A Crowd's Opinion on Music

I checked out a blog at http://snowcrashing.com/tag/music-industry-trends/ and came across a video of Christopher R. Weingarten, a freelance writer for Rollingstone.com and Village Voice on Twitter. He made a speech and statement that 'crowd-sourcing kills art.' Mainly the internet has ensured the ability for every and any one to criticize and give opinions on music as a desired leisure, when he was getting paid to do just that. Chris says he is about to be out of a job because nineteen year-olds are doing his job "for free, or for concert tickets, or for a pat on the head." Chris says no one is listening to him anymore because of this new wave of opinions coming from young, inexperienced, less jaded teens, and they exploit new bands and music without much negative commentaries. Websites and magazines no longer depended on the opinions of freelance writers such as Chris, and started to support the reviews from the many blogs that populated the web. "Crowd-sourcing kills art because people have an awful taste, crowds have terrible taste", as carefully declared by Chris. The only thing that makes music seem popular is the "link economy" and that is when a website receives an abundant amount of clicks determining its popularity and relevance. Chris built on this statement by clarifying, "If you let the people decide then nothing truly adventurous gets out," because what's supported is not the best music, but the most music that people can stand." The main criticism that is missing from art today is the reason "why" certain bands or song(s) are good. To reiterate the points Chris made, we need the "because-factor" in the world of music. There are only lists of the many "who's", but no "why." The video is actually informing and comical. You should check it out. You can also find Chris on Twitter @1000TimesYes to retrieve his latest music updates and his stance in the music industry. View the video here:

Stellacci, A. (2009, June 22). Crowd-sourcing kills art. Retrieved June 16, 2011, from http://snowcrashing.com/tag/music-industry-trends/.