I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.
- Edward Everett Hale
Welcome to Just Plain Notes
Just Plain Notes: Volume 1.163, February 22nd, 2007
Written by Brian Austin Whitney
Visit the Website:
www.jpfolks.com
Mail CD's @ 5327 Kit Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46237
Copyright 2007 Just Plain Folks Productions.
Just Plain Folks Member Population: 41,173
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Just Plain Quotes:
"Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds." -Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it." -Robert Heilein
"After the bare requisites of living and reproducing, man wants most to leave some record of himself, a proof, perhaps, that he has really existed. He leaves his proof on wood, on stone, or on the lives of other people. This deep desire exists in everyone, from the boy who scribbles on a wall to the Buddha who etches his image in the race mind. Life is so unreal. I think that we seriously doubt that we exist and go about trying to prove that we do." -John Steinbeck
"There's nothing about music that oppressive commerce can destroy which the human spirit fueled by artistic instinct and desire can't and won't resurrect." -Brian Austin Whitney
My Take:
Why is it that people use fear tactics in just about everything we do in life? Marketing people use fear to make you buy products (you stink, you better get this deodorant or people won't like you... your teeth aren't white enough.. you better use this whitener or you won't get that new job... blah blah blah). Politicians do the same thing. (fear of terrorists, fear of global warming, fear of illegal immigrants, fear of gay people, fear of taxes.. blah blah blah). Many religions use fear to control people as well. Every day we're pelted with so many scare tactics that it's amazing any of us leave our houses. So what does this have to do with music? Everything.
How many times have you heard someone say "the music industry is in decline..." or "the music industry is dying..." or "rock and roll is dead..." etc. It's bad enough we have to live in fear about external factors in our lives all the time. But is it really possible that our ability to create music is dying or dead? To steal a word from my favorite cantankerous magicians Penn and Teller: "BULLSH*T!"
Music is not dead.
Anyone who says any type of music is dead isn't looking very hard. Just because the stuff on the radio doesn't live up to previous stuff on the radio, and the stuff on the mass merchant store shelves doesn't live up to the stuff that was on those same shelves previously and just because the mainstream music venues are featuring live performances that don't live up to years past doesn't mean music is dead. Music has simply moved back out into the community where it was before corporations got involved. It's become viral. It doesn't come knocking at your door gift wrapped from corporate record labels. You have to get off your butt and spend about 30 seconds actually LOOKING for it to find it. It's there. And it's heart is beating fast and strong.
Music is not dying.
When something is dying, it's shrinking, shriveling and slowing way down. Nothing about music is doing that. Perhaps some specific types of commerce are dying, shrinking, shriveling and slowing way down, but that has nothing at all to do with music and never has. It doesn't reflect what's going on anymore than the Presidential candidates we have hoisted on us from the artificially limited 2 party system in the US reflects the best possible people who could be running for office. Why is it we can all see the obviousness of that, but we look to the shrinking funnel of corporate commerce to determine how "music" is doing? Snap out of it.
Music is thriving.
There's more amazing music being made today than ever before in human history. There's more diversity. There's more risk taking. There's more virtuosity. There's more people of all ages making more music in a day than all the people in the world were making combined 50 years ago. Anyone can record radio ready music on inexpensive home recording studios or their computer. Is it all great? Nope. Is it all the stuff you hear on radio or being mass produced by the labels? Hell no. Last year alone we received 350,000 songs in over 80 genres of music from over 100 countries around the world for our music awards. And the fact is that we only got a tiny sliver of all the music that was created, in our case mostly in the US (Check out CD Baby for obvious proof of this). Music is being made and performed in every city around the world in homes that surpasses the sliver of music that is mass marketed. It's there if you care to look for it.
Music will never die.
If all commerce was removed from the music world tomorrow, there'd still be millions of musicians making music anyway because guess what? They're already doing just that now. People who make music do it because they have no choice. It's impossible NOT to make and create music for real musicians and writers. If all the instruments and devices and tools disappeared from the face of the earth, people would still be humming songs, clapping their hands, banging rocks together and making music. Music is always with us as long as we're breathing. It's not going anywhere. It will NEVER die. Tell the scare mongers to bugger off.
Do us all a favor. The next time you're making music, try doing it without a thought about record labels and radio stations and My Space friends and doomsayers who want us to fear the end. Instead, passionately rip into your soul and produce the art in your heart. Don't hold back. Don't try and please others. Don't be afraid you're not good enough or you're doing it the wrong way. Make your music without fear. Then, share it with others without fear. If you do, you'll realize how true all my points above are. If you do, you can join the global musical chorus. If you do, you can single handedly take back the music from those who make a living predicting its demise. If ALL of you do it, we can shut them up once and for all.
But that's just my opinion. I could be right.
Learn, Succeed, Thrive. We're All In This Together!
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