Maybe you heard that Sirius and XM are considering a merger? Wall St. has been encouraging this for some time, contending there isn't room for both of them and the bifurcation of a still-developing media space is harmful to both companies.
Unless you worked for a competitor, I figured this would be good news all around, an end to the VHS or Beta debate that really doesn't benefit anyone. But it seems I was wrong.
According to this small sampling, fear of "corporate consolidation" persists. Couple this with the music book I'm reviewing right now and the following is on my mind: One of the most powerful myths in music is music as a weapon against the oppresion of some evil overload. Their has to be a "the man" so our tunes can knock him on his ass.
This myth sticks around for two reasons: It mirrors perfectly how we feel when we become interested in music i.e. our teens and 2) It is a myth, a delicious one yes, but no longer anchored in any known reality.
Before the Internet, if you didn't like the music on the radio and didn't live somewhere big enough to offer you other choices in listening, buying or concert going, you were stuck. No one understood you and rightfully, you were angry about it. You sought out a community. And one filled with kids your age who felt the same way and had created an alternative society based on that alienation to you was like coming home.
But this is a product of world split in two, a mainstream and a reaction to it. But the world isn't split in two anymore, it's split into a billion. Now with three mouse clicks, you can instantly find musical comraderie. The playlist makes every song equal, no matter how large the marketing budget behind it. The major labels are self-destructing by the day and the influence of the mainstream isn't nearly what it used to be. Oppression works on lack of options. Thanks to the Internet, we have more options that we could ever possibly exercise.
Music is now cheaper, easier and more diverse than at any time in history. And it is all there for the listening. In the darkest days for the music business has emerged a golden age for music fans.
Granted there is a class issue here. In a fantastic article in the Chronicle of Higher Education called "Cultural Renaissance or Cultural Divide?" (subscription only), authors Bill Ivey and Steven J. Tepper point out that the wealth of options the Internet provides only exist if you have continual access to the Internet. The same holds true for Netflix, Last.fm or LibraryThing, leaving poorer media consumers with what they can get for free i.e. network television, top forty radio and movies at the multiplex and Blockbuster. As my friend Justin points out in the comments, does this mean that folk who can't afford otherwise get stuck with the least progressive media images of others? Of themselves?
Let us refocus the struggle then. Instead of hoarding lesser known culture for ourselves, how do we in fact share it with others who can't get to it.
We have the freedom to reframe this debate because, to a large extent, we have already won. Music is everywhere, at our fingertips and largely free. Satellite radio is a ship's portal into this hull filled with riches. It's a small example but an indicator of something much bigger
This battle is over and the victory is ours. There's nothing in it to rail against anymore. Can we now move on to music a gift shared amongst everyone instead of amouring ourselves against an assault that no longer exists?
Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times edited by Kevin Smokler
The Customer Is Always Wrong: The Retail Chronicles edited and compiled by Jeff Martin. Essay by me on page 45.