Downloading may destroy pop culture
By David Greenwald
May 22, 2007 9:11 p.m.
I’m pushing for a big Britney Spears comeback. Really, I am. Get Timbaland and Polow Da Don to produce (first single: “Throw Some B’s”), have Justin Timberlake guest on a few tracks, put her on the cover of Rolling Stone again. She needs to sell another 10 million. Let’s make this thing happen.
Because if Britney can’t do it, it looks like the music industry is in big trouble. CD sales are down 20 percent during the first quarter of 2007, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and digital album sales are down as well. Either people are listening to less music or they’ve just figured out how to use Google to search for “Modest Mouse new album torrent.” Probably the latter.
Which makes total sense ““ who’s got money to burn on CDs when you’ve just dropped $250 on a new iPod? Not this guy.
The precipitous sales drop means the four major labels ““ Universal, EMI, Warner and Sony BMG ““ are already well into their last-resort death throes, suing anything that moves and attempting to push more anti-piracy legislation through Congress. But with Napster’s golden age already eight years behind us and broadband connections only getting faster, it’s simply a matter of time before the majors and their huge payola ““ ahem, marketing ““ budgets are a thing of the past.
What all this means is that pop culture as we know it may be just a few years away from being split into millions upon millions of bite-size P2P pieces. We’ve already seen the power of user-generated, left-of-mainstream content on the Internet, with 15 minutes of fame now handed out in 30-second YouTube increments that often outpace popular clips from television shows such as “The Daily Show” or “Saturday Night Live.” Similarly, the most popular album rankings on OiNK ““ a somewhat under-the-radar torrent tracker that’s basically paradise for file-sharers ““ show lesser-known acts (Art Brut, The Clientele) being downloaded almost as often as Maroon 5 and Linkin Park.
This healthy competition may be a precursor to the level playing field that the Internet has long promised, where thousands of bands share the spotlight once occupied by a few at a time. Imagine a world without No. 1 singles and million-selling debuts, where MTV abandons the “M” and renames itself “My Super Sweet Sixteen TV”; a world where musicians make a living on five-figure salaries and sell albums on their Web sites to niche audiences. When an album can move a mere 60,000 units and be the biggest seller in the country, it’s pretty clear that people have expanded their tastes and moved on to things beyond force-fed radio drivel (or downloaded said radio drivel along with the awesome new Clientele album).
As an indie kid who’s spent his formative years listening to bands that have sold fewer albums in their careers than the average chart-topper does in a week, one would think I’d be happy to see the end of the superstar era. I’ve certainly found it refreshing to see deserving artists such as The Shins and Bright Eyes making dents in the increasingly open Billboard charts recently. That said, I don’t know if I’m looking forward to a world without songs that everybody knows, even if they’re cheesy, over-produced pop singles. When the big labels die, how’s the next Avril Lavigne track going to get on the radio? It’s lonely enough as it is being one of two people at UCLA who listens to The Softies. (There might be more, but not on Facebook.)
Thing is, there’s something to be said for a pop landscape with some huge landmarks. Listening to the same songs as everybody else doesn’t mean sacrificing your individuality ““ quite the opposite. Songs such as Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” or for that matter, Bob Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind,” set the tone for a generation.
But if a new Linkin Park single falls in an Internet and nobody blogs it, does it make a sound?
Great pop music is about connection, from listener to listener as well as between listeners and artists. In a country torn by political and ideological differences, culture is the glue that holds us together. Sure, one may argue that popularity equates to predictability, that art gets shoved aside in the name of commerce and cultural homogenization and that the Internet is finally opening up the floodgates for a world of vibrant new musicians. That may be true. In the meantime, I’ll be first in line when the new Britney LP drops.
If you’re the only other UCLA student who likes The Softies, e-mail Greenwald at [email protected].
