Can anyone tell me, with confidence, what’s happening to popular music? I know what appears to be happening. I think the digital revolution – as it has done with so much of everything – is flushing the traditional concept of pop music down the proverbial toilet.
In years past, there were only two charts that listed the top songs each week: there was a country music listing, to which no one paid much attention, and a single popular chart, commonly referred to as “Your Hit Parade.” Nearly every teenager and many adults in the U.S. followed the Hit Parade with avid devotion and each week people saved their nickels so they could buy a vinyl record of the top song. (How quaint.)
Today, there are more pop music charts than hell would have and the notion of pop music has been broadened so much it has become rather meaningless. For instance, “Rolling Stone” magazine has listings for Heavy Metal, Classic Rock, Alternative Rock, World Music, Electronic Dance, Contemporary, Blues, Rhythm and Blues, Jazz, Modern Jazz, Hip-Hop, Classic Folk, Modern Folk, Punk Rock and Gothic Rock.
That’s extensive, but only a partial list. There are so many charts, every two-bit artist who comes down the pike can release a CD that will shoot to Numero Uno on one chart or another within 24 hours. That’s also about as long as any particular recording will hold the top slot.
Of course, CDs are more or less passé, rapidly going the way of vinyl. Today, pop music is simply downloaded; and rarely is an entire CD downloaded, usually only a track or two. (Interesting enough, Paul Allen of Microsoft fame collects old vinyl 33s and is reputed to have the largest such collection in the world.)
To further illustrate the present state of pop music take notice of the Electronic Dance Music clubs that are the latest thing in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas and some other major cities. (At a time when the music industry seems terribly tired and sick, the EDM scene is just about the only invigorating pulse around.)
While Caesar’s Palace draws 500 fans in a single night for a Rod Stewart concert, one night in a EDM club can draw 8,000 people who dance – the floor is so crowded it’s a misnomer to say they’re actually dancing – to electronic music created by DJs with laptops and mixing boards.
The DJs play their own music and the music of other artists, all spliced together in unique and creative ways. Generally speaking, the crowd has no earthly idea who they’re dancing to and couldn’t care less.
Some EDM clubs can gross a million dollars in a single night. (Yes, you read that correctly, and it’s no exaggeration.)
The old music companies like Decca, Columbia and RCA are mere fragments of their former selves, replaced by individual producers.
Currently a single producer often doesn’t handle an entire CD; instead, the various tracks have various producers, as on Britney Spears’ latest album.
In many cases, believe it or not, the producers are simply EDM DJs. To be sure, very high-powered DJs, each of whom can earn as much as $50,000 a night.
And as further evidence that popular music is going down the drain, I’d point out that, financially, the pop music industry is worth roughly half of what it was ten years ago.
