The Music Scene....circa 2050

Someone posed an intriguing question today: what is the future of the music industry? What will it look like forty years from now? Will we have different instruments, previously undiscovered genres, audio/video/mass distribution technology far from anything we’ve ever imagined before? Where’s this all going?

I think to take a guess, we have to look at how the music scene has changed in the last fifty years or so. The 1950s music scene was dominated by rock and roll (Elvis Presley), jazz, rhythm and blues, and musicals (this is when Broadway first became really popular). This was also around the time when color TV hit the American public, so suburban housewives everywhere could rock out to “You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog” while mopping their floors. Ok, maybe not. But color TV definitely helped boost music popularity, because it was the hot new thing and so anything shown on said color television was automatically the keenest thing since sliced bread.


The sixties and seventies were when music became a medium to express political views. America was struggling though ‘Nam, Charles Manson was ordering cult murders, the civil rights movement was in full swing, and people discovered that music and hallucinogens went really well together. This era was full of Motown, pop, the Beatles, Elton John, and Barbara Streisand. Woodstock became huge: three full days of peace, love and marijuana.




In the eighties and nineties, the number of genres of music exploded. Hard rock, industrial, metal, techno, hip hop and rap, punk, and new wave music all became incredibly popular. The variety of what people listened to to express their views on life expanded enormously…I’d say music became a lot more individualized.

So where does that leave us for the future? We’ve gone from the days of black and white TV and Elvis Presley to iPod video nanos and more genres of music (let alone bands) than you can shake a stick at. We’ll probably develop a new instrument or two – hell, look what I found while cruising exotic instrument websites: the waterphone.



The stuff of our musical future? I’d say so.

I’d say we’re in for just as much change over the next fifty years, but in ways that we can’t even fathom yet. I mean, no one in the 50s could forsee racial equality, much less the iPhone. It’s like…most people are born with five senses. But if someone you know was born blind, you’re never going to be able to TELL them what it’s like to see. You can talk for years and never come close to painting the picture of how Boulder looks at night from Flagstaff. I think the music industry in fifty years will be something like that: a sixth sense that we can’t imagine yet…but it’s bound to be fantastic and beautifully indescribable.

Copyright, Schmopyright

I was perusing the news today. Now, my way of “reading the news” is a little unique… first, I cruise the home site of the New York Times, reviewing scientific studies linking which women are more prone to breast cancer and pretending to understand the newest ways that industries are seeking U.S. regulation. Sufficiently educated about the important worldly goings-on, I move on to my guilty pleasure, the other source of big news: celebritygossip.com. Yes, I know the website strikingly resembles the DVD cover of Legally Blonde: hot pink, shallow, biased, and politically inconsiderate beyond belief. (I’m most fascinated by the portion of the site entitled “Black Gossip”, full of juicy tidbits of daily living for the black community. My question is, where is the “White Gossip” section? And why is black gossip different from any race’s gossip? Ah, so close to discovering the all-meaningful answers…yet so far).

Useless though it might appear, celebritygossip.com has some interesting articles. For example: that epic and timeless artist (that everyone loves to make fun of) formerly known as Prince is currently in the process of taking legal action against eBay, YouTube, and Pirate Bay over internet copyright infringements. According to his PR, these distributors “failed to filter out unauthorized Prince content”, and Prince wishes to “recoup lost copyright revenues” through his lawsuits. Now, the average person’s first response to such news is, “HAH. Prince is suing the Internet?!? Retard, good luck with that…the Internet is like God these days”. And when you compare the implications of this lawsuit to the fact that as a recent promotional gimmick, Prince GAVE AWAY 2.8 million copies of his newest album Planet Earth in the UK’s Sunday newspaper, you gotta realize that someone’s a little hypocritical here.



First of all, why is Prince suing the internet distributors? They’re not responsible for the copyright violations and illegal downloading, they’re only platforms for media sharing that can be misused for unlawful distribution. They haven’t technically done anything illegal. If he’s so upset about it, Prince should be going after the illegal downloaders themselves…a daunting, near-impossible task at best, but they’re the ones ultimately responsible for his “loss of copyright revenues”…



Second, Prince has usually been known for his open-minded marketing techniques regarding his work. He recently made a deal with Verizon to offer free downloads of his single, “Guitar”, to help promote both Planet Earth and Verizon’s new (odd but intriguing) “music hunter” song ID feature. Why is he so uptight about maintaining total copyright control on the internet when he’s throwing the shit out for free everywhere else?



Third, the vast majority of the money that artists make nowadays comes from tours and other media promotions. Yes, illegal downloading does hurt them a little profit-wise, but mostly what’s important to many artists is getting their work popularized and recognized so that people will 1)know who they are, 2) like and support their music, and 3) come see them ON TOUR, which is what ultimately makes them wildly rich and successful. Prince’s lawsuit is just another example of what the legal system should not be used for (think along the lines of suing McDonald’s because you’re fat). He has (approximately) a snowball’s chance in hell of proving YouTube and eBay of any actual wrongdoing. In fact, maybe this is just another clever publicity stunt to further commercialize his already too-hyped album. Prince…good luck suing God. You’ll need it.