A couple days ago Peter Cooper posted his thoughts about the current state of country music radio programming. Read it here. There's one key thing that I take from Cooper's blog post, along with the ensuing 228 comments: Temporary art does not satisfy.
While there's room for mindless, fun songs, I believe most people, most of the time, desire to hear music with some substantive depth. And I believe most songwriters, most of the time, desire to write songs with substantive depth. As listeners and creators, all we can do is point to the art that is worth pointing to.
The gatekeepers in the middle will rarely be a good, honest compass leading to fine art; there are too many ulterior motives at play. With song services like Rdio and Spotify (both are like Netflix for music, providing unlimited, on demand streaming of any song) becoming readily available, the role of the traditional gatekeeper is diminished. We don't have to let someone else tell us what songs to like, but have the entire musical world at our fingertips.
Today I am going on a musical exploration of sorts, exposing my ears to music they've never heard. I feel like I'm back on Sanibel Island with a bucket in hand, searching the ground for shells of any color, shape or size that happens to grab my attention. There's plenty of room on the beach...
Keep writing,
Ben
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