Spotify - where's the catch?

[fhdz]

Also I think fhdz is right that you're being a bit snobby. We've a long history of popular music coming out of people with little talent.

More importantly, what I was really getting at is that there is also a history of people making some truly memorable, amazing music with precious little formal musical talent.

The Beatles are an interesting example: Paul McCartney learned to play by ear rather than by reading music, and if anyone thinks Ringo Starr was a "good" drummer they are sorely mistaken.

[The Minsky Moment]

The broader issue is this: yes the internet and social applications provides more expanded opportunities for talented people to reach an audience that they might not otherwise have access to.  And that is a good thing.  Unfortunately that comes at a cost: an avalanche of triviality, mendacity, and sheer dreck that one must wade through to uncover the few gems.  People sometimes invoke the wisdom of crowds but I have my doubts.  If really well organized, about the most impressive achievement of a crowd is "The Wave;" when less organized crowds are good at trampling to each other to death.  Wisdom rarely comes into it either way.

[Admiral Yi]

More importantly, what I was really getting at is that there is also a history of people making some truly memorable, amazing music with precious little formal musical talent.

The Beatles are an interesting example: Paul McCartney learned to play by ear rather than by reading music, and if anyone thinks Ringo Starr was a "good" drummer they are sorely mistaken.

Song writing is an aspect of musical talent, which the Beatles possessed in abundance.

[The Minsky Moment]

The Beatles are an interesting example: Paul McCartney learned to play by ear rather than by reading music, and if anyone thinks Ringo Starr was a "good" drummer they are sorely mistaken.

The Beatles had extraordinary natural talent, and practiced and played together for many thousands of hours before breaking through.

[fhdz]

You seem to be moving the goalposts a bit.

[Josquius]

Agreed that the recording industry system was a bizzare blip whose time is nearly up.
But that leaves the question of what will replace it. Its hard to imagine going entirely back to pre recording industry music hall times.

One way things might go in the west, and which I dread, is in the direction of AKB48. AKB are the most popular pop group in Japan at the moment, they're just massive, and shit. They were founded with the idea that they would be pop stars the fans could meet, aiming for the nerd demographic and giving daily performances in their own theatre.
Somehow this really worked and their popularity spread beyond their target audience and into being popular with normal people, they're really big with young girls.
One way they really rake in big money and still manage to sell lots of records is that they hold regular elections where fans vote for their favourite members and choose who will appear on and take the lead on their next single. To get a vote you have to buy a single, hence you get the crazy mega fans buying hundreds of them all so they can vote for their favourite member a bunch of times.

I don't think this is true. I didn't have a premium account for awhile and didn't encounter any play limits. Has anyone else seen that? I believe that premium just takes ads away and lets you use it on a mobile device.

Haven't used spotify for a while but it definitely was true 2 or 3 years back.
First there was the limit of a certain number of hours a week then on top of that they added the 5 listen thing.

You do know that Justin Bieber was made rich by a professional talent scount and then signed to a major label before he became rich?

Record companies and agents are, on the whole, interested in money a little else. That was true before the internet age as much as it is now.

Sure, the difference being that before what mattered was how you sounded on the radio.  Now what matters is how many likes you can draw.

Watch this space.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2254181/YouTube-wipes-billions-video-views-finding-faked-music-industry.html

I read an article on the bbc site a few days ago (which I cant find myself) which mentioned there'd been a big investigation into these goings on and a big report was due before long.

[grumbler]

You seem to be moving the goalposts a bit.

I'm not sure where the hostility to JR is coming from, but his point is, I think, valid.  Your argument that the Beatles had "precious little formal musical talent" doesn't make much sense.  Talent isn't "formal" or informal, it is present to a given degree (or perhaps absent entirely).

JR's note that the Beatles had both talent and practice is true, and is a contrast to, not an example of, artists who produce amazing work with little practice or training.  The latter exist (if rarely), but the Beatles aren't the example you claim.

[The Brain]

Well this was a retarded discussion.

[garbon]

I think you mean "special needs discussion".

[fhdz]

Well this was a retarded discussion.

It is now that you've chimed in!

[OttoVonBismarck]

Further, very few artists in history have made a living selling recorded music. I'd say the golden age of albums/records ended some time in the early 2000s and basically from the first big album hits til the end of the era I'd wager fewer than 150 people in the industry per year were actually making enough off of album sales alone to replace all other forms of income.

On the flip side, the proliferation of digital media and teh intrawebs have brought countless artists to modern audiences--from waiting tables to awards ceremonies within a matter of months--that never would've been heard from in the old days, languishing in bars, arts festivals and county fairs for years.

The biggest value the studios created for most artists was exposure, most artists never made enough off of royalties anyway and had to tour. But exposure is the difference between touring in shit kicker clubs from Road House versus playing in sold out civic arenas. I definitely see new media replacing that traditional role over time.

[The Brain]

Road House.