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Music is a competition


MacDaddy

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As not to derail another thread, I'm putting forth the notion that music is a competition.

Or rather music that is commercially released, is competitive, and it is the results of this which feed your Spotify and YouTube algorithms. 

If music was not competitive we would not have The Hit Parade. 

Thoughts?

 

 

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19 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

As not to derail another thread, I'm putting forth the notion that music is a competition.

Or rather music that is commercially released, is competitive, and it is the results of this which feed your Spotify and YouTube algorithms. 

If music was not competitive we would not have The Hit Parade. 

Thoughts?

 

If one accepts the narrow definition given, you're probably right. Luckily, not all music falls into this band, and, equally luckily, not all that does qualify as 'competitive' is rubbish. Soooooo, it's competitive. So what..? One listens to it or not, whatever. Using this sense, baked beans are 'competitive', too. Thoughts..? -_-

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28 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

As not to derail another thread, I'm putting forth the notion that music is a competition.

Or rather music that is commercially released, is competitive, and it is the results of this which feed your Spotify and YouTube algorithms. 

If music was not competitive we would not have The Hit Parade. 

Thoughts?

 

 

Yes, though various aspects can be competed for...

 

Most sales/streams

Most spine tingling effect

Most influential

Most interesting

Worst...

etc

Edited by cetera
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I'd argue that what you're talking about is marketing rather than music itself, and the effect marketing has upon the creation of new music.

 

Obviously a lot of music is created specifically to be marketed, and there are clear formulae for creating a successfully marketable product in those areas. Successful artists will be under various pressures to create new music that repeats & builds upon previous success, regardless of how artistically motivated they may have originally been.

 

I'd suspect (although this is purely speculative!) that most people who get into playing and creating music aren't too motivated by the commercial success (or otherwise) of what inspired them to pick up an instrument.

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2 minutes ago, Len_derby said:

What about the auditioning process to join a band? That’s an aspect of “music” that usually has a competitive element. 

 

 Might be splitting hairs a bit. More to do with who's suitable - a bit like Croakin' Joe's Blues Stumblers getting a residency at the Dog & Slopbucket rather than my conceptual prog originals 9-piece.

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I'll have a philosophical stab at this - I would say it is a general law of the universe that all things are competitive and things that are not competitive simply disappear - it is an inherent feature of a universe that contains time as a dimension. This is possibly similar to Richard Dawkins concept of a "meme" - something which can reproduce itself imperfectly will evolve, and if the evolutionary change gives something an advantage in the prevailing environment, then it will outcompete the other things which it competes with for resources - the resources necessarily being limited in some way. In the case of music the resources will be the listeners. You can expand access to resources by having more listeners or by having each listener listen to more music on average. Just as in the natural world it is not necessary for the music to occupy all the "environmental" niches at once - there are both penguins and pangolins, Motown and Metal, it is only necessary that the music must outcompete the others in its niche.

Edited by Jon the Boat
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36 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

If one accepts the narrow definition given, you're probably right. Luckily, not all music falls into this band, and, equally luckily, not all that does qualify as 'competitive' is rubbish. Soooooo, it's competitive. So what..? One listens to it or not, whatever. Using this sense, baked beans are 'competitive', too. Thoughts..? -_-

 

Absolutely, I for one am often to be found anxiously awaiting the countdown of the weeks best selling baked beans 🫤

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1 hour ago, MacDaddy said:

As not to derail another thread, I'm putting forth the notion that music is a competition.

Or rather music that is commercially released, is competitive, and it is the results of this which feed your Spotify and YouTube algorithms. 

If music was not competitive we would not have The Hit Parade. 

Thoughts?

 

 


My point about McCartney is wrong too. Especially as the Beatles considered them to be competition with Brian Wilson. 

 

These headlines and polls and ratings things are trash and exist only to generate dissent which creates clicks.

 

 

Edited by Burns-bass
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11 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

 

Absolutely, I for one am often to be found anxiously awaiting the countdown of the weeks best selling baked beans 🫤

 

Unlike tinned food firms, bands don't often buy out smaller less successful bands and swallow them up. So that's a difference there.

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19 hours ago, Ricky 4000 said:

 

Unlike tinned food firms, bands don't often buy out smaller less successful bands and swallow them up. So that's a difference there.

Although there are examples of bands 'stealing' members of other bands for their own advancement (Maiden with Bruce Dickinson and Tom Petty with Howie Epstein for a couple of instances). However, this is probably where the creation of music falls into show business; they're out there to be successful and to do so means being bigger and better than others.

Edited by ezbass
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17 minutes ago, ezbass said:

Although there are examples of bands 'stealing' members of other bands for their own advancement (Maiden with Bruce Dickinson and Tom Petty with Howie Mandel for a couple of instances). However, this is probably where the creation of music falls into show business; they're out there to be successful and to do so means being bigger and better than others.

 

Maiden didn't poach Bruce 'Bruce' Dickinson from Samson to stop Samson being a threat to Maiden's success though.

 

I'd also expect the decision to have been as much management as artist-driven, if not more. Marketing again.

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21 minutes ago, Bassassin said:

 

Maiden didn't poach Bruce 'Bruce' Dickinson from Samson to stop Samson being a threat to Maiden's success though.

 

I'd also expect the decision to have been as much management as artist-driven, if not more. Marketing again.

No, and TP didn't poach Howie to beat Del Shannon. However, they did get those guys to join their bands to enhance their own 'product'.

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18 hours ago, ezbass said:

Although there are examples of bands 'stealing' members of other bands for their own advancement (Maiden with Bruce Dickinson and Tom Petty with Howie Mandel for a couple of instances). However, this is probably where the creation of music falls into show business; they're out there to be successful and to do so means being bigger and better than others.

Howie Epstein?

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1 hour ago, casapete said:

Howie Epstein?

You know when you know you've written something that's not right, but are sure it's also nothing, that was one of those moments. Trouble is, I was thinking about The Big and Theory, which Mandel was in. :facepalm:

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