Miks muusika pole enam see, mis ta varem oli

Ettekanne TÜ muusikaosakonna 40. aastapäeva puhul

Abstract

Why Music is not What it Used to Be
Presented at the 40th Anniversary Meeting of the Music Department

It is said that popular music of today is not what it used to be. On the one hand, behind such complaints can be an inherent attachment to a person’s own youth and the idealisation of matters related to it. On the other hand, it is argued that the trajectory of pop music’s development has changed or even lost its direction, and this claim deserves some discussion.

In the first half of the 20th century and in the following decades, in order to understand the changes in the world surrounding man, it was necessary to understand what was happening in the cultural field. The world was—it had to be—somehow meaningful, and that meaning was encoded in various signals that traveled in the communication between people.

The notion borne in the spirit of romanticism, a kind of democratic utopia believing that there is something simple, but at the same time deep in human nature that unites us all, reached popular music through the idea of authenticity. As a part of democratic culture, pop music needed both a connection with the past of human society and a vision of its future.

Over time, popular music fell victim to its ever-increasing popularity. The amount of money circulating in the music industry grew to such an extent that the direction of pop music’s development was more and more dictated by market logic. Postmodern pop music no longer needs a connection to the past or a glimpse into the future. For a consumer clinging to the present moment, a momentary reflection is enough. This can be seen as liberation, but it can also be seen as downfall. However, there is incomparably more pop music available at the touch of a fingertip today than ever before. Everyone is free to create their smartphone playlist according to their understanding or their level of laziness.