The End of Music?

Read this interesting paragraph from music critic Marc “K-Punk” Foster in Fact Magazine:

Some musicologists are announcing the end of music. Not because music has disappeared but, on the contrary, because it has become so ubiquitous that it cannot lay claim to a specific place any more. If music is no longer central to either the culture or to listeners’ attention, if it is increasingly being consumed as ring tones, as part of advertising, or as background noise (using music as a bulwark against silence), must this be treated as only a melancholy prospect?

Today, June 28th, the music from the commercial for the game Gears of War has hit iTunes #1 spot, signaling once and for all the video game industry’s entrance into the once all-powerful world of music. In a similar vein, longtime fans of rockers Wilco are lamenting the band’s decision to allow Volkswagen to use songs from their new album Sky Blue Sky in their commercials. In an interview for Pitchfork, the band gave their position on the whole matter, and some of their commentary makes a whole lot of sense. Namely:

This is a subject we’ve discussed internally many times over the years regarding movies, TV shows and even the odd advertisement. With the commercial radio airplay route getting more difficult for many bands (including Wilco); we see this as another way to get the music out there. As with most of the above (with the debatable exception of radio) the band gets paid for this. And we feel okay about VWs. Several of us even drive them.

The issue is undoubtedly a complex one, but one thing is clear: the music industry is having to re-think the way it operates and the avenues on which it does so. More and more frequently, bands will be discovered through alternate venues such as television commercials or video game soundtracks, and much of their money will be coming, at least initially, from corporate sponsorship. It does not, we believe, signal the death of music, but it will radically change the role music plays in our everyday environment, at least until something new comes along to replace it.

More stories are sure to come soon enough.

Pitchfork: Wilco Explain Volkswagen Ads