"Music overload"?

I love discovering new music, and I am constantly adding to my music library. But I’ve noticed in the past several years it’s becoming harder and harder to keep up with all the gazillions of bands out there. Is there more music be created? Are there more bands? There just can’t seem to be enough room for all these breakout bands and “hot new artists”.

The internet has provided the perfect vessel for music to take over. Sites like MySpace Music, Purevolume.com, and Deezer.com are designed to help promote bands and let the smaller guys get some exposure.

It seems like everyone has a chance to be famous these days… I joke, but seriously I’m sure everyone can name a few friends with talent that they believe

will make it big (my brother, for one..). And with so much music available to us over the internet, with the right tactics – not necessarily talent – they just might be able to get there.

In Bruce Schneier’s blog, Steal This Wi-Fi, he discusses how the internet’s sharing capabilities have soared. How true, and especially for the sharing of music. I can honestly say with the power Limewire and Shakespeer, it’s become scary to think how easily we can all be music buffs. …Can you say information overload? I personally have over 3500 songs on my iTunes library, and it’s not uncommon for people to have a 10,000 song music collection. 

Understanding Human Communication briefly covers information overload and how it “paralyzes” us, because we just don’t know how to sort it or classify it anymore (Adler 347). Can we even specify what good music is anymore? I suppose we all have different tastes but for every band out there, there seems to be a huge fan base – because of sites like Myspace – and it just seems like there needs to be a limit on fame or we’ll end up with years of “lost music”.

Should we be concerned about file sharing – and its consequences? Not only is it damaging to music culture, its illegal – something which very few people are aware. Schneier uses a clever quote from Mark Mulligan which I will repeat here: "If you're a file sharer, you know that the likelihood of you being caught is very similar to that of being hit by an asteroid." People don't worry about it, because there are just so many downloaders out there. This is another repercussion of information overload -- music is being passed around without concern. Schneier states there are about 15 million music downloaders out there. That seems so ridiculous. I guess there really is that much music out there to be downloaded... 

One last thing we should consider is the way all this music madness is affecting the music industry. I guess most successful artists are probably rich enough as is, but the little guys don't stand a chance if we keep listening to their music for free. However, I also have heard now and then that bands actually support the use of downloading programs since they help them gain publicity. Downloading music for free helps unheard musicians, but how many "unheard musicians" do we need to hear? All in all, I guess having a famous band doesn't seem to be too hard nowadays, especially with the possible notion of a "music overload". Maybe I'll my own band....that, is, if I don't get hit by an asteroid first. 

Adler, Ronald B., George Rodman, and Alexandre Sevigny. Understanding Human Communication. Canada:Oxford University Press, 2008.