I just finished Rolling Stone's interview with Will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas as part of its "40 reasons to be excited about music" story. I admit, I'm not a Black Eyed Peas fan. Nonetheless, I read the story with some interest; you can't deny Will.i.am is successful. From his Pepsi mash-up with Dylan to his Obama song and video to the sheer number of hits his group has recorded, the man clearly knows what sells, what people want, and how to deliver that to them.
However, I'm kind of uneasy with his description of music of ambient mood sound bytes, written like commercial jingles to be easily processed, digested, and consumed by music fans. I agree that itunes and the mp3 format has changed the way we listen to music, but to discount the power in story, in narrative, the power in the lyrical that's present in so many great songs... I'm not sure I'm there yet. Does beat and rhythm finally trump message and meaning? Is the medium the message in music, as McLuhan so presciently argued?
Of course, it's not fair to dump all this on Will.i.am. But I think his comments speak to a larger issue with the direction the music industry is headed, or has already arrived at. I'm not saying we should go back to the vinyl record. I know that's the trendy thing now (although I don't know if they're any more environmentally sound--nothing like the sound you get from a rubber tree from the rain forest, eh?). And I don't agree with Will.i.am that squares don't produce good music (I'm not kidding. Cassettes didn't work, according to him, just like 8 track tapes, whereas records and CDs did). Just the same, Will.i.am is likely the visionary to music relevant and move it (or keep it) in other areas of social and cultural life.
But I hate to think that artists can't or won't produce music of the same quality and with the same characteristics as they used to. And I hate to think that they're no longer "artists" but jingle writers. Call me old fashioned.
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