I can listen to the radio at work or wherever I am
(although, outside of being forced to listen to the radio, I avoid it), and it hardly
ever registers as art. There are varied sounds, ranging from the abhorrent
twang of Country Tuesday to the retro vibes of Classic Rock Thursday. The is a
span of genres and time that covers a large portion of western pop culture, except
I can’t ever recall a time when I looked at all and thought art.
Now that isn’t to say that I don’t see music as art. Some
Trevor Gordon Hall? You can’t deny the artistry in that. You can’t deny the
talent and the intention behind every note. You can’t deny a mewithoutYou
lyric. You can’t deny art in so much of what is not mainstream.
But within the mainstream, we have been conditioned to not
think of it as art. Music isn’t valued as art or seen as some commodity; it’s
valued as background, a notch above the hum of the AC unit in your office
building. And so we have grown to be a culture that precipitously undervalues
music. While paintings and sculptures are being auctioned off for thousands
upon thousands of dollars, music is streamed for free. It has segued from being
viewed as art to being viewed as a right.
And maybe that’s because of the implications of art. Art, in
physical form, is so often viewed as some hoity-toity pastime, where the rich
can wave around their wealth while seeking some greater existential
enlightenment. Physical media has physical value. Whereas music can’t be seen
or felt; it has no mass or color.
The idea of owning sound waves, or that which produces them,
seems asinine when sound is all around us. The market has been flooded. People
will [sometimes] pay for live performances, but they rarely see the value in
paying for something nice to listen to. And, realistically, it makes sense when
everything in music is as easily reproduced as it is. That’s the difference
between physical art and music – repeatability and accessibility. For my first
album, Deconstructing the Temporal Lobe,
I had 1000 copies made. The difference in price between 500 and 1000 was something
like $200. And if you want it now, you can stream it through Spotify right on
your phone. Producing and reproducing music has transitioned to something so
easy that everyone who wants in can be in.
Enter Wu-Tang Clan.
Read the article below:
They are making one single copy of their new album, Once Upon A Time In Shaolin. Amidst a
time when an amateur can make 1000 copies (or even 100,000!) for relatively
cheap, they’re making this as exclusive as possible. And they’re wrapping it in
a silver and nickel hand-engraved box; a piece of art in and of itself. This
isn’t another “collectors box set” where you are one of 10,000 lucky fans to
own a cheaply made tin and a few relatively rare CDs; there is literally only
ONE.
And it’s traveling around to art galleries, as an exhibit.
This won’t be music that is there for ambiance in the
gallery. This won’t be music that is there to compliment a reception. It is
there as an exhibit, in the foreground of the gallery.
And in glorified listening parties, this will be played and
listened to. Very intentionally. Everything about this is intentional. If you
want to be a part of this, the action has to be intentional.
Then the single copy, in the one-off engraved box, will be
sold. My hope would be that it would go to a private collector or to some
museum to either be reproduced and released for free or left as a listening
party only exclusive. I’d like to see it not immediately flipped to make
profit, like if a big company would buy it.
Yes, it makes it exclusive. I’m sure that will upset some
people who are used to being part of the crowd. But, realistically, is having
access to anyone’s musical catalog a right? If it is, where did the right come
from; at what point in history did things change? Because music used to be a
commodity. There was mystique behind a new release.
You weren’t just a fan of a song; you were a fan of an
artist. And that’s what Wu-Tang is doing. And I’m not even a fan. I just find
it so refreshing and potentially revitalizing for a music industry that has forgotten
what art is.
This is creative; this is innovative; this is visionary. And
this is art.
