All music is not great, or even good. Some music is much better than other music…everyone knows that. Of course, what's good for one person isn't necessarily what's good for another. That's why there's so much variety in music.
However, all music has value. Its value is relative, and each song or group of songs must be judged by each individual listener as to whether it’s worth their time and money.
In order to create great music, many musicians have sacrificed other things in their lives: more lucrative careers, sometimes their families and even their physical health. Sometimes this is done for more shallow goals such as the pursuit of fame and fortune, yes…but many other artists have sacrificied because of a need deep inside them to create art that they felt was significant and powerful: to create beauty, to express fiery passion, to work thru deep personal angst or to speak truth to power.
In reality, most artists fail to ever make a name for themselves or a space on the music store shelves for their product. There’s a much larger group eeking out a living in local bars and clubs than the group of household names whose music gets played on the radio. And yet, both groups share one thing in common. Their music…who they are and what they’ve created…is their commodity. In the same way that some people may have athletic ability, great education, a natural gift of gab or the ability to manage people... the musician has a set of tools for their career...as a writer, player or singer.
So...to the artists…music has value. Very tangible value.
For most of the last century…the fans of music have acknowledged the value of music with their time and money. Attending concerts, listening to the radio, buying albums. Hundreds and hundreds of millions of albums.
When the cassette tape became popular during the 1970s, a lot of people began to take advantage of the fact that music could be copied from an album to a cassette. It was great for sharing with friends. Sometimes, the friends bought the album if they liked it. Sometimes they didn’t. But this didn’t put a huge dent in record sales…so nobody really made a big deal about it. Music continued to sell at a healthy pace.
So…to the fans…music has value. Very tangible value.
Record companies have been around for almost as long as recorded music has been available. Only they had the resources to take a chance on an unknown musical commodity (artist or band), the connections to retailers to put the product in their stores, and to radio to get the music played.
In many cases, they developed a terrible reputation because of their strong-arm business practices. They drove hard bargains with artists and retailers. They tried to manipulate radio airplay thru payola. Margins throughout the distribution channels were kept very tight. The artists got lousy deals...heavily weighted toward the companies. And an adversarial relationship developed between the two.
But...when an artist was successful…very successful…they grew in power, and were able to renegotiate a contract with much more favorable terms. And when that happened, the companies and the artists often became fabulously wealthy.
So…to the companies…music has a very, very tangible value.
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