Tuesday, December 6th, 2022.
Hey, it’s TJ Miller, you want some game? Let's Tip Unda The Hat!
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What are we doing…music or technology? Let’s go -
We’ve said it before, so we’ll say it again; music is all warm and fuzzy filled with emotion and business is hard cold impersonal, and never personal. This trick is to put the two together. So in this new paradigm that exists, technology is the business and along with being ubiquitous, it seems to hold the power over the music. Technology has altered how music is transmitted, preserved, heard, performed, and composed.
Today, because of electronic technology, we listen to struggling vocal performers who have note-perfect studio-recorded performances and of course, the ever-popular autotune has revolutionized how rap music is performed and listened to. When you think of Spotify for instance, do you look at them as a music company or a technology company? It started off as a tech platform that was intimately involved with music. And now Daniel Ek has talked about how Spotify wants to be more than just music. It wants to be the largest audio company in the world. Yeah sounds like a tech company to me. Back in my day, when we bought that new album or cassette it was all about the music, what you listened to made you cool, hip, funky, or spiritual. Now, it’s not what you listen to, it’s what you listen on. You know how big the iPhone verzuz Android debate is; which one has the better camera, which one has the better speaker, and which earbuds the music sound better on. It’s no longer about the music. It’s the technology that moves the music. Anyone nowadays can release a single, an album, or any piece of music. Again, back in my day, you had to call, mail, and find an A&R person to say “please listen to my demo.” Now I could be an old jaded record guy still mad at Napster for changing the paradigm of how music is sold. But I do realize that technology has not only changed music, but the gaming industry, film, how music is shared, multitracking, and of course, streaming. The audio engineer is almost as highly trained as the concert performer and can be just as sensitive an artist. Yes, there is no turning back now, we are here, technology is here and now we have to figure out where do we go next.
Johnnie Walker, Robert N. Johnson, and I are back tomorrow live on Clubhouse tomorrow. Is your resume up to date? We’ll have someone you can talk to “Untold Tales of the music industry.” Click and save the link, and come join the conversation.
This week's #IAOTW - Indie Artists Of The Week - MrTJ Miller - Yep two weeks in a row we get these Fish & Grits. Download this one and play it at the office Christmas party. Don’t be afraid to fry up a big mess of fish and boil some grits. For more information on this or to hire Unda The Hat as your brand or label consultant send a message via undathehat.com. See you next Tuesday.