Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

thefader.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

601–610 of 861 posts

Re: Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

#601

Post by DaniloDias »

crazygringo wrote: post #401
alchemyromcom wrote: post #139

I wish more people, especially tech CEOs, could understand the incredible sacrifice of time, money, and energy it takes to make an album people actually enjoy. Everything you listen to, unless you are willing to listen to raw demos, is a miracle. I've worked both as a sound engineer and and a software developer. It's orders of magnitude easier to make working software than it is to make a hit record. The way tech com…

> It's orders of magnitude easier to make working software than it is to make a hit record. That's apples-to-oranges. Obviously a "hit" anything is hard in any field, by definition. A hit app is just as hard (even harder, probably, since there are a lot less hit apps than hit songs). But producing a single track? Seriously, it's not that hard. Yes, it takes a team of people and a lot of creativity and skill, but I do…

What instrument do you play?

Re: Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

#603

Post by sukilot »

senko wrote: post #368
hardtke wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I highly recommend The Song Machine (Inside the Hit Factory) by John Seabrook. The author describes the modern reincarnation of the Brill Building that pumps out pop hits using methods that we would not call songwriting (Max Martin, Dr. Luke, etc.). The goal is to get you to listen to 30 seconds of a song (that counts as a spin on digital streaming services). They've decomposed the process into mass production of bac…

In a similar way, back in '88 KLF wrote tongue-in-cheek "manual" for writing a top pop song, a hilarious and cynical view into how a musical sausage is made: https://freshonthenet.co.uk/the-manual-by-the-klf/

It blows me away how much ranting people managed to write in the typewriter era when it wasn't very easy.

Re: Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

#604

Post by 8bitsrule »

alchemyromcom wrote: post #139

I wish more people, especially tech CEOs, could understand the incredible sacrifice of time, money, and energy it takes to make an album people actually enjoy. Everything you listen to, unless you are willing to listen to raw demos, is a miracle. I've worked both as a sound engineer and and a software developer. It's orders of magnitude easier to make working software than it is to make a hit record. The way tech com…

Couldn't agree more. Of course Spotify would say that. The reality is much more complicated.

One idea:musicians could organize around federated servers, operated at cost-plus by tech helpers. One avenue to liberate themselves from the mass-market vultures.

For a recent, nuanced view of what's happened by music historian Alan Cross, try:'Ongoing History of New Music' podcast 'Trying to be a Superstar in the 21st Century'.

https://omny.fm/shows/ongoing-history-of-new-music/trying-to...

Re: Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

#605

Post by TylerE »

toohotatopic wrote: post #376
adamsmith wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, there are orders of magnitude of scale in both fields. In software it can cost $10k to build an app but Google Search costs $10^10: a six orders of magnitude difference. In music there’s got to be a big dynamic range in effort involved as well. (I doubt it’s 10^6 though!) But comparing the best music to the lowest end app is apples to oranges.

If you have an orchestra with 100 musicians who receive something like $10^5 per year, you pay $10^7 per year. You need several years to practice and to form the orchestra into a team with a repertoire. If it takes 10 years, then that is $10^8.

No you don't. Orchestras come together and perform completely new works with, if they're LUCKY, 1 or 2 rehearsals. Years of practice is completely ludicrous.

Re: Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

#606

Post by rrrrrrrrrrrryan »

matwood wrote: post #571
puranjay wrote: post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a part-time musician, even a single track can take tens of hours of effort - depending on the genre and the track. Sure, you could strum a guitar and sing and have a decent song wrapped up in an afternoon. But if you're creating anything more complex, you will spend hours finding the right sound, more hours creating the right arrangement, and even more hours fine-tuning the vocals, sounds, and final mix. Something…

Artistic endeavors always take me a long time, but then I read about people like Kanye who puts down a hit track in 20 minutes (he’s apparently known for working this way). You may not line rap or him, but he has a knack for hit beats. https://www.okayplayer.com/news/heres-the-story-behind-kanye...

This is probably similar to the apocryphal story about Picasso:

A woman who approached Picasso in a restaurant, asked him to scribble something on a napkin, and said she would be happy to pay whatever he felt it was worth. Picasso complied and then said, “That will be $10,000.”

“But you did that in thirty seconds,” the astonished woman replied.

“No,” Picasso said. “It has taken me forty years to do that.”

Re: Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

#607

Post by dijksterhuis »

icebraining wrote: post #594
dijksterhuis wrote: post #536

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But I'm guessing you were paid for programming during those 10 years.

You think most developers learn programming from scratch at a job?

Key word:

> during

I've been paid far more for software than I have for music in the last 10+ years. Spent about equal time/effort on each.

ROI is better with software (I can afford more synths and records).

Re: Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

#609

Post by bleah1000 »

theodric wrote: post #518
crazygringo wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's orders of magnitude easier to make working software than it is to make a hit record. That's apples-to-oranges. Obviously a "hit" anything is hard in any field, by definition. A hit app is just as hard (even harder, probably, since there are a lot less hit apps than hit songs). But producing a single track? Seriously, it's not that hard. Yes, it takes a team of people and a lot of creativity and skill, but I do…

RIP cohesive bodies of work or concept albums in your new publish-or-perish hellworld

But if you put out a concept album, do you expect it to pay your bills for three or four years? I don't think that's a reasonable expectation. If you want to make a living off music, then you might need to put out more music, or do other things like playing in a cover band or being a studio musician.

Compare it to actors/actresses who do hollywood movies, but also do indie films. If you want to make a living, you might not be able to do whatever it is you want, and might need to put out some more mainstream stuff.

Only a few people really get to do what they want in the arts and make a living.

Re: Spotify CEO: musicians can no longer release music only “once every 3-4 years”

#610

Post by lancesells »

caseyohara wrote: post #541
grawprog wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LP's or long form collections by artists capture a moment in that artist's creative point. Typically, the cycle was release a record, tour a bunch, write new music, and repeat. This meant by the time that next LP came along, the collection of songs on there could sound fairly different as the artist changed, got better, heard new songs and got inspired etc. Then there's the recording and engineering challenges around…

I agree with what you said about albums as a cohesive piece of art, I will miss that for sure. > Forcing artists to pump out strings of singles and EPs But who is forcing the artists? The market? It's clear people don't want to listen to LPs released every 3-4 years, they want singles and EPs released frequently. If it is indeed a market effect, then artists need to evolve or perish. If you want to make money selling…

Can I ask how it's clear that people don't want to listen to LPs? I think there's a percentage of people that will listen to what's popular in their playlists but there are also plenty of people who listen to LPs and are fine waiting 3-4 years. I believe more records were sold last year than in history.
Post reply on HN