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In this course, we focus our discussions primarily on the content of pop music's communication. We rarely talk about the ontologies of the various media delivering that communication. Amid our discussion of disco, I mentioned the following mini-documentary, which delves into precisely how some of the content of that genre was altered by a significant material change in its packaging as a product. This is interesting for our overall theories (and may be of interest if you're curious about vinyl records, past or present) ... Participation! What are the differences for the experience of music messaging between physical media and streaming access? That is, previous generations had the option of acquiring and owning physical products (records, cassettes, CDs) in order to hear recorded music, or they could simply listen to what was played on the (free) radio. How does that compare with today's primary options of buying digital music files and paying for access to streaming services? How does either experience improve or limit the messaging, especially of political subjects?
2 Comments
Yilin Wang
5/17/2019 01:23:21 pm
In my opinion, one of the differences is the length of the song. In the past, the records or CDs has specific restriction on the length of music, usually from 2-3 minutes. But nowadays, the length of music and songs are not limited. We can hear a song in the length of 4-7 minutes or even longer. Another difference is the more varieties in the forms of presenting a music or song. Since in the past, people have to buy the records or cassettes in order for a song to be heard, the musicians are reluctant to bring changes. They are worrying about their renovation on the music will make less people to buy and to listen to the songs. But for today, the audiences can listen the song on the internet for free, more and more musicians are willing to try the new forms and renovations of songs. Therefore, there are more varieties in today’s music.
Thomas Conner
5/29/2019 11:33:59 am
When records gave way to CDs, the available space and time also increased again. An LP can hold roughly 45 minutes of music. A CD can hols almost 80. As a result, artists felt they should give fans their money's worth by filling all the available space. But after decades of training (as both artist and listener), it proved difficult for some to envision a complete artistic statement over the extra time. Many albums were criticized for containing "filler," extra bits, skits, or songs included allegedly just to eat up the space. Leave a Reply. |
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