Panel: Music and New Media

As has always happened in the past, a new age of music has emerged from the new generation. This new style of music that has been striving as of recent years is often referred to as ‘DJ match ups’. It has grown popular throughout college campuses, at small clubs and venues throughout the united states and has even taken a roll at music and arts festivals throughout America. These artists gather an enormous range of music, from present hits, to old time classics, and mix and ‘match’ bits and pieces of all sorts of different songs together to create their own tracks. Often times, a beat is created by the artist and used as the back track to their match ups. These artists are great for parties where girls and guys alike can hear the bits and pieces from their favorite songs mixed into one track, and also great for raves, and just general raging as many of these artists place a great emphasis on the beat behind the match ups because it is the part of the track that they actually created, though electronically. However, one may wonder just how legal it is, according to copyright laws, for new artists to use parts of others music to create their own material and gather a following and be profitable. Many people do not think this should be legal, but the panelists, particularly the lawyer, pointed out that copyright laws are in place to encourage and boost creativity, and these artists are being creative. They are using other people’s music, but they are using it in their own light, to create a completely different sound and for a completely different audience.

Another point raised in the panel’s discussion was that of electronically downloaded music and the pros and cons that downloaded music has on the music industry. Before it was made illegal to download music online, people were able to share their favorite music and allow people everywhere to share in its enjoyment. Although this did have an effect on album sales, word on different bands was spreading more rapidly as people of all income levels had the means to listen to all sorts of music with the simple use of the internet. Many bands and members of the music industry saw it as an opportunity to gather fame and a stronger fan base. The panelist involved in the music production industry says he hoped and still hopes that the industry will find ways of profiting and succeeding because of the availability of music online. There are nevertheless downsides to being able to download music online. People that had gathered great collections of music from personal recordings, buying albums, or trading and had a collection worth considerable amounts of money, no longer have a collection of significant worth as anybody can find the music they have online for download. Also, as mentioned before, artist album sales have dropped and cd stores no longer make what they used too. However, with all good comes some bad, and they panelists felt there was more opportunity to be gained then lost.

Keynote Lecture: The Future of Entertainment

• Robert J. Bach

For hundreds of years, entertainment has come in a wide variety of forms. Before the rise of technology kids were more than adequately amused with simple toys. Receiving a doll for christmas was a young girls dream come through. Because not much more was offered to small children as far as toys go, and kids did not expect extraordinary means of entertainment as seen with children today, a girl would develop a strong connection to her doll or dolls that would continue as she grew older. Similarly, a simple but more than exciting gift for a young boy might come in the form of a toy soldier, a wooden carved horse, or even a football or basketball. Just like the girl, a boy would hold these gifts very closely. It’s interesting to consider the effort put forth by a father carving a wooden horse for his boy, or a mother sewing a new outfit for her daughter’s doll, was compensated with the kids reactions to their simple, but thoughtful gifts. However, times have changed. A kid is no longer satisfied with a mere toy soldier, nor a girl with an ordinary doll, and in the view of Robert J. Bach, the President of Microsoft Corp. Entertainment and Devices division, they shouldn’t be, and neither should their parents.

A new age has come in entertainment for people of all ages. Although a kid might still love a simple wooden horse, or a girl a nicely dressed doll, toys and other forms of entertainment for kids of all ages exist that serve a much greater purpose than a simple toy horse or a doll ever could. Through the use of technology, electronics, and brilliant minds such as the mind of Bach, parents are now able to buy their kids, or themselves, forms of entertainment that can help enrich the intellectual mind, as well as please the youthful side of the mind looking to be entertained. The best ‘toys’ no longer come in plastic packaging available at toys’r’us, but rather in the form of computer programs built by the hands of engineers, programers, psychiatrists and authorized and distributed by many of the worlds largest and most successful programing and computer companies in the world. As people are drawn to technology and always desire the most up to date gadgets available, the evolution of entertainment through technology will not stop anytime soon. New gadgets and educational toys as well as frighteningly realistic violent video games for the most advanced consoles will continue to emerge and sweep the market of entertainment. It is up to the leading production companies, such as Bach’s Microsoft Corp., and to parents of young children to target the best ‘new age’ entertainment and use it in a positive light for the betterment of our society.

This I Believe

Alfredo Garcia

“This I Believe”

“I couldn’t care less if we miss a change, or a number of changes, it doesn’t have anything to do with it for me, it’s all about the energy, and I thought it was a pumping show last night…People aren’t there to see us get through all the sections perfectly, but I thought people were rocking, and that’s all I care about.”

-Trey Anastasio from Phish

I believe in the power of live music and the effect it can have on the broadest range of listeners. Music of all sorts can hit you in many different ways. When listening to a studio recorded album, for example, I expect a superbly rehearsed song, crafted in parts and put together in a studio, stressing sound quality, instrumental tone, without mistakes, consistent singing and perfect timing to create a great song as a whole. I believe when a band is given an opportunity to make a studio album, they are given the opportunity to truly perfect their sound, and use all the tools available in a studio to show their craftsmanship as musicians. However, for great bands, the aim of a live performance should be completely different.

Yes, any good artist should look to display their talent on stage. Not missing notes, keeping the beat tight, moving fluidly as a unit from one section of a song to the next are all very important in a live performance. The band must demonstrate to their audience that they have thoroughly prepared to make the experience of their music worth the cost of the ticket. Nevertheless, the aim of the band or artist should always be to create the best possible experience for every member of the audience and to capture the crowd’s energy. The night someone attends your show should be a night they will never forget.

Can you not sit in your room in front of a blaring boom box and get the same effect of attending a live concert? No, you cannot. Although the conversation should always start and end with the music, a true concert experience cannot be described by only talking about the music. It is the atmosphere created by the band and its followers, due to the music, that captures the listener. A Phish experience would not be the same without the dread rocking thirty-year-old hipster next to you that spent the entire nineties following Phish.

When you are consistently playing for audiences ranging from sold out auditoriums to a Bonnaroo audience of over a hundred thousand people, you cannot rely on the entire audience being entertained based only on your craftsmanship, timing, tone etc. You must provide the energy and enthusiasm that anybody with any level of musical knowledge can feed off of and rock too. That is what makes a great live performance so powerful, its ability to capture anybody from avid fans to first time listeners. Amanda, a friend of mine whose first concert experience was amidst a hundred thousand raging Phish fans at Bonnaroo is a perfect example of someone who was truly captured by the power of live music. At the end of the four-hour Friday night set her thoughts were simple, “That was the single greatest experience of my life.”

My evolution in musical taste has been quite interesting. I really started listening to my own choice of music around fifth grade. Since I was just getting started with my exploration of the musical genres, it was easy to start with classic music, classic rock. I asked my mom to buy me my first album, “Back in Black” by AC/DC. I listened to that album on my room’s loud speakers continuously for about a month. I loved Angus Young’s energy on the guitar and often would invite friends over merely to bump our heads to the music. Not much later I started watching “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.” The intro rap that Will Smith did really got my ears popping. I knew every word to the rhyme and in search of similar music I purchased “Big Willie Style” and “Willenium” both of Will Smiths first two albums. After a couple of my friends heard me listening to Will Smith as my choice of rap I quickly got introduced to the real stuff, Tupac, Biggie, and Dre. The only rap I continue to listen to today. In High School my obsessions began. I was introduced to The Beatles, the greatest musical group of all time, and I stayed fixed on their music for nearly an entire school year. I read two different biographies, bought every album and anthology they ever produced and packed my bedroom walls with their posters. Then came on my obsession with jam bands centered around live performances, something that I continue to love, and perhaps be moderately obsessed with today.

I’d say I’m a moderately interesting person. I grew up very much interested in sports and athletics, playing soccer and basketball throughout middle and high school. In high school I began getting really into guitar and music as a whole. I began doing independent study of music theory. The artsy side of me was beginning to emerge from beneath my varsity jacket and before I knew it I was wearing Beatles shirts to school. I expanded my group of friends to include a bass player, drummer, and anybody else with a similar interest in music that I had. For some reason, I also learned to juggle at the time, play Frisbee golf, and I began getting borderline obsessed with jam band music. The Grateful Dead, Phish, The String Cheese Incident, bands like these were drawing my attention on their ability to improvise and play together on stage in front of thousands of people and make it look like it was nothing. It also happened to be that this past summer was the greatest time for my interests to hit their peek as Phish, The Dead, and String Cheese were all reunited and ready to jam all summer. I saw Phish play three times, and managed to get out to both a String Cheese and a Dead show throughout this past summer and have not been able to stop attending any possible good show since.

Live music blog addresses the happenings of all the greatest live music performances around today. From indie, rock, jam, and top hip hop performances, the blog discusses past tours and shows and posts the top tours and shows to come. The main writer of the blog, Justin, takes many different approaches in his entries. Sometimes, he is merely informative, notifying his readers of upcoming shows, cancellations, or rumors of possible reunions. Other times, he is merely a fan, commenting on his favorite performances and encouraging others to witness themselves. About how others would react to the closing Bonnaroo set, “Call me an idealist, but I really thought some of the indie kids would feel the crossover pull of one of the most innovative and interesting bands this world has ever seen.” He also likes to comment on how music moves him, and how he thinks other will be moved by it, “I mean, come on…who really would not like seeing this jam live? You’ve got to be a friggin’ zombie if this doesn’t get your ears perked up, your head bobbing, and your feet moving.” Justin is passionate about his music but understands the wide range of musical taste, and how there can be many different types of great live performances.

One main writer manages the Coventry blog, but he has four other friends that help him write. Entries are published after every live show that one of the five friends attends, most of which are Phish shows. Every writer has an alias name for themselves and often refer to the other writers by their alias as well. The blog is a critique of the show they just experienced and the writers always present themselves as experts on the topic. Since all five of the writers have been going to live shows since the early nineties, it is definitely acceptable to consider them seasoned experts on the quality of a live performance.

The entries are very informal, often using curse words and slang throughout the writing. I believe this is appropriate however because that is the language you hear at live performances, and it is nice to hear about the show from people who write in the manner that people talk when you are at the show. The writers usually focus on the quality of the music. They analyze every instrument and musician and talk about their strengths and weaknesses that night. They also tend to focus greatly on the atmosphere that was created during the show; how pumped the crowd was, how loud they were, the response they had to specific sections of songs or antics done by the musicians, really allowing the reader to fully grasp the quality of the live performance.

http://phishcoventry.blogspot.com/