I am a huge fan of music. Ever since I was little, music has played a big part in my life. Music was everywhere around the house, my dad is a musician and had a humongous vinyl collection. He even taught my brother and me how to use a record player at a very young age, we must have been four and seven years old. Music also played a great part in my education. I went to art school from K-12, and we learned how to read, compose, and play music. So, I developed an advanced level of musical literacy and a very big appreciation for the art. When I’m listening to music, I’m not just listening, I am decomposing it, paying attention to the different layers, I am immersing myself in the melody and absorbing the lyrics. Long story short, I don’t play ‘bout my music. I believe that quality music is of the utmost importance. When I say “quality music”, I’m not just talking about what we would consider “elite forms of music” such as jazz or classical — genres of music that are typically associated with a sort of prestige. Quality music goes beyond genre and it has been lacking lately; music today ain’t hitting like it used to.
So What’s The Issue?
My genre of predilection is R&B/Soul in all its shapes and forms. Nowadays, I have an extremely hard time listening to what’s out. If I were to open my Spotify playlists right now, they are all collections of R&B/Soul music ranging from the 60s to the very early 2000s. I do not enjoy today’s R&B/Soul whatsoever. Now don’t get me wrong, there are some undeniable bops. But generally speaking, this is how I feel. The main reason for that goes back to quality, and by that I mean two things: (1) musicianship and artistry, and (2) sonic quality (instrumentals, production, lyrics, etc. the overall sound). What explains this difference in quality is the change in the music market. With music labels’ dominance declining and streaming platforms on the rise, we are losing what I call the “taste-making buffer”. The power to decide what is cool has moved from the select few — label execs, DJs/VJs, radio stations — to the masses. So the landscape of good music has drastically changed for better and for worse.
Musicianship and Artistry
There are very few singers today who have that “It Factor” and who have a true understanding of what it means to be a musician, a performer, an artist. The talents of being able to compose, write, and perform music are rare and frankly, not everyone can do it. They require genuine artistry. Yet, we seem to be living in a world where anyone with a drum machine/keyboard and a laptop can make and distribute music. So the bar to be a musician has dropped — significantly.
Making music has become another way for people to acquire their five minutes of fame, without putting any deep thought into their craft and artistry. When music is as commercialized as it is today, what matters most is quantity over quality. Now, the question of musicianship and artistry is a tricky one because, at the end of the day, art is subjective, it's someone's interpretation of their inner and outer world. So when I talk about a lack of musicianship I’m alluding to the conflation of being a performer with being an artist. And when I talk about the lack of artistry, I am talking about the lack of creative ambition.
A lot of popular singers are not artists but performers/entertainers (and that may even be too generous of a term for most of them). When it comes to differentiating between a musician and a performer, we kind of get into a “square is a rectangle, but a rectangle isn't a square” situation; a musician is a performer, but a performer isn't a musician. A musician embodies their art (of writing, composing, producing) through the medium of music, whereas a performer puts on a show. Nowadays there are too many performers, not enough musicians. Because that, there seems to be very little understanding of creative or artistic effort. People ride the trend wave, and/or do things for shock value which rids any of their work of its artistic value. Once again, art is art, and controlling it can seem counterintuitive. But there needs to be a method to the madness — and all I see is just madness. And this comes to affect the sound.
Sonic Quality
I understand that now we have come to have amazing technological advancements when it comes to recording and producing music. However, I’ve noticed that with these advancements, we’ve lost a certain warmth in the music. Everything is digital, auto-tuned, electronic. And because of that, the music sounds cold and empty. Using live instruments has become increasingly rare and various types of sound loops available on downloadable programs are used instead. But is it possible that we have come to exaggerate the use of electronics? Can it be that using these downloadable programs and things of the like have come to replace the mastering of instruments because it is easier to learn, less effort involved? I think so. It’s taking away from the naturalness of instruments, and a balance is needed to bring back a certain sonic quality. The quality of songwriting has also tremendously decreased. Profanity, lewd content has degraded the art of good songwriting. If all you talk about is money, sex, and drugs, and if all you do is punctuate every line with a string of swear words, what need is there to put any thought into clever lyrics? It becomes easy to do the bare minimum and accompany dry instrumentals with empty lyrics void of any meaning and sentiment.
Because of that ease, everything is duplicatable, and everything sounds the same. Going back to my previous point about the lack of artistry, music has become so empty because not everyone making music is a musician. Understanding how to layer sound and rhythm, how to then write lyrics that capture how you feel, and then how to blend all of that to convey a certain message/emotion goes out the window. No need to be a musical virtuoso, but making good music is no joke. When I say that, I don’t mean that making music has to follow a rigid formula; music can be whatever it needs to be, it’s art. But making that art, writing, composing, producing, requires a certain coordination, and an ear for music is necessary. This brings me back to the “taste-making buffer”: record labels, and streaming platforms.
Music Labels and Streaming Platforms
Record labels are still extremely important today and from what I perceive, they no longer have the monopoly on the distribution of music like they used to. With streaming services, access to and publication of music has become democratized. Which on one hand is wonderful; a lot of people now have access to a tremendous amount of music at the tip of their fingers. Yet, on the other hand, I feel like streaming platforms have created an over-saturation of the market; there is too much of the same thing, everywhere.
Before, labels, DJs, VJs, and radio stations decided what sound was popular. This left very little to no leeway for musicians to have creative control over their craft. Nowadays, that power has shifted to the listeners. This lifts a certain pressure off of musicians. They are now free to create as they please — until their fans start complaining because their favourite artists start drifting away from what they’re used to. The public now becomes the boss. It’s the listeners who are in charge of the streaming numbers, which turn into Grammy nominations, Billboard charts, sold-out tours, merch, and money, money, money. This strange cycle has led to a sort of conformity. Even when you think you’re stepping outside of the box, you’re just stepping into an even bigger one in order to secure your place at the top.
Another important consideration, that maybe we are shy of admitting is that record labels also had a say in who gets to be in the spotlight. They still have that deciding power, but with the “democratization of music” mentioned above, it has become easy to be an independent artist, and not necessarily be at the mercy of a label. It's wonderful that people get to put their music out on their own and to express and share their art with the world. With that, comes the absence of the selective process, that once came with being discovered or signed. Labels thus offered this taste-making buffer, handpicking those they thought were “worthy”. Again, this is a double-edged sword because labels would often time overlook talented people which today isn’t an “issue” because anyone could pick up their laptop and publish music. But now, it’s like the floodgates are wide open, and the music market is completely flooded; genuinely talented artists become hard to find because they are drowned in the noise.
Final Thoughts…
I’m realizing now that each of these sections could have been essays on their own. I definitely have a lot to say about the topic, and I most definitely intend to revisit it at a later date; there is just so much more I have to say, so part two is definitely on its way. I care tremendously about this topic. Music is one of, if not the most, important cultural pillars in life. The genre(s) of music you listen to influence your mood, how you dress, how you speak, who you hang you out with. Music becomes a significant marker in building your sense of identity and discovering who you are. Music is vibration and resonates with your soul whether you believe it or not. And this is why the quality of music matters so much.
FYI: My Spotify playlists that inspired this article
FYI: For great musical insights
Decoded: The History of Record Deals (AWAL article)
Open Mind BBVA: “The Music Industry in an Age of Digital Distribution”
Forbes: “The Evolution of the Music Industry”
PBS Docuseries: “Soundbreaking”