Bob Dylan has opinions on the growth of streaming services. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the singer-songwriter said that the industry's pivot to streaming has made music toothless.
Dylan made a statement.
Everything’s too easy. Just one stroke of the ring finger, middle finger, one little click, that’s all it takes. We’ve dropped the coin right into the slot. We’re pill poppers, cube heads and day trippers, hanging in, hanging out, gobbling blue devils, black mollies, anything we can get our hands on. Not to mention the nose candy and ganga grass. It’s all too easy, too democratic. You need a solar X-ray detector just to find somebody’s heart, see if they still have one.
What did you say?
Consumers are having too easy a time consuming music and music is becoming less emotional as a result. Dylan identified as a streamer earlier in the interview, saying that he listens to music using streaming services, satellite radio, and CD's.
Unfortunately for Dylan, the streaming era is full steam ahead, even though vinyl is making a comeback as a favored format. According to Statista, streaming was the most lucrative way to consume music in 2021. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, streaming accounted for almost all of the music industry's revenue in 2020. The cheapest way to listen to music in this day and age is through streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify, both of which cost $10 a month. It's probably not a bad thing that more people are listening to music.
Whether or not music is becoming less sad or toothless in the streaming age is completely subjective. The way streaming forces music labels and artists alike to favor playing it safe over pushing the envelope, as outside influences like TikTok and post-release editing shape the way art is created, is something to think about. It is a toothless approach to pursue a hit that pleases the general public.
Dylan believes that music becomes painless. Music has gotten sadder over the course of thirty years, according to a study by the news outlet. In the year 2020, Aeon reported similar findings. Take a look at the "driver's license" of the man. The song about a love gone wrong was one of the biggest songs of the year and has since racked up 1.6 billion streams, making it one of the most popular songs of all time.
Some music may or may not be toothless. It is possible that some music is painful. It might sound better on a computer than on a vinyl. The way the music industry responds to technology is not dependent on whether those things are true or not.
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