2000s: “the Noughties” the term is a portmanteau of naught, meaning “nothing” or “zero”
With this decade drawing to a close, I’ve been reflecting on the state of music in the last 10 years. In the era of file sharing like Limewire (2000), iPods (2001), and Youtube (2005), a good album has almost all but become irrelevant in favor of the one-hit-wonder single hyped and discarded (or downloaded for free).
As much as I complain about the state of R&B (my fav!) these days, I don’t put much effort into seeking out the gems within the mass. I just bought (Amazon.com Downloads) Ginuwine – A Man’s Thoughts and realized I’d been sleeping on Jamie Foxx and Jon B’s 2008 albums (Did anybody know that Jon B HAD an album last year?!). That’s just my point however, one shouldn’t have to “seek” out established artists. Someone let me know, did you have to “seek” out good stuff pre-2000s? Back then you had the radio, live club performances, and the music store, the end. Was hunting through racks of records the “seeking” instead of surfing through Myspace Music?
XM Satellite: The Future (or no?)
This brings me to mainstream music and media–I haven’t listened to the radio on the regular since early this decade; it’s been downhill from 2000. These days I refuse to listen to it. Why would I, when I can get ANY song on demand, no commercials? I really wonder about the future of FM radio in the coming decade. Will it go the way of the portable CD player or simply morph to fit the times?
The Great and Powerful YouTube
I really feel TRL was put off the air by Youtube. Who waits a whole 24 hours for a 30-second clip when you have video on demand sitting in front of you? My theory for 106 & Park still being on-air is that 1) it’s their “flagship” show (what the hell else comes on BET?) 2) the “target audience”, and I use that term loosely now, is less likely than the general population to have a home computer (see: the technology gap & minorities). Those are random guesses by the way, feel free to debate.
MySpace, IMEEM, etc.
On the flip side, technology has made it easier than ever for artists (or aspiring artists…) to get their music out there and heard whether they are washed up and/or under hyped artists from major labels or independent. I think it’s great. Everybody can trash MySpace (in favor of Facebook) if they want to, but really it helped otherwise ignored folks.
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COMMENTS / 4 COMMENTS
Monie spoke on Oct 12 09 at 12:58 amL,
I think radio is still around because as you said there is a tech gap. So there are lot’s of people who don’t have an ipod or can’t listen online or just can’t afford to buy a lot of music.
I still listen to radio even though it really frustrates me. I’ve been considering satellite radio. I just don’t know if I want to pay for radio?
I will say that the internet has made it harder to find new music. There is just so much music out there now and no central place to find it. Even on youtube you have to know what you’re looking for to find anything good.
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LaurynX spoke on Oct 14 09 at 12:41 pmHmm, not sure if i would pay for radio either…probably not, lol. I agree there’s just so much out there, which can be a good thing when you happen upon something, and a bad thing when you are looking for new stuff but aren’t finding much.
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Trisha's Daughter spoke on Oct 23 09 at 9:08 pmTo be blunt, most mainstream music is shit these days. There are some good artists out there who are still making music and at one time they were considered hot i.e. Jon B & Ginuwine, but like you stated their music is not pushed into the forefront anymore.
With R&B being such a diverse music genre that ecompasses many sub generes (neosoul etc)you would think that more emphasis would be put into finding and developing new talent and keeping the old familiar talent in the forefront. As we all know, this is not the case. The music industry has become so commercialized, that real artist who want to make real music are pushed aside for what I call sensationalized performers who make music fit for ringtones…How Dreadful.
On the flipside of all this…there are some excellent independent artist out there who are putting it down. It takes a little work to find them, but its worth it.
~TD~
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blueinthefaceangel spoke on Oct 25 09 at 4:19 pmso true, actually I’m surprise BET is still going strong the Vjays are really good..
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