Is The Message

Not that Apple. This Apple.

Neil Aspinall, who ran Apple Corp. for most of its existence, died today. Many people saddle him with the slow adoption of The Beatles catalog into new media, first the CD and now digital distribution. That may well be a part of his legacy, but I think we can take the opportunity to look at the relationship of media (not ‘the’ media) and the music industry.

Around 1800, the music industry, such as it was, made the first steps to greatness with the advent of the lithograph. Performers made money and entertainment was big business, but not an industry.

You see, industry is an anti-market force. Industry interjects a structure for extracting value from the flow of energy. Once the structure is in place, industry leverages control to increase relative value to economic substitutions. (To read more about concepts of the anti-market, check out this book)</stilted babble>

Back to the music industry, specifically.  In the 19th century, paper was the physical media by which music was transmitted. Mostly as sheet music, but in some degree as piano rolls. Through the first quarter of the 20th century, publishers and composers were getting their money from paper distribution of their songs. The great music of this time period (1800-1925) is mostly highly arranged and structured music (played by orchestras and traditional musicians) or folk music (Stephen Foster, Scott Joplin, German Polka, Hymns).

Then came a new technology, the vinyl record. While classical music was the first to embrace the technology, it was jazz who found its natural pairing with acetate. Recordings were made live and etched directly onto a master. The personal and immediate expression of Louis Armstrong and the early jazz pioneers resonated. Other performers, like Bing Crosby, could break out of night clubs and into the collective consciousness.

And they resonated on another new medium, electromagnetic wave. A shared media experience across vast distances. Both by physical transport and electrical. The analog nature made a new caliber of star. The Great Caruso, who had been slung around the world on flattenned plastic was fully eclipsed by the synergies of record and radio. Stars were born.

The next major media change was magnetic tape. Its linear physical nature and ability to be changed repeatedly mandated muti-track recording. People like Les Paul and Buddy Holly started tinkering with the possibilities. With live recordings, like recording to records, it took a sizeable team of musicians. These musicians had to get it right the first time. It required a certain ethos of musician. A vocational musician. Re-recording, refining, multiple takes. Linear creativity began shifting to non-linear imagination. While Elvis and Sinatra made big splashes they were another example in a long line of the last generation making the first bucks in a new media. But their message was not aligned with the freedom of magnetic tape. It was the empowered music of Motown and a new type of song smith the likes of The Beach Boys and of course, The Beatles.

In each of these earlier transition we see a false spike of previous messages that are eventually, over time, over-run by the native message of the medium.

For the last 20 years we have been rolling into the digital age. Gun and Roses, Madonna, Grunge, Britney. But what is the real nature of digital? Lossless reproduction of easily editable segments. Zero capital costs for reproduction. Zero marginal costs for recording. What is the spiritual alignment we expect to see. I think we will see samples, derivative works, collaborations and remixes. Non-affiliated producers. Decentralized creation. Surely many of these forms are already popular and rampant. The mainstream is using them in nearly every pop success. I’m not making a bold prediction about their existence. My prediction is that these will become the primary and dominant form of musical expression, but that is just a guess.

So, as we see those that fought and drove the cult of magnetism shedding their mortal coil, we can look forward with excitement to what digital media is really going to mean. Neil Aspinall not only rode the previous wave, he was an integral part of carving the face of that wave. With the greatest respect and admiration, I say thank you as steward of an era. I hope we do so well with the next.