Lunedì 9 Nov 2009, 11:30
Critically-created trend, or most fruitful music scene of summer/fall 2009?
I find it very difficult to answer that question, what with the division between music fan/artist/critic becoming increasingly less defined. I haven't been around long enough to attribute much life experience to this statement, but it seems to me that the internet age has brought increased attention and participation from all sides of the music equation. Anyone interested in music from around the world can access it in several minutes time (with only the slightest inclination of where to look), and many that are willing to invest time and attention to utilizing various music softwares seem able to crank out some sort of cut-and-post musical fantasia.
My first thought is that this is a very good thing. Increased musical output means more choice for the consumer, and more opportunity for every artist to have their music heard. On the flip side of this issue is the thought that more people creating music does not necessarily mean more quality/inspired/interesting music is being made. Certainly there's support for such thinking, but once we begin condemning bedroom auteurs of all shapes, sizes and styles, at what point do we stop and accept an artist as being "authentic" or "relevant"?
Perhaps I am beating a rhetorical dead horse into the ground, but these thoughts have consumed some of my time this year as I have taken my music listening more seriously. Before the past couple years, I mostly stayed within a genre, mining my favorite artists' releases for all they were worth. Now my tastes have expanded, and I continually ask myself "At what point does this go from something new and exciting, to laptop noodling with an ego?" I certainly don't have any definitive answers, and I attempt to approach each artist on their own terms, but is it possible that a time will come when the scene/fashion/trend-following surrounding various strains of indie music becomes more talked about than the music itself? And is that a bad thing, or just a sign that mainstream music is no longer only what the major labels throw money behind?