The Grammys are tonight and unlike the more than 19 million people who are estimated to tune-in to tonight’s telecast, I won’t be watching. While I like to think of myself as a big music fan, I am also most definitely a music snob, and aside from my not-so-guilty pleasure in loving Taylor Swift, not too much else about the awards show appeals to me. Sure, I can recognize the talent of Beyonce (even without Kanye West) and there are a few bands that I like -- Phoenix, MGMT, Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- hiding amidst the list of nominees. But in this day and age, there’s not really anything about a sticker that reads “Grammy Winner” on a CD jewel case that will make me want to buy that record.
Participating in that somewhat ancient art of “buying records” seems like a thing of the past -- especially for a college student who gets exposed to loads of new music through his local radio station -- and an interesting piece on the back page of the latest Weekend Journal section of The Wall Street Journal makes me feel like I’m not alone in my jaded attitude toward the music industry. While I’m pleased to see that the top-selling vinyl album of 2009 (that’s right, not 1969) was the Beatles’ Abbey Road, some of these other figures are pretty scary: Taylor Swift’s Fearless sold only about a third of what the top-selling record of 1999 did (that one was by the Backstreet Boys, by the way); the average concert-ticket price for 2009 was a staggering $62.57, up a whole lot from $36.84 ten years ago; and 20 percent of album sales in 2009 were digital.
--Michael Morella
Participating in that somewhat ancient art of “buying records” seems like a thing of the past -- especially for a college student who gets exposed to loads of new music through his local radio station -- and an interesting piece on the back page of the latest Weekend Journal section of The Wall Street Journal makes me feel like I’m not alone in my jaded attitude toward the music industry. While I’m pleased to see that the top-selling vinyl album of 2009 (that’s right, not 1969) was the Beatles’ Abbey Road, some of these other figures are pretty scary: Taylor Swift’s Fearless sold only about a third of what the top-selling record of 1999 did (that one was by the Backstreet Boys, by the way); the average concert-ticket price for 2009 was a staggering $62.57, up a whole lot from $36.84 ten years ago; and 20 percent of album sales in 2009 were digital.
Sure, the days of the album aren’t entirely over and the relatively recent upturn in vinyl sales does reveal that some fans might prefer a physical set of lyrics rather than a digital one, I cannot help but be a little wary about exactly where the mp3 will take us in the next ten years. The signs have been apparent for quite awhile, but it’s still tough to chew on some of these numbers, even if I can count the number of albums I purchased last year on two hands (maybe add my feet too, but nothing more).
So will Grammy categories like “Album of the Year” even exist in 2020? How will smaller artists hang on in these post-MySpace times, where the fateful merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster is looming just on the horizon? Well, The Wall Street Journal assuages some of these fears by placing its music industry stats alongside a piece called “The Lessons of Lady Gaga.”
So will Grammy categories like “Album of the Year” even exist in 2020? How will smaller artists hang on in these post-MySpace times, where the fateful merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster is looming just on the horizon? Well, The Wall Street Journal assuages some of these fears by placing its music industry stats alongside a piece called “The Lessons of Lady Gaga.”
I’m not ashamed to admit that I think Gaga’s music is unbelievably catchy and I can at least appreciate the spectacle of her performances. She is opening the Grammys tonight -- with Elton John no less -- which I’m sure will rack up more than a few YouTube visits in the ensuing days. Lady Gaga is never content to simply “take the stage,” but she makes it her own -- even if no one can quite understand what she’s doing. She is innovative and many have embraced her for it (she was, after all, the top-selling digital artist of 2009, according to the WSJ), so perhaps her style will resonate throughout the rest of the music world.
Maybe then more folks will opt for turntables instead of iPads in 2010.
--Michael Morella
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