entry - comparison over the decades
It occurs to me that people do things, or don't do things, according to resistance faced.
Over the decades, making music, making a song, saying a message, putting it down on paper, getting out as a product, the proponents in each age have faced different frictions.
I'm sure we'd agree today we're simply not short of synthesisers or recording means. Compared to the past, when they were so expensive most people could barely only afford one instrument, we don't know we're born today. But is it more difficult to get a message across today? Is the innocence of the early 60s and simply relaying a single thought backed by a melody, just not paralleled by any equivalent now? Do we have to bulk up a lot more energy and forethought before we even embark, and when we do, the message had better be so significant that it makes it worth qualifying?
I think there's a lot of pros and cons about doing what it is we do or aspire to do, at any particular point in time over the past 70 or so years that popular music has been around like it has. Some aspects were easier, some aspects were harder. Some things really were barriers to entry but aren't now, some weren't but are now.
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I suppose it is worth mentioning the falsities and mirages of illusion. It seems easier to get a song 'released' now, because you can do it all from your room, don't need a contract, don't need a manager, don't need a label. But where does that get you? Maybe you'd be better off with a manager and a label to do the distribution and plugging and promo, so you're back to where we were before if you want to do it properly.
In a way, I think one of the more durable events that lowered the barrier to entry was the widespread acceptance of affordable sampling, during the latter 90s. Sampling allowed people who frankly weren't musicians to make actual music, and some of those won the lottery and turned out to be very good indeed.
We do what we do knowing full well that everyone else is singing their own song also and when everyone is doing their own thing the collective effect of everyone's song simultaneously sounding is quite painful and chaotic and yet we insist on the validity of our own unique voice and add to the cacophony of this rushing hectic, distracted life and sometimes something very special happens...
Anyways Ian when can we expect your video on how to make pizza from scratch?
I shall do one. Here's the last one I did (I tend to make two at a time) but I didn't photograph the making of the dough. Doh! https://goo.gl/photos/TdKgUx6392XPcNA58
Looks very good and I'm sure tasty too. Interesting that you put the cheese under the meat and tomatoes
My Uncle Gus was one of the best musicians I knew. Made his own violins. Played to small crowds in a small town. Had lots of respect as a musician from the people he played for and with. Sold a few tapes at the door but never seemed to care about connecting with more than he could physicaly meet. Recording deals / publishing etc is such a new blip on the music timeline I think a lot of us were born / programmed into it as the only default ambition we should have but it really isn't.
My man @u0421793 - yours is a beautiful mind. I don't know your politics and I don't care what they are, but I feel like you should run for office or something. You got game, and I bet people could benefit from the application of your thought process to societal challenges.
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Not for me. I either dabble about, and serendipitously arrive at the basis of something. Or, I start out with an idea, usually lyrical, and shape the music/ style to fit with that theme. Sometimes, I start out trying to do one thing, only to realise that it actually is better suited to something else. The subconscious mind at work.
Sampling allowed people who frankly weren't musicians to make actual music, and some of those won the lottery and turned out to be very good indeed.
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As one such person today - not a trained musician - I'd add that some people have harmonies in their head, soundscapes, riffs, etc. Lack of formal training used to mean it was very difficult to express this music of the mind. But now, using very good quality samples, often in unusual combinations, is like hiring a musician to play what we have imagined. Or near as damnit.
Equally, apps such as Sensual Sax or GeoShred, allow non-players to play, faffing around with no real clue, until what was in the mind turns into actual notes. Knowing those notes and what should or shouldn't be played, becomes irrelevant. Suppressed, by the one thing that should guide all types of music makers; no matter what their background; does it sound any good?
@u0421793 Me and @Zen210507 had a friendly discourse on the "Apple record label?" thread, dealing with some of the very points you bring up.
There is NO barrier to entry regarding the creation of records anymore. One can make music instantly with GarageBand thrown in with Macs, the multitude of DAW's on desktop and of course iOS, plus the still very healthy secondary market for PortaStudio's, digital multitrack recorders, etc. The startling thing is that although quality of material isn't guaranteed, the SOUND quality of recordings have a very strong chance of being at least good if not great.
Previous generations just did not have that luxury. It is taken for granted now, but lying in bed constructing a full multitrack production is still incredible to me.
But with all that, with so much of the playing field leveled, songwriter/musicians are often snake bit today because of the crumbled major label situation, the streaming/free downloading of music and just the overwhelming competition from other entertainment sources.
The charts aren't the best indicator anymore, but I still go through them and it's clear that those self releasing music or those on SoundCloud are not in the top or even middle positions. That is still a huge barrier to entry. With all of the free YouTube & social media free promotion an artist can do it's telling that there aren't acts "moving on up" after being discovered on those platforms. Outside of Justin Bieber and a few DJ/EDM acts there isn't a huge list of artists using the tools we all have (incredible production quality/promotion vehicles, etc) becoming household names.
Whether that's a barrier or just a sign of the times is the million dollar question.
If you were the only human on the world and still have the tools but no one beside yourself listen....would you still create music?
Oh I'd say it is definitely a raised barrier now. Not just to music making people, either. Anyone creating a thing. How do you capture attention? Anyone can publish an ebook now. How do you get noticed? There's all these other idiots that have inconsiderately cluttered up the market with their stupid ebooks, because, anyone can publish an ebook now. What's worse, they give theirs away free, so people expect ours to be free too before they even consider looking at it. Capturing attention is definitely harder now. Getting to a stage where you could potentially capture attention with a product is easier, but once you've got the product ready to expose, you're in so much competition you drown. That is definitely different to how it was in the post-war years.
Is it harder to get gigs now, or easier, or about the same as it was several decades ago? Small gigs - unpaid, even.
Also in the new world people might sit with their VR equipment in their living room to enjoy a "live" performence.
As usual there are good and bad things why humankind evolve.
A.I. will do more and more, even compose music, until we are obsolete.
I mean if aliens will land it would makes sense they are an A.I too and not organic.
Uups, how could i go so far off topic is beyond me
I'm from Las Vegas NV, born & raised. My Dad was a shift boss and then casino manager of a couple mid-sized casinos (the old Aladdin, etc). I got to watch the lounge acts from about 14 on and met many people who helped me as a musician and a few I ended up playing with in bands myself.
From about '94 to '02 gigs in casino lounges and the better bars/clubs were available if you had a tight band/act. By the mid 2000's live music took a huge hit and now it is a novelty to have ANY live act outside of a theater show or big name concert. DJ's are the "live" entertainment now.
If you're a local DJ though, which I know a few, even they are being pushed out by "name" DJ's from the coasts or Europe. But that's Vegas now, when I was growing up here in the '80's the local population was under 250,000. Now the greater area is at 2.5 million and that's 2010 census data.
So @u0421793 in my area and my experience yes, it is extremely harder to get live gigs. There are coffee shop songwriter nights & local bands will run free shows, aside from that...it's why I'm devoted to songwriting and recording.
In my case, dealing with side effects of surgery at present, I am sometimes literally making music in bed. The fact that an iPad empowers me in this way is like a lifeline to the regular life I'm trying to regain.
Even more so, as you say, the sound quality that can be achieved is astonishing. Okay, a trained studio engineer/ producer is always going to do better, but the gap these days is much narrower. Mainly because, whenever I master a song, I'm beginning by using presets in Fab Filters Pro-MB, Pro-Q2 and Pro -L....which have been created by professional sound engineers!
Yes I would, but what would I give, even for an antagonist.
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Yes, this is a HUGE problem. Under another ID (I like to keep things separate) I have a novel on Amazon and App Store. I'd been paid for writing shorter works and reviews for years, and so count myself as a semi-pro. This work took the best part of a decade to research and write. Some of it due to life getting in the way. It was then edited and proof read by a former internationally best-selling author, a friend and client. So you understand, this is a 'proper' work that passed muster. The few reviews garnered after publication, in PoD and e-book formats, were also very good. Yet today the book sits there, largely unnoticed, because there is only so much that an individual can do to get noticed.
Meanwhile, purveyors of total shit band together, create their own social media, and tell each other what wonderful writers they are. The very last thing these people want, is an actual writer among them. Oh, and as for my best-selling friend, he got the rights back to all his works, and now publishes them independently, just to stay in print. This is a guy who has literally sold millions on both sides of the Atlantic, but now can't get a bite from large publishing houses.
As my friend once told me, "Publishing is run by farts and hooligans in pin-stripe suits." Accountants, with no imagination whatsoever. But back in the day, when he was having his major success, the industry was run by editors. People who wanted to find new talent, and build up names. Nowadays, even if you get the big breakthrough, you are only as good as you last book. One relative failure, and you are dropped.
Then there is the cut-throat nature of the game. As a reviewer, I helped several writers to achieve momentum, and received thank you notes from them, and freebies from agents. Because, I hasten to add, these were scrupulously HONEST reviews on websites and in publications know to be trustworthy. I only ever promoted works I believed in. Yet, when it came time to return the favour - again, honestly - I found these same authors to be selfish, unhelpful and suddenly deaf. As for the agents, they were even worse, not even returning e-mails when I was no longer of direct use.
Nowadays, it really is a big ocean to get noticed in. You either need to have one of the most awesome or trending songs/sounds going or have that major promotions company behind you that can push you to all the right places.
Nobody will listen otherwise. Just do the best you can, but at the very least - Enjoy doing it!
There's a ridiculous wealth of easy to use and cheap (in comparison to decades ago) tools to make professional sounding music.
All you need is time and effort.
And a lucky break...
Love all that alien abduction (modern) mythology. Especially the steadfast believers, who insist that little grey critters cross interstellar space to shove things up the backsides of people in the best-armed country on Earth!
20 years ago it was a piece of cake. I was in about six different bands at one point, my ex, the same. The big front room in our old Victorian house was sparsely furnished, so bands could roll amps in and rehearse. We'd sometimes have two gigs a day, mostly local pubs, and could play more than that at festivals.
I'd be doing it now, but the people I played with have either lost interest, got too old or died. Or like the band I just left, spend too much time rehearsing and faffing about.
I think it's still easy here to get gigs, a few musicians I know are still playing several times a week. There doesn't seem to be many young bands taking over, so there's not much competition.
I agree. Easy to get gigs decades ago. Nowadays, you have to be a covers band, tribute band or fill the place with your own ticket sales.
Rehearsing in the front room! We did that too @MonzoPro
Cheap as chips and all you needed were neighbours that weren't psycho who would kick your door down and threaten you with violence. Happened a few times.
What area are you in Monzo? I now live in Kendal after moving from Manchester and you definitely have to be a covers/tribute band or have a half decent following to get the good gigs.
You can still easily get pub gigs by blagging the landlord, but you'd probably not get asked back...
I'm in Mid Wales, not too far from the English border. Covers bands clean up here, and I know one local pub that pays £500 per gig for 'tribute' acts - a bloke with a karaoke machine being Elvis/Robbie/Dolly for the night. I'd do it but I haven't got the lips/hips/tits.
Our next door neighbour was deaf, so he didn't mind, and the ones to the front complete tossers so annoying them was a bonus. You'd regularly find a Hells Angel or two asleep on our sofa too, or in a car out the front, so we didn't get any bother.
a bloke with a karaoke machine being Elvis/Robbie/Dolly for the night.
Someone being Elvis, Robbie and Dolly would be a night out. Not necessarily fun.
But all joking aside, there are a few staggeringly good tribute acts doing the rounds. Some of them better - today - at playing the classic songs than the coke addled and rather aged originals.
'Phil Collins' was here a few months back and he was better than the original, wouldn't do any of my requests for early Genesis stuff though...
You can tell all that from his pizza photos?
Probably more than from my videos:
Yes, of course. I like audiences and feedback as much as anyone, but I don't need them. The creation process is the primary reward. For me it is a meditative act--calming, soothing, and immensely pleasurable. I haven't been a performing musician for about two decades now, and I miss the musical interaction with the other players far more than I miss having an audience.
But how did you become the world's second best GeoShred exponent. Was there a competition?
I understand. I play myself often for hours with some of my favorite tools without even recording something and knowing no one will ever hear it. But it makes me feel good and let me escape from reality for a moment.
(which started with iOS some years ago....but i could have saved a lot money if i had never explored it lol)
That is one of the major things for me since i don´t do music for a living. I just want to escape and feel "free" and sometimes i got those rare moments when you get goosebumps while playing a melody or creating a soundscape etc.
Most people i know would think i´m crazy to spend so much money for apps and plug-ins without being a pro.
Indeed i bought some things which are for pro use for writing scores/soundtrack and FX which costs a fortune.
In reality i have not really someone in my family or friends who is interested or even understand in what i´m doing.
So it´s my very own world