My goal: to free music from the clutches of commercialism, genre & structure. It is time to return music to its place as a pure art-form. There’s a fine line between entertainment and art. I am not saying I am against entertainment. There is nothing wrong with entertainment. Nor am I against the combining of entertainment and art. Actually I think the best form of entertainment is art. What I don’t like is entertainment that lacks art. I need my soul to be fed. Otherwise it’s just mental masturbation. This culture of ours has been raised on junk food, junk love and junk entertainment because it is easy. It is quick. It is temporary. It is easily forgotten. It is easily disposed of. It is also empty, devoid of inspiration and is a knife in the heart of people like myself.
Hence the term musical artist. I will conform to these supermarket genres only when there is no other choice e.g. when signing up for a website and having an obligatory field to categorize my music (perhaps I should decline from joining such websites). I understand the practicality of this but I would still prefer to live in a world that is not categorized to death. If I had a record store, there would be no genres. Just alphabetical categorize.
But don’t different kind of people like different kind of music? Let’s face it, the world is a big place. There is diversity. The diversity we see among humanity could be spread out everywhere. We are all people. We want the same things. We prefer to feel good over feeling bad. Most of us try to avoid death and want to survive. We are apart of nature. Our intellectual capacity allows for the abolishing of borders and nationalities. Jesus was right (or whoever said what they claim he said), brotherhood of mankind is the way to go.
As far as diversity in music goes, music contains of the same elements: melodies, harmonies, rhythms, sounds, grooves and sometimes it is accompanied with words or bodily movements. Of course there is the cultural aspect to music. Then there is ritual & celebration. Music is a language. A universal language. Like there is only one kind of science, there is only one kind of music. Music is music.
If you are an artist, stand by your art and treat it with respect. Don’t demean your art by comparing it to others for the sake of classification. That is lazy. Your art deserves more. The price of dignity is worth more than the selling of a product.
If you are a follower of art, cherish it and find your own tastes. Don’t let the media brainwash you into what you like (or don’t like) whether it’s art, entertainment, or anything else for that matter..
The internet is the saviour of music. The listeners choose the value. Most want it for free. That says something. Does value correlate with popularity? I don’t think so because most popularity is artificial. Many famous people have not done anything meaningful. I don’t say this out of bitterness I say it because it’s a reality. That is not to say that many people are also deservedly famous and have reached their status for a very good reason.
I don’t have problems with people who are trying to find the niche to make money out of music. This includes people who don’t necessarily even make music themselves but help bring it to other people. Making money is not bad. At least not in a system that is based on money.
Maybe it’s always been like this. Maybe it always will.