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One thing can be said about our digital revolution, it sure has diminished the classic record industry. 

Once there were gatekeepers with radio for promotion and a physical product they could control. Today any kid with a laptop and a YouTube account has a chance at international stardom. Fantastic.

And if quality is a percentage of sheer quantity, then more music being made should expand quality in proportion, shouldn’t it?

But is that what’s really happening?

The bottom-up pyramid of the old recording industry acted like a quality filter. You had to get through to be heard. Artist & Repertoire execs known for their “ears” would go out searching the clubs each night for new talent to enter at the bottom. By the time we liked a band on the radio they had been polished to a professional gleam and the world, by and large, made a purchase which refunded A&R.

Today with no filter, good and bad is all mixed together for free on the internet and has an equal chance of breaking out. No more hierarchy and that seems a good thing.

But with so much mediocrity now being equally accessed, our ears are becoming less critical and I think that’s beginning to reflect in popular work.

Consider Arcade Fire, a good band and arguably the very best of the year. They were 2011’s Grammy Award winner for Album of the Year, also the 2011 BRIT for Best International Album and the 2011 JUNO for Album of the Year. “The Suburbs” is a good record, no question. I’ve listened to it to death.

But would it compare in the 1970’s? I wonder.

Or consider a more modest achievement. 

As of May 17, 2011, Rebecca Black has amassed almost 142 million YOUTube views and hit #9 on the Billboard Social 50 chart and #6 on the UK Indie chart with her smash viral hit, “Friday”.

When baby-boomers were Rebecca Black’s age, songs like “Hey Jude” (Beatles) “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” (Otis Redding) “Born to be Wild” (Steppenwolf), “Scarborough Fair” (Simon & Garfunkel) and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” (Rolling Stones) were on the Billboard chart all in the same year.

I mean no disrespect but I just don’t think Miss Black is in the same league despite having the modern day numbers to evidence she is.

So I’m beginning to think we’re trading purchased, industry-filtered quality away to gain free access to limitless quantity, with overall quality in accordable decline. What do YOU think? I’m interested.

“Hey Jude” is still around and will likely continue. Where will “The Suburbs” and Miss Black’s “Friday” be in 40 years?

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