The Decline of the Music Industry

I don’t necessarily think the music industry has declined as much as it has lost some of its relevance to some people and even some musicians. Especially with the internet. There is so much out there and so many ways for people to hear and experience great new music of all kinds whether released by a major industry record label or not. Imagine if Zappa was around today!  I remember when Zappa was selling albums by mail order through cassette cd and record sleeves. You had to fill out a form and mail it somewhere with a check enclosed! I think he really would have liked YouTube and other platforms to get his music out. 
Zappa (rightfully) had a major beef with the Parents Music Resource Center PMRC which he references at the end of the clip. The PMRC went under in the 90s I think and now we have Cardi B singing about her WAP. Which I think is awesome. I’ve never heard the song but it made a good meme.  You don’t need to hide your satanic lyrics by backmasking anymore. Rob Halford was THE DEVIL back in the day, now he is more village people than Anton LaVey. The kardahians wear satanic and pagan symbology on their t shirts without realizing that kids were completely ostracized for liking slayer and Iron Maiden as recently as 30 years ago. 
Subtle censorship and cancel culture is not something I am well versed in. I feel like there is danger there but I can’t put my finger on it (perhaps this is an illustration of how insidious it is).  But I don’t think the PMRC would be too happy to see WAP get so much traction (so to speak).   

I pray daily for a frank zappa box set.
  The complete Zappa studio recordings”

  maybe some day, any longer, and all his fans will be dead. 

i will join my prayers to yours.... Zappa was really a creative genius....

I’d agree with Zapp.

The entire world is now facing a creative death by algorithm.

Only numbers count, and mavericks are no longer welcome.

Freedom is undesirable and free speech intolerable.

The consumers are divided, discombobulated and programmed to willingly get injected with processed garbage. This is the age of the earbud.

The music industry did not help things by the way it huriedly sought to discard one of digital audio’s few advantages over analogue.

Just whilst driving today I was listening to The Jam’s 1997 compilation Direction Reaction Creation. This 5 disc box is highly regarded by some over on SHF but after a couple of hours I began to feel a little sick listening to the sound.

I don’t know exactly what terrible thing they had done to the sound. It seemed ok on a casual listen but then I noticed that on the harder tracks such as Modern World, Down in the Tube Station at Midnight, Start, Going Underground etc there was a horrible sensation of flattened dynamics.

It was as if the edges had been toned down in favour of a little more smoothness.

Smoothness (via compression?) that the originals never had! 

So now I’m going to have to find some earlier CD pressings that sound halfway decent. That don't sound as if the music is being sat on by a large record company executive.

Anyway we shall never give up, we’re still human beings, not numbers.

"creative death by algorithm" 

Can i borrow you this marvellous expression? If not i will take it anyway....

I apologize.....