Busking for Nothing
Busking for Nothing (AI generated image)
Digitial technology has, arguably, made music production more accessible than it has ever been. At the same time digital technology has made music an almost throw-away commodity streamed — usually in compressed (and therefore degraded) audio formats — to personal devices with earphones cutting off the recipient from the external environment. This aural and social isolation is seductive and sometimes therapeutic. Yet listening to music at one time was primarily a shared social activity but now progressive advances in the minaturisation of playback devices conditions us towards making it an individual experience. In busy environments or ones of mixed-traffic use the aurally isolated and distracted risk becoming a victim — or an inadvertent cause — of events, e.g. crime, or collisions. The next page Distracted Attraction explores such distraction in a little more depth.
Aural isolation (AI generated image)
The commercial and social consequences of digital streaming are considerable. Relatively tiny amounts of reward now accrues to the composers, songwriters and artists whose work is being streamed. That in turn impacts upon new emergent talent who could have at one time relied upon income from the sales of the LP, EP or CD to catalyse their careers. Consequently, their income now has to derive from the live gig or event and potential merchandise sales but that requires a network of potential music venues for these live acts. A network that in turn is in decline.
Music Endustry (AI generated image)
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