Has music been devalued? This is an interesting question, because on the face of it is seems counter intuitive and almost nonsensical. Let´s expand the question and see if we can make any sense of it.

Beginning from the understanding that music is intrinsically valuable, it is quite clear that music can never be valueless. Music is valuable, because, well, its music! Music moves people, it affects people’s emotions, it communicates feelings, perspectives, and ideas. Even bad music does this, in one way or another. With this said, no matter what external measure one puts on music, for example its price on a capitalist market, it does not really need this measure in order to have value in itself. One could rant about the fact that there is too much free music, mp3s, illegal downloading and the access to music is too overwhelming – but this doesn’t, or shouldn’t, affect the capacity of value a piece of music has to its listener.

So when people are talking about how music has been devalued, they must be referring to its economic value.  Now it is undeniable that the changing music environment is making it more difficult to extract economic value from music; the traditional market value of music is becoming redefined. Now the only people who really deserve sympathy in this instance are the artists; those who dedicate their life to creating music deserve to make a living from it. Artists are primary, those actors who have exercised their dominant position and used artists music to make themselves rich, with only a superficial concern for the artists themselves, deserve no sympathy at all. On the other hand, one should lend sympathy to those who truly wish to support artists and help them continue to develop their music; those who believed in music for the sake of music. However, it is an encouraging thought that these people are probably the ones who were smart enough to adapt to the changing environment, and are now directing their efforts to finding new ways for artists to make money.

So no, music has not been devalued. We are entering a new era where those who support the artists must find new ways for them to earn a livelihood from their creations. Rather than see this new environment as an obstacle, it would be wiser to see it as an opportunity.

Tags: devalued, industry, Music, new, online music industry, The new music industry, value

This entry was posted on Friday, December 26th, 2008 at 1:29 pm and is filed under The new music industry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.