ROCK IS DEAD! Or so many will have you believe. General concern over the entire music industry has occurred recently as it seems anybody with an internet connection can become a musician by downloading some open source program. It is getting harder and harder to be noticed, alike attempting to pick out a single jewel in a river. So what does the music industry hold? What would I personally like to see? What might bite the brunt and collapse Well this:

I have this sneaking suspicion Radio could have a huge cull soon. With iTunes and other players offering a shuffle device you can essentially make you’re own radio station on the fly. Obviously I doubt within the next 20 years they are going to be entirely obsolete! I love listening to a good radio debate whilst in the car. It can open you up to a world of music you’ve neglected sometimes. However, I do think that with the amount of people offering their voice over the airwaves, just musicians doing what they do, they’ll be less of a need for all of them. In fact small tell tale signs have pointed that way. The BBC attempted to withdraw BBC 6 Music last year however the proposal was rejected later on. Surely this is a sign of worry in Radio?

I hope that some band or artists will help revolutionise the CD caste of the moment. A band that will release CD’s only in surround sound! Causing fans to go out and buy a surround system or headset to try and get the best experience. Sort of akin to how 3D is a gimmicky marketing success for cinema, we need a band to do it with Super Audio/Surround Sound CD’s. The kind of album that is textured pleasantly and yet doesn’t exceed the need for surround sound. Most DVD’s have a 5.1 mix, so helping to push that into the CD market might not be such a bad thing.

While we’re on the subject of formats to play music. Vinyl’s recent boom will be short lived to a degree. Yes, it may have had a 55% increase so far into 2011 over 2010 but only because Radiohead have been churning out remixes on vinyl for about 3 months and other bands promoting a ‘deluxe vinyl edition’. Nevertheless, I doubt it will extend beyond this current phenominem. It might climb a bit more howbeit it will only ever be apart of a niche group. The mainstream audience, still, has yet to take the bait. Vinyl will be considered a luxury and exorbitant. Opulence on an orbital decree. The general consensus are not a group of nerdy audiophiles (no offence) and will just keep buying the CD’s; if they even bother to get up out their seats; or downloading.

Guitars will no longer be wooden! Shock horror and perplexity in one sentence. It is true however. In case you haven’t heard about MusicWood, here is a snippet from the official movie site:

If the overlogging of the world’s forests continues, countless species face extinction and our carbon emissions will skyrocket. But there is about to be another casualty in this war on wood…the acoustic guitar. If things don’t change, in less than 10 years the guitar as we know it will be no more…

So will the world have to seek out a new way of maintaining the guitar over the next 10 to 20 years?

That is if the music industry can survive the inevitable apocalypse and anybody even wants to play the guitar in 10 years when the robots take over. Oh yes.

Sources:

• http://musicwoodthefilm.com/film.html
• http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article7041944.ece
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jul/05/bbc-6-music-saved
• http://www.whathifi.com/news/vinyl-sales-increase-55-in-2011