PopularMusicGoesWhereThePeopleAre

ThoughtStorms Wiki

Context: MusicalStuff, ClassicalMusic, PopularMusic

I started writing a comment on this video. Then I realised it's over 6 years old, so unlikely anyone will read my comment on YouTube.

I'll add it below.

One thing to observe is that popular music is music that goes where the people are. Musical genres that thrive are those that are pretty much symbiotic with the media of dissemination or broadcast that people want. Whether that's the music that was explicitly composed to provide spectacle in the 19th century commercial concert hall and ballet, to provide atmosphere in the cafe or cabaret. Or jazz and all the succeeding 20th century popular musics that took advantage of the rise of recording technology, records, radio etc. The biggest contemporary music still follows people. To the club. Or to the gym. It works when listened to on the phone. Or in the car. Today, there's a real sense that the hits are made for social media and playlists.

This is something it seems the academy almost entirely neglects. Contemporary "classical" feels like an insistence that the right medium for music must be a live performance by an acoustic orchestra or ensemble of trained human performers. That immediately puts it at odds with the requirements of listeners. For whom music is often a side-accompaniment to some other activity.

Cinema doesn't have this problem. People will watch movies on video or streaming services. Contemporary art galleries are a self-service browsing experience analogous to shopping, and people flock to them. But going to a particular place, not using your eyes much, and just listening to some people play the same instruments for an hour. That isn't an enticing experience for most people. Regardless of the actual musical content.

Contemporary composers should at the very least, embrace the mediums where people actually do listen to music. They should write for the club. And car. And gym. And playlist.