Did the Internet Kill Rock Music?
It’s very easy to see the impact of internet on recorded music. Prior to the internet, when you buy music, it is locked into some sort of media. Maybe it is a cassette, maybe it is an LP, maybe it is some sort of vinyl disc, or maybe it’s a compact disc.
Whatever the case may be, when you buy music, you are actually literally buying physical music because there’s a physical dimension to the creative work that you are buying. It’s not just a series of zeros and ones. It’s not just a clump of data that you can easily copy from place to place or upload on the internet.
Well, after the internet, the rules of engagement have changed. You no longer have to physically buy media to consume content. You can find places on the internet where you can just download the data file of that song to enjoy that song.
It is no surprise that for about 10-15 years after the commercial explosion and popularity of the internet, the traditional recording industry went through a tailspin. In fact, it went through some sort of dark age.
It couldn’t quite get its act together because it really did not know how to make money off internet-based music. This is why, for a long time, it was suing many people left and right.
What is that new business model? Well, it’s very familiar. It’s a rehash of radio. Every time you listen to streamed music, the streaming service pays a small royalty to the performer.
Sounds pretty good, right? Well, it gets even better. People can now pay a small amount every month to get the very best music. They get a tremendous amount of variety, and they also get top notch quality.
Compare this with downloading mp3’s. You’re lucky if you get access to an mp3 dump or torrent that deals only with the highest quality recordings. Unfortunately, those are few and far between. Instead, you just have to settle for crappy recordings. Not so with streaming.
This is why I can say with a straight face that the internet did not kill rock music. In fact, it made it more accessible. Why? You just have to pay a monthly fee for your mobile service and you can pretty much access all the hot rock music you want.
I don’t know about you, but that definitely beats having to pay $12, $15, or even $20 for an LP when you’re actually only interested in one song from that LP. Do you see how this works? So the internet, far from killing rock music, actually breathes new life into it.
The problem is
There’s just less money involved for both the recording company as well as specific artists.
The offset to this, of course, is that these artists can still make a lot of money touring.
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