Music downloading creates listener apathy: research

[Paulie Phonick]

I think there might be a bit of truth in the report. In the old days, getting music meant buying albums or CDs, for kid's hard saved allowance. Each CD was special, as getting them all was not possible and choices had to be made. In the "free" download era (and I think authors meant that), the kid can get any piece of music effortlessly and free of charge so why would (s)he care about it too much? I'm not defending current pop music quality or labels' marketing strategies, which are both worth shite, but there is a grain of truth in that report imho.

[loomchild]

If this....



..... is the kind of deep emotional commitment they are refering to, it's not necessarily a bad thing.
[/img]

[Reverse Engineer]

I think there might be a bit of truth in the report. In the old days, getting music meant buying albums or CDs, for kid's hard saved allowance. Each CD was special, as getting them all was not possible and choices had to be made. In the "free" download era (and I think authors meant that), the kid can get any piece of music effortlessly and free of charge so why would (s)he care about it too much? I'm not defending current pop music quality or labels' marketing strategies, which are both worth shite, but there is a grain of truth in that report imho.

That's like saying because a lot of the CD'S i buy are second hand and cost so little it's truly insignificant i won't appreciate them as much.........that really and truly doesn't register in my head as logical at all. I swear on my own life, i got elliott smiths figure 8 for 50p from west end records in clydebank and it is one of the finest, melodic beautiful pieces of work i have heard in my life. If i had to replace it i would pay whtever was necessary.

That's only an example of one CD. On the other hand, i paid £11.00 for the strokes - is this it, and i've listened to it ONCE in completion and three or so more times and couldn't get past the fourth or fifth track. If music is good it'll touch you no matter what, if it's shit, you wont love it just because you paid good money for it.

[HanafiH]

If this....



..... is the kind of deep emotional commitment they are refering to, it's not necessarily a bad thing.
[/img]

If that's from the film Hard Day's Night, an even more emotion making thought is that a teenage Phill Collins was in the crowd.

[Jaidy]

Typical industrial capitalist rubbish. Crank up the factories and flood the market with crap and then wonder why most people don't give it the time of day.

Radio was and still is free and it serves to promote music buying. The problem with the music KORPS of today is they are too intent on squeezing every last ounce of profit out of the least possible product, so its no wonder 99.9% of whats out there on the shelves is awfull.

What this typical music KORP viewpoint overlooks is the huge amount of music now being created and shared between people cutting out the middle man.

There is more good 'free music' i.e. offered intentionally by the creator out there than I have time to ever listen to all of it. It is truly and amazing time to live music wise.

The KORPs don't shed tears when they stop pensioners checks, so it's no wonder no one gives a crap when thier profits go south.

[AudioWhore]

i kinda agree with it, but thats because these types of people try and get more and more, consume and consume and will eventually find out they have to slow down, breath in nature and listen to an entire track to witness its full beauty. Maybe it will make people appreciate 'decent music' for once.

[james0tucson]

So the Mozart sonata I'm working on this year is from a $3.00 book, and I routinely curse the composer when practicing -- I'd appreciate him more if I'd paid retail, bouth the book first hand? I don't follow the reasoning here.

[rpc9943]

i dont download mp3s first i hate the quality and mostly i just buy used from half.com and have a nice happy cd collection of music i love. i value each album as i get it. People think im weird for actually owning cd's....

RonC

[Stupid American Pig]

I think that since most people have near instant gratification the apathy goes way further along than just music.

[shamann]

I think there might be a bit of truth in the report.

I think there's the possibility of truth in the idea, but this research is nothing but crap. I've worked with researchers like this before. Media whore institutional researchers are a fairly common breed: come up with a conclusion at the beginning of your research, based on how you think things are and what kind of expert you would like to be, then do some piffle survey work to say you have numbers, then spout your preconceived conclusions at a press conference and in a media release stating you have the numbers but never actually referring to what the numbers say specifically.

Here's the thing, for you to show that people value music less now then they did in the past, you first would have to prove that they actually valued music in the past. You would also have to show that your subjects are a suitable representation of the populace. You would also likely have to calculate changes in their appreciation of music over time, and find a mechanism that clearly shows that the portable technology is to blame. And you would have to rule out other possible causes, as well as explain how an mp3 file would be perceived differently from a CD, when many people have CD collections as large as anyone's mp3 collection. Both are digital media after all, so the guts of each is just machine instruction. And you can only listen to one song at a time any way, whether vinyl or mp3 or 8-track, so your experience of the music is the same.

So there's a possible idea to be researched, and there would be a fair amount of data collection needed to support your hypothesis.

But this one is just a load of ass.

[HanafiH]

The problem with the report as its been published is that it doesn't state where the baseline of attention towards music is set.

In the 70's people listened to music at home from a fixed point. In the 80's people started to listened to music when mobile, in cars and when walking. Now, quite a few people listen to their private choice of music when they work from their computers. Each mode changes the nature of the audience's attention.

Secondly, is Trance intended to be listened to in the way that Mozart was intended to be listened to? You need to specify what kind of music you're studying as well.

[emdot_ambient]

...In the 70's people listened to music at home from a fixed point. In the 80's people started to listened to music when mobile, in cars and when walking...

Actually if you want to get technical, portable listening has been around and popular ever since the advent of radio in cars. And in-the-car music-on-demand was very much a '70's thing. 8-track car players **shudder** were available in Ford cars as early as 1966 and the stereo cassette was introduced in 1972. I was in high school from 1973 - 1976 and the stereo cassette deck was in my car and heavily used from the time I was able to drive. Wearable devices were also available in the '70's, though they were radio only unitl 1979 when the Walkman was introduced.

Yeah, I know, there's no point to my reply. But those are the facts as I know them

[dover666]

i love the music i love whether it was free or not... downloaded or not. and my level of apathy has nothing to do with music anyway.... more my sociopathy...

[emdot_ambient]

I think that since most people have near instant gratification the apathy goes way further along than just music.

I think that's very true.

Question for you all...I'm not presupposing any response, I'm just very curious:

How many of you listen to music (any music) with the same concentration required while reading a book? That is, you are listening to the music and doing NOTHING else. You don't have the TV on, you're not browsing the internet, you're not cooking dinner, you're just sitting there listening to music and giving it your undivided attention.

I'm curious because I've noticed in my own life that I no longer do that. I used to listen to music constantly with that kind of concentration. I'd come home, put on an album and just listen.

I don't know if this change is because I'm older and seem to have less time to do so, or if it's a symptom of some other change in me.

Honestly, the only time I listen with that kind of concentration is when I'm working on my own music. I've even found that I don't listen to my own music much once it's finished. I suspect it's because the real joy in music for me is that deep concentration I achieve while composing and once achieved while listening.

[the_nihilist]

Listener apathy creates music downloading.