To think that the main problem with contemporary music is the problem of revenue for artists shows the degree to which Capitalism (without you noticing) has permeated music since before many of us started listening to it enthusiastically. But this is not what music is about. In fact, it wasn't like this only 30 years ago. The fact that many of us think that it is natural to focus on musicians as celebrities, that music can just be boring "background music", or that music only exists in itself (without intellectual approaches and critiques, without background information, without history, or without more than just passive and entertainment value) shows us how we (as music lovers and consumers) have been coopted by a capitalist mode of production in which what matters in music is not art, emotions or the human spirit. The only thing that matters is consumption.

I am not usually one to use the critique of capitalism from a Marxist perspective in a way that seems to suggest that I'm just a nostalgic for the good "things past". But I firmly believe that indeed music (and the emotional and intellectual world surrounding it) has devalued in the last 30 years; and this matters because it basically means that, as a product of this devaluation, we are increasingly becoming less human, less able to feel, and we live lesser lives than only one generation ago. This is a very good read. Check it out!

Original source: The Devaluation of Music: It’s Worse Than You Think

Starving artists have been affected by more than just piracy and streaming royalties