Has the internet killed live music discovery?
Last.fm is fast becoming one of those bastions of web-based business, the sort of venture even your parents talk about with an informed manner.
Since it launched as “The Social Music Revolution” in 2002 (that is, before the CBS conglomerate swallowed it whole) it has reached 200 countries and now claims over 21 million unique users.
Recent research findings (gathered by Universal Music) have shown that “recommendation services” like Last.fm account for 10-15% of young people’s sources used to decide what music to buy or even listen to. This figure sees a consistent increase year on year.
In essence, Last.fm seems a great idea.
Social networking leaves a sour taste in the mouth, in that it doesn’t really promote anything of substance. It offers people an outlet to waste huge amounts of their and their employer’s time, trading debauched photographs, installing ironic widgets and making plans they will not honour.
Last.fm and its contemporaries would rather you only discussed music, this is certainly a good thing. But perhaps that’s where the good stops – for dance music at least. Dance music is something that usually touches people a little later in their lives than other genres. Most of us are subjected to our parent’s tastes up until we are old enough to start gathering our own take on things and it’s through word of mouth, through our friend’s and sibling’s shared experiences, that we all begin to gradually breach the peripheries of dance music.
Some of us may wince when we track back to our first flirtations with this music, our early choices seem some distance from where we have arrived today.
In my view, this has always been one of dance music’s major strengths, its unique selling point: it can seem like a never ending journey sometimes, a constant and very personal voyage of discovery and evolution.
Some of techno’s earliest followers, those more than familiar with the neighbouring Chicago house sound and the cavernous rhythms of dub music may only be just about to discover the dubstep / techno hybrids of the present. Rest assured, as far as dance music goes, there’s always something new, something you’ll love, just around the bend.
This “journey element” seems somehow unnatural if based upon spurious findings, generated by an anonymous social network or networker.
There is something extremely personal and sacred in discussing music with like-minded people. It’s important to understand why “if you like this, you’ll love this” and what links the two entities in the first place, in terms of history, influence and style.
It’s a conversation, not a statement. Websites that trivialise this discussion and provide little in the way of context (no, the Last.fm biographies are not up to the job) will never be able to provide the full story, something serious dance music fans will always require.
Much discussed across all manner of media and press these days is the demise of the nightclub. London has had a bad year. The End will soon close it’s doors and others look to fall by the wayside.
I can’t help but wonder if the internet at large has something to do with this, if people no longer rely on the experiential to discover new tracks and new music in general – and even more specifically, if websites such as Last.fm belittle the ritual of going out, seeing your favourite DJ (if you even have one anymore) and being exposed to something brand, brand new in the environment it was built for – the dancefloor.
Surely there is no better way of working out whether a particular style or sound is for you or not, than by being physically moved by it, in a place custom built for your listening pleasure – as opposed to being literally rushed into realising the epic qualities of dub-infused techno in a bland and uncomfortable office space, with a pair of cheap and cheerful headphones.
The burgeoning mp3 business has been bastardised by the dance music press for “killing” the independent record store. While the expected rise of digital music has had an overwhelming detrimental effect, other factors must be considered.
I for one seek more than a quick fix from a visit to my local music peddler. I hope to be recommended stuff, and to this effect, I usually am. How many of us (those who still go record shopping) often leave with more than we bargained for? When it comes to recommendations, leave it to the experts.
Now iTunes have joined the party, fashionably late of course. The new “Genius” system, their built in recommender, will bring this already widespread concept to the true mass market. All I can ask of dance music fans is don’t take this genius too literally.
Source: beatportal.com
