Original Music Today.

“One good thing about music—when it hits, you feel no pain.”

Bob Marley said it, and it’s true.  Music defines moments in our lives and gets us through the good and bad.  It’s everywhere, and there are more genres than we can count.  The question is, though, in today’s technology-obsessed society, do people still produce ORIGINAL sound?

Jaron Lanier doesn’t seem to think so.  In his book, “You Are Not A Gadget,” Lanier claims that nothing original has been created in music since the 90’s.  He says that all we do now is steal sounds and songs from previous artists.

A lot of the weight behind Lanier’s claim comes from amateurization in music, or the opportunity for anyone with the right equipment to create and share songs.  He argues that, because of today’s techno-savvy population, new artists come out and steal the work of others.  The music industry is so saturated now that it’s easy to overlook the original producer, and someone who has “borrowed” a sound may get discovered before the creator.

This DOES happen from time to time. It’s most commonly seen in hip-hop, where artists often sample hooks and chord progressions from songs that have already been produced.  We also see it when artists cover other artists.  And, sadly, true theft of sound occurs sometimes too.

Now, none of this means that there are no longer any new forms of music being created!  I’d argue that, if anything, new music is INFLUENCED by past music, not stolen from it.  Different outliers pave the way for genres, like The Beatles for rock and roll and Marvin Gaye for R&B, but even those guys were influenced by people and musicians before their time.

My opinion is that new music is created all the time, and that amateurization is HELPING with these new sounds.  Yes, it saturates the market, but it also widens the spectrum of material being created.  Of course there’s shit, but there’s also GOLD.  Giving the Average Joe a chance to make music opens a whole new WORLD of possibility for the overall sound.  The industry will adapt to these new artists, and as always, for everyone one new musician discovered, thousands will be left behind, but with new technology, millions more will get the chance to follow their dreams and change the music world.

So Lanier is right to the degree that old sounds are used for new music, but it’s more of an influence thing.  Amateurization opens up new possibilities for sound, and gives EVERYONE a chance to make something new.

Tags: amateurization, Bob Marley, Lanier, music, response