From: Mark Turner (nugroove_at_pacbell.net)
Date: 2004-07-04 19:38:55
> but ENOUGH about castro! i want to get back to the main point of the
thread;
> does capitalism hold back the art of music.
Yes.
Just think about how many blues and jazz musicians have died in poverty
and/or for lack of adequate health care. This is because they were FUCKED
OVER by the capitalist system.
Your argument about how capitalism allows us to have fancy, hi-tech
equipment to create with is totally beside the point, Steve. Equipment is
useless without talent, and talent is innate in the individual. The real
problem comes when talented people cannot afford to spend their time
creating music because of other financial pressures. This happens all the
time.
I do agree with you, though, when you say that education is not essential to
the advancement of music. Neither is equipment. And neither is the Internet.
(Though it all helps.) What is essential, though, is giving talented people
the opportunity to create music.
You cite some examples in our little microcosmic world of "cream rising to
the top.". The top of what, exactly? Look at the so-called "popular" music
in this country: Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Avril Lavigne...the list
of cretinous pseudo-talents is endless. And this is not, IMO, because the
listening public wants to hear music like this. It's because
mega-corporations own the means to create, market, distribute, and
force-feed us this crap on the radio, until we decide that we like it.
The state of popular music has never been so deplorable as it is right now,
in my opinion. And I blame that ENTIRELY on capitalism. :-(
-- Mark Turner/DJ Rocky Rococo nugroove_at_pacbell.net www.jazzadelica.com