From: Steve (scatanzaro4_at_cox.net)
Date: 2004-06-25 20:22:20
:: rant warning :: :: rant warning ::
perhaps you've seen the painting "capitalism - socialism" which shows 2
views of a violinist; under the capitalist system, he is huddled in the
cold, shivering over his violin, a sad look, like a chick tract
character on his way to hell, while behind him are the faded lights of
saloons, taverns, and other "joints" he is exploited by and forced to
perform in. under the socialist banner, he is proudly performing as a
soloist (presumably a russian aka soviet approved piece) in a concert
hall to an ennobled audience.
nice bit of propaganda, that. but then, I had the experience of seeing
art become life when, in the same week, I saw the gonzalo rubalcalba
trio, live, and the source awards, on tv. it got me wondering, is
capitalism really bad for the musician and her/his art? could the death
jaw of lucre really squeeze out all of the "charm for the workman," even
in music?
but I look at the question a little longer, and some things become
apparent to me; first, nearly all of the tools now indispensable for the
creation of modern music come from, for the most part, largely
capitalist societies; that would be firstly japan, usa, germany, uk,
then korea, poland, estonia, and oh yeah, sweden.
what are these essential tools? technics turntable. akai sampler. fender
rhodes / telecaster. logic audio, cubase. neve / ssl console. marshall
amp. on and on.
(btw as an aside. interesting to note how many of these technologies had
their origins in a "military" use at some point. the rhodes, for
instance, was born when harold rhodes was ordered to start a music
therapy program for the tens of thousands of wounded gi's in ww2. and.
ever wonder why neve stuff has that boring "grey" finish? because neve
started out as military equipment. in fact, the modular design of neve
gear, part of what makes it so prized today over mackie and the like,
was due to its original conformation to military spec. ie modules were
easier to repair on gunships, even though they were much more costly to
make. next time u listen to return to 4ever, thank the military
industrial complex!!! tax money at work.)
if you're not a musician, you may not realize the revolution that has
occurred / is occurring with music technology. it is possible, if not
probable, that a hit record will come from the home pc of a teen-aged
kid with not more than $1000 invested in his equipment - this when
record companies routinely spend millions to record, to say nothing of
promote, albums.
back on point. without the products made in these capitalist economies,
there would be no music as we know it. no 4 hero. no dkd or bugz in the
attic. in fact, roll back further. there is no rush, as far as I know,
among vintage music gear enthusiasts, for much of anything coming from
soviet states. did they ever produce any great piano? any great
microphone? when the maestro, v. horowitz, returned to the ussr late in
life, did he play any soviet piano? no, he had his u.s. steinway and
sons flown over. there's the reality your poster has twisted. punked.
what about cuba, what about buena vista social club? well, it may dismay
some to recall sones and tumbaos pre-date castro, that the legendary
Havana studio, "egrem" was built by rca in the '40's. that it has a uk
board and uses german mics, etc. what cuba has been really good at, in
addition to quashing political dissent via imprisonment, is saving old
western technology in museum condition.
just consider; if it wasn't for capitalism, ALL of the great music of
the 20th century we have on recording (thanks to marx's nightmare,
edison) would *sound* a lot different, i.e. worse.
and, it should be noted, that the nu music software business is as about
as unlike the caricature of capitalism marx sets up in the manifesto as
to be funny. software development is very dynamic, and sizeable fortunes
can be built from a desktop, where a nerdy kat/kitten is programming
away, trying to develop the next useful vst.
BUT, u say, what have the capitalist musicians done with the wonderful
tools capitalism has bequeathed on them? or better, while u might
(grudgingly) concede that capitalism has been indispensable to the
artist's convenience, what has it done to her soul, her art? here, we
enter in to more esoteric realms, but a couple of questions might be
asked;
first, when u, dear reader, hear a piece of music, a track, that really
moves u, do u think, "wow. that sounds/feels great, but it would sound
better if it wasn't for that dam patriot act!!!" or "if only clinton
wouldn't have passed welfare reform, amp fiddler would really sound hot
2 me."
but consider this; almost every piece of music u like, from mozart's
concertos to dkd, was made, at least in part, to get people to like /
buy it. very few artists want their music to be unliked. and that
includes the most "socialist" artist out there. (socialism's a lot like
Christianity in that regard. a lot of people espouse it on the macro
level, but few actually live it in the micro of their own personal
lives, especially the average attention-pimping artist.)
what about socialist music? does it exist? yes; the best place to hear
the socialist sound is in university composition faculty concerts. these
are compositions by artists who's salaries are paid, not by the public,
supply / demand, but by the state. that's what music sounds like when a
musician is state subsidized. academic, self-indulgent, dry,
self-referential, etc. if capitalism makes the artist a pimp, socialism
makes the artist a bureaucrat.
so, here we are. does the capitalist system suck 4 artists. sure it
does; the world itself, in some ways, sucks 4 artists. BUT, the
capitalist system has also provided artists with the TOOLS necessary to
paint the world w. their OWN sound NOW, much more so than ever before.
with everyone rocking a software computer setup nowadays, the playing
field is leveled. u have now only to 2 perform, 2 administrate and 2
market, which takes talent, energy and persistence. is it in u?
paradox ::: when u pay your subsidy to fund michael moore's 911 this
weekend. just imagine how boring it would've been if it was made for PBS
instead of your pocketbook. (mmmm, just like ben and jerry's, sweet
guilty pleasure!!!)