
The Problem with Music (1993) - bootload
http://www.thebaffler.com/salvos/the-problem-with-music
======
molecule
_> FROM The Baffler No. 5 1993_

[http://qz.com/202194/steve-albini-the-problem-with-music-
has...](http://qz.com/202194/steve-albini-the-problem-with-music-has-been-
solved-by-the-internet/)

 _> ‘The Problem With Music’ has been solved by the internet (2014)_

~~~
wwweston
Albini was in a really good position to see the problems of the pre-digital
industry, and he wrote about them well. And he's right that the problem of
_distribution_ and crappy old gatekeepers has been solved.

He's absolutely wrong to the extent that he thinks all the problems of music
have been solved (or that he holds the opinion that "bands will make it up in
t-shirt sales and mumblehandwave business models!").

And I doubt he's in a great position to see the current problems:

* He probably has a circle/network of people who solved the problems of attention and gaining patronizing fans earlier (sure, he probably does production for and has _some_ acquaintances from now, but the primary circle that mediates his experience is probably older).

* I'm not sure the collusion between high profile services and labels is as easy to see (because it's partly an adversarial/opportunistic relationship to begin with). And streaming services tend to be better for older acts with a catalogue and established audiences (who benefited from recording revenue back when that could be a thing and aren't producing new recordings now).

~~~
mrcsparker
He is wrong about jazz, too. It doesn't suck (same with Zappa, post-Mothers).

I try not to judge him too much on this, but it colors my opinion of his
opinions a bit - what musician hates jazz? Then again, I am not a fan of
Shellac or his other music, so I am probably missing something. In 10 years I
might be telling people how wonderful Shellac is, and it might just click for
me - that is the wonderful thing about art.

I wish that there was a world where musicians could make great music without
having to tour and make money. Some music doesn't need to be structured to be
played live.

Edited for clarity and I was too harsh.

------
Jgrubb
I respect the hell out of some of Steve Albini's work, but to avoid ending up
a bitter old industry fuck like the guy who wrote this article is the reason I
quit the music business.

Also, FYI, there's a whole other music industry out there built around playing
live shows, and almost none of these tired cliches and horror stories apply.
There are different cliches and horror stories, but the bands are much more in
control of their destinies and the career is (in a sense) more sustainable.

~~~
wturner
Jaron Lanier has a great contrarian view of this where he points out that he
went on a research project to find musicians that became independently wealthy
in the 'internet age' and that he basically couldn't find any. The most he
could find were a handful of people that made enough to buy a house - and that
was the top of the pyramid. All the stories he found turned out to be
fabricated by trust fund kids or claims by musicians that had had their
initial career boost in the 'old' system. There's a clip on Youtube of him
talking about it but I can't remember which one it is. Anyway the jist of his
view is that in the long term much of it actually isn't sustainable.

~~~
InclinedPlane
So.... why is it necessary to become "independently wealthy" for music as a
career to be "sustainable"?

There seems to be a disconnect there. Also, maybe his work is out of date,
because there are a lot of independent musicians who have achieved massive
success outside of the traditional recording studio model in the internet age,
largely through selling their own work and through touring.

~~~
TheOtherHobbes
It means you're a full-time professional musician. Not a part-time semi-
professional musician with a day job to pay the bills, who is permanently
distracted by Not Music.

>a lot of independent musicians who have achieved massive success outside of
the traditional recording studio model in the internet age, largely through
selling their own work and through touring.

No there aren't. There are very, very few professional musicians working that
route, and hardly any of them have achieved 'massive success.' Most of the
ones who did already had an old-style label-based career, or at least
label+management backing.

Most of the really successful ones don't sell their own work and perform. They
write and arrange songs for top performers, or they work as producers - which
is what Albini does now, mostly - or they do work-for-hire movie and game
soundtracks, or they write commercial music for ads, or they work as sound
designers.

Being a famous name performer is a career that works for a tiny handful of
(mostly) singers, who are primarily picked for sexiness and (sometimes)
charisma, not for musical creativity.

------
yoctonaut
(Nearly) full text of what Steve said here:
[http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/nov/17/steve-
albinis-k...](http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/nov/17/steve-albinis-
keynote-address-at-face-the-music-in-full)

~~~
bootload
The Guardian article is a worthy read because it expands on what actually
happened. I went straight to the '93 source.

What is interesting is the text isn't tainted by references to future
technology. It's sort of an anthropological view of the state of music around
the time of 'Nevermind' (DGC/Geffin Sep, '91).

The record company, DGC Records (Geffin) wielded enormous power. Read through
the artists on these labels:
<[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DGC_Records>](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DGC_Records>)
and
<[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DGC_Records>](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DGC_Records>).
[0]

Contrast the state of affairs of the early 90's Steve describes to now.

[0] Power enough to sue Neil Young in '85 for not producing albums were
"unrepresentative" ~
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Young#Experimental_years_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Young#Experimental_years_.281980.E2.80.931988.29)

------
cthulha
His latest speech was a couple of weeks ago in Melbourne, Australia, and
follows through on what he has seen since then as the internet has changed
music: [http://genius.com/Steve-albini-keynote-address-at-
melbourne-...](http://genius.com/Steve-albini-keynote-address-at-melbourne-
australias-face-the-music-conference-2014-annotated)

------
baddox
> Producers and engineers who use meaningless words to make their clients
> think they know what’s going on. Words like “Punchy,” “Warm,” “Groove,”
> “Vibe,” “Feel.” Especially “Punchy” and “Warm.” Every time I hear those
> words, I want to throttle somebody.

Sounds like every single person on any online forum or community related to
music, audio production, or audio hardware.

~~~
CyberPants
I imagine punchy is the opposite of muddled?

------
spennant
Back in 2000, Courtney Love did the math too...
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2742303](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2742303))
I'd like to hear what she thinks now.

------
je42
Hollywood accounting ->
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting)
. I also would like to note it happens not only in the music/movie industry.

------
CyberPants
Bandcamp digital pay-what-you-what, live shows/festivals/events, and artwork
bundles with album sales seem to be the model of most of my favorite dedicated
musicians.

If you like an artist, support their work.

------
thoughtsimple
I got to DAT and realized we were talking pre-Internet.

~~~
bootload
sorry, I changed the title to reflect this.

------
sravfeyn
May be 'The Problem with Music Industry' is more reflective of the article.

~~~
OscarCunningham
Yes, the problem with _music_ is that log_2(3) is irrational...

