Overview
In the 21st century, the modes of music creation and distribution changed quickly and drastically. With the advent of the internet, file sharing, and affordable music production software, aspiring musicians could create their music at home without a huge or expensive recording studio, and they could distribute their music online via free downloads or YouTube videos. These new means of creation and distribution furthered the careers of many musicians. At the same time, traditional mediums such as television remained important ways for musicians to be recognized. As we will see in this lesson, although the means of discovery and creation have changed, the ultimate goals of fame, recording contracts, and respect have remained the same for many musicians in the 21st century.
Objectives
- Recall the significance of American Idol and the role it plays in both American popular culture and in the careers of the musicians who perform on it
- Examine how YouTube has offered opportunities for musicians to be “discovered”
- Define the term “mash-up”
- Identify several significant examples of “mash-up”
- Recall the significance of The Grey Album and its relationship to art and to copyright law
Streaming Audio
In the 2000s, Pandora Internet Radio, an automated internet music recommendation service, became a very popular way to listen to music and to learn about new music, genres, and artists.
Each individual song in Pandora's Music Genome Project database is represented by a vector of about four hundred different characteristics, each of which corresponds to a musical element such as instrumentation, gender of the singer, and type of harmony. When a listener types in the name of a song, artist, or genre, Pandora responds by playing songs with similar characteristics. For example, a Run-D.M.C. Pandora station plays tracks with "exaggerated enunciation, old school rap influences, and danceable beats" and includes music by artists such as the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J. Listeners may rate each song with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, which helps Pandora refine the songs played by using a specific set of indicators. Unlike an on-demand play service or a recording one owns, Pandora can only skip songs twelve times per 24 hours, and it is not possible to repeat or rewind a track once it starts to play. Listeners paint their music preferences in broad strokes, but the individual songs played are left up to an algorithm.
"I am very grateful for the opportunities provided to me through appearing on 'American Idol.' The value that the fans and the show have given to my career is not lost on me. However, I have not felt that I have been free to conduct my career in a way that I am comfortable with."
