I know I'd said I was going to post a list of my favourite tracks of the last 10 years, and put the boot into the rest, but this (admittedly "barely coherent") rant came out instead. Like most things I post, if I stew on them for too long , they just become less and less clear. So here it is. Apologies in advance*.
Where to start? The music industry is not where it was back in 1999. I think though, with the benefit of hindsight, there was an inkling of what was to follow. Remember how the BPI whinged about CDs being imported from outside the UK? Remember the rigmarole they went through trying to "punish" companies like CD Wow? Remember the reports about how expensive CDs were in the UK compared to elsewhere? Remember the weasel words and self-justification the record industry used to prevent people buying physical CDs from abroad and why they "needed" to be more expensive? It's funny now, but these glory days appear to have been forgotten. But at the time there was much gnashing of teeth. Why? Well back then if you wanted to listen to music, you didn't have much choice other than to buy CDs. You either liked it, or you lumped it. I suppose had the record companies realised what was coming, they might have reacted differently.
The music industry then made another misjudgement. They attempted to block people from copying their own CDs to a PC, preventing transfer across to an mp3 player. The implication? You might "own" the CD, but it wasn't yours. The industry was happy to take your money and give you a silver disc in return, but beyond that? What do you mean you want to make an mp3 version so that you can play it on your newly acquired portable media player? Sorry you can't. That's illegal. And if you were tempted to make your own they introduced some kack handed copy protection on to CDs, rendering lots of them unplayable. If you wanted an mp3 version then, by god, you were going to buy an mp3 version. They simply assumed everyone was a pirate, with an evil intent towards copyright, making multiple copies to give away for free. Coincidently, and with almost poetic timing, something that many newspapers had started doing.
If you consider what happened next in this context it seems obvious that the initial migration to downloading was a reaction against these prohibitions. "It's not bad enough that you won't let me buy CDs cheaply, but you also want to dictate what I do with my purchase once I get it home?"
As the old Belfast saying goes "hell slap it into them."
Music no longer has the hold it once had. Pre-recorded music held it's pre-eminence because there was little else to spend your money on. Now? Think of the other things you can buy, the other things that are competing your money, Video games. DVD's, mobile phones, and the rest. It's unsurprising that the amounts spent on music has declined.
Added to this is the perception - okay it might largely be my own, that the "value" of music has been eroded. Okay this could probably be categorised as "misty eyed nostalgia" but I'm not sure that's an entire explanation. Think, even on the radio stations and TV channels who you'd (even nominally) expect to provide an outlet for music, just how far down the pecking order music has become. It says much that the TV channel displaying the word "music" most prominently doesn't actually play music any more, preferring tightly scripted reality shows and other ephemeral tat. While 10 years ago such a development may not have been unpredictable, it's nonetheless demonstrates just how far things have changed.
But surely "music" is now much more accessible? It is. But I'd argue that at the same time, it's also become much less accessible. Let me try and explain. Anyone with a broadband connection and the appropriate software, can amass a music collection, shaming most record shops. And there's where the "less accessible" bit comes from. "Record Shops". Where have they all gone? Certainly the increase in supermarkets selling CDs along with the baked beans and the brillo pads will have had an impact. Although I get a feeling that the people who'd buy music in a supermarket wouldn't necessarily be the same demographic as those who'd have trailed around dusty record shops looking to fill the gaps in their Uriah Heap back catalogue. Of course there's been a parallel rise in internet outlets. Ironically many of whom are the same companies the record industry had spent few years previously attacking. I suppose this just proves the point. "Any port in a storm". And the people who actually consumed music?, Those who'd stand and flick through the (old) HMV sale, or bought from their 3 CDs for £20 selection? They are now irrelevant. I suspect that, like me, these music consumers now rely on Play for all their cheap / interesting / back catalogue needs. (When I reorganised my CDs into alphabetical order, I noticed how many had old promotional discount barcodes on the back. Now? I can't remember the last time I bought a CD (or much else) from a "record" shop.)
The only high street "record shop" left is HMV. And they aren't interested in selling music any more. So the people who want stuff that's a little bit beyond the mainstream, are forced on to the internet. If the only place to buy music is online then it doesn't take an enormous leap just to skip the whole "buying" thing and download it for free.
So like I said we have a contradiction. More accessible, yet less accessible. I believe this is the fundamental factor in trying to summarise what's happened to "music" in the last decade. Think back to 1999. Suppose I wanted (for arguments sake) to buy the Pink Floyd back catalogue. Firstly I would have had to make a conscious decision to "buy" it. And then it was off, cash in hand, to HMV or Virgin. Now? All I have to do is tap "Pink Floyd" into a P2P site and ten minutes later I'll have their entire discography on my PC. For free.
From the basic bit of marketing I know (long story. And "no" I'm not going there) music has, in the last decade, moved from being a "sought" good to an "unsought" good. Or, more bluntly, it's become a commodity. Just like bog roll.
So how can I sum up the last 10 years? There's been fragmentation of music into an infinity of ever more narrowly defined genres. The dearth of a defining "movement" and the exploitation of the resultant vacuum by a show business svengali's karaoke acts. The endless fixation with trying to find inspiration and the "next big thing" in bands mired in the past. But mainly it shows that the focus has moved from the "music" to how it's delivered. It must be easily consumed, readily at hand, not too demanding and appeal to the lowest common denominator. If you can sound like someone else, or look good on T4's sofa so much the better.
And that's why, musically, the last 10 years have, with a few exceptions, been a creative wasteland.
*granted I'll still be hacking at this in a week
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