A friend of mine recently told me he wished Serato/Ableton/etc. didn’t exist so that fewer people would create and perform electronic music. To him, the rise of music-making software dilutes the talent pool since, “everyone who never would’ve touched a pair of turntables suddenly decides he’s a producer.”
This post is going to take a few different approaches to refuting his observation.
1: The Talent Argument
Software doesn’t replace talent. Rather, software is a means to an end. We don’t look at Mozart and say “he’s the one who got the piano,” because there were thousands of other people playing the same instrument at the same time. It’s just that, well, Mozart was more talented. The piano didn’t matter; the person playing it did. Yeah, more people are making music today. But some people are still more talented than others; those people will still rise to the top. And just for the record: it is possible to make really bad music with really good software. Shoot me an e-mail if you need some mp3s as proof.
2: The Innovation Argument
More people using the same software means that there’s an incentive to innovate. If you’re the only one making music, it’s easy to get complacent. If everybody’s making music, you’ll need to find new ways to distinguish yourself from the rest of the pack. Competition drives innovation. Innovation keeps music exciting.
3: The Numbers/Probability Argument
Even if the truly talented musicians don’t rise to the top (see Argument 1) and nobody does anything innovative (Arg. 2), probability theory tells us that more people making more music means something good is going to get made. All those monkeys on typewriters? Give them synthesizers and a sequencer.
It’s a numbers game, really. If ten people each make a song, there’s a good chance we’ll get ten bad songs. If ten thousand people each make a song, we’re more likely to get something good. Yeah, it’s a depressing and foolish way to look at creativity. But the logic still stands: more songs to choose from raises the chance that we’ll get something good. If you’re choosing between a fully-loaded 10GB iPod or 160GB iPod, you’ll probably pick the latter because there’s going to be something on there that you’ll want to listen to.
4: The Existential Argument
I’m of the personal opinion that creativity enriches one’s life. It’s important to be creative. Yes, there’s a lot of terrible creative shit in the world– bad poetry, boring movies, unfunny jokes and shitty drawings. But if the process behind all that was fulfilling to the author/artist, then I’m happy. Ignore the shit you don’t like. Let the artist enjoy creating it. Win-win.
5: The Inevitability Argument
Not really an argument, per se. More of an observation. Music-making software is getting cheaper; it’s getting easier to use. I don’t think either of those trends will reverse anytime soon. More people are going to make music next year than made music this year. It’s a fact of life that you’ll either welcome enthusiastically or reluctantly learn to accept. (Also worth noting: music is unique it that it’s always been popular. The way we listen has changed, but that’s about it. I’m pretty sure that we’re never going to stop enjoying music the way we might, say, stop playing poker or stop watching baseball or stop skateboarding or–gasp!–stop reading novels.)
Now get back in the studio and make some music. Haters gon’ hate.
Casino Gold
These guys e-mailed me about a week ago with some new stuff they’ve been working on. Casino Gold is DJ/Producer team Luke and Zack Matsuk. They’re from (where else?) LA and in the process of recording their first EP. These songs are made for Friday nights at 2AM, that point in the evening when the softies go home but the rest of us turn the music even louder. These are solid additions to any party playlist.
(By the way, to anyone who’s thinking of e-mails to music bloggers: we can totally tell when it’s a blast e-mail sent to your contact list of fifty different blogs. At least take the time to change the opening line or something. Maybe even write some bullshit like “you have the best website in the world” even if we know you’re lying. Complimenting us won’t make us any less likely to listen to your music. This has been a passive-agressive public service announcement from Uh Oh Disco.)
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FUBAR (Original Mix) UhOhDisco.com
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Juke Dem Hoes (Casino Gold Remix)
