With the amount of data being provided by apps like Spotify and iTunes, along with the development of auto tune, it seems these days that song writing has become ever more of a formula/algorithm and singers are more often selected based on their physical attraction/charm or social standing rather than their raw singing ability. Is musical originality dying? Artists certainly are not as rare as they used to be. — Benj96
Maybe consider this. I heard your argument being presented in similar terms 40 years ago; 30 years ago; 20 years ago... — Tom Storm
Writing and making music overlaps with but is not the same thing as entertainment. There may be original music we have never heard because it lacks what is regarded as entertainment value. Making music and listening to or purchasing music are not the same. — Fooloso4
I learned to use LogicPro — Wayfarer
Musical artistry can exist independently from the music industry. Musical artists like myself who still have day jobs can still create authentic music and share it with a few people. — Noble Dust
I recall reading that one of the things that drove Coltrane to his early death from heart attack was the requirement to keep creating something entirely new. Jazz at the time was in a period of frenetic evolution, with a handful of supremely talented individuals constantly trying to come up with the next big thing. Maybe the quest for novelty is one of the faces of the 'creative destruction' that characterises modern culture. — Wayfarer
Seeking novelty for its own sake paves the road to mediocrity. — Janus
. Even the juxtaposition evident in this thread between performer and audience has a corrupting influence. — Banno
But an undue emphasis on "authenticity" will do exactly the same thing. — Banno
I don't buy the idea that music and the arts in general are stagnating because everything has already been done, or we're not coming up with revolutionary worldviews The idea that there must be a continual evolution of new forms in art and music grows out of a simplistic view of quality in the arts being a matter of originality. Authenticity is more to the point; meaning finding your own voice or vision rather than imitating or comparing yourself with others. There is not endless scope for formal originality, but there is endless scope for authenticity. — Janus
I don't buy the idea that music and the arts in general are stagnating because everything has already been done,
— Janus
And first nations Australians dance the same dance they have done for the last forty thousand years!
Long live stagnation! — Banno
I think our perception of originality in music (or whatever art form) is often just a projection unto the external world of our own experience of being exposed to new music. As we age, new music or art seems less original because it doesn't match our past seminal experiences of newness. We tend to chase that first "hit" of a perception-altering musical or artistic experience in the same way an addict chases that first high. — Noble Dust
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