About my Music...

Dear Blog Visitors,

   I was initially doing this project as part of a big assignment for a Social Media course that I was taking for my Major, but it has grown into something else. This morning I woke up early (unfortunately), but decided to make the best of it by listening to music on my phone. I used to use my iPod Touch that I bought in 2013, but no mas. Now I use Spotify and Amazon Prime Music.
   Here's my verdict on iTunes Music: it's too big for its own good. I remember occasionally using the first iPod I ever really saw: my big brother's iPod video in a thick rubber case for protection. Back then, iTunes better customer retention. They had a great deal for us back in like 2008. They offered us any song we wanted for 99 cents.
   The iPods were much better designed than any MP3 player available in those days. The iPod never lost your music initially, it didn't even pause during your songs unless you tapped the play/pause button. Now, three devices later, I have used my last authorization on my "808's & Heartbreak" songs.
   I can't use my iPod Touch for anything but listening to my old songs. It won't work with iTunes, even though I never update it. If there were an anti-iTunes rally in Saint George, UT, I would be there so fast. As if. People direct their fury towards other things.

   So what could I do?

   The only way to make music work for me was to leave iTunes. The songs cost $1.29 now, and I'm already an Amazon Prime member. Getting new music from Amazon was the natural next step. I have a free account on Spotify, so I can't avoid the commercials or use it offline. So, I use the Amazon Music program as well as Spotify. It works well enough for me.

   To really make the Amazon Prime Music work for me, I had to install the app again. A few years ago, I bought some songs from those guys but I didn't go crazy. I only bought 10 songs. After a while I grew very tired of the song "Marrow" by St. Vincent. But anyway, a few months ago I re-installed the Amazon Music app.

   Now that I can download a lot of their music for free (with Prime membership), my issue with the Music Industry has been resolved. Ha ha I'm not quite that intense about it but you get it. I have been into a lot of new stuff lately. That's good for me. As a drummer I suppose the repetition of familiar songs is comforting. But if I were to listen to St. Vincent every day in 2017, I would get super tired of complex guitar parts and the female voice. Again with the jokes. Put the pitchfork down, feminists. I love Annie Clark. Her music is great. I just won't listen to it every single day.

   Lately I have been focusing on Amazon Music a lot. However, it is limiting. If you want to listen to Iron Maiden on Amazon, too bad. All of their music is unavailable for streaming, save for one album. And the only available album isn't even a Greatest Hits or Live Concert type of deal. It's a regular album. You can always just buy "A Brave New World" though, and I'm thinking I'll do that. I could even buy my favorite songs from Amazon, I just can't stream the whole album.

Do I hate popular music?

   I have to say that I don't love popular music. It's just... it is an echo chamber. Look, Rihanna can rock the Caribbean vibe in her songs. Like, she can make you dance even if you don't understand every word, like in "Work". That style is her culture, her upbringing. This "island vibe" comes second nature to her. But what about Justin Bieber or Drake? Fifth Harmony? Other groups? Are they just jumping on the "island vibe" style trend? Some of these artists are from Canada, which is like the opposite of island lifestyle. 

   I think these artists are going after what is popular right now. I say that they are jumping onto a trend, my friend. I don't hate them, or their music, but I wish people would stop doing something just because it worked for Rihanna and Shakira. Justin Bieber rocks ballads. He just does! That's a strength. Drake raps and sings like nobody's business. I don't think that he really needed "Hotline Bling" to go from "big" to "everywhere". He has the hustle and talent to do anything he wants. But these artists aren't the first to piggy back on a trend.

   The Black Eyed Peas led the charge of R & B and electronica influenced pop music. Probably less on the R & B and more on the electronica side of music. After "I Got a Feeling" became a hit, suddenly electronica influenced pop was everywhere! Even Usher did it.

   Although I am admittedly unsure which song was first, Usher did an electronica influenced pop song. He released "DJ Got Us Fallin in Love Again" and a couple of other hits. This is not unlike the Black Eyed Peas music that was coming out the same year. Songs like this may be fun for the dance floor, but if you want to hear Usher really rip, you have to buy his whole album. His R & B voice is unmatched, in my opinion. But throw it in a blender with some pop, and you have a hit song that can have a numbing effect.

   We become numb to song selection. We let iTunes and pop radio choose our favorite songs. Some don't even go beyond the Top 10 songs anymore, because the "best" music is in commercials, radio ads, movies, and TV shows. That is my complaint about pop music: it makes us want what the labels want. Heaven forbid you check out a band that hasn't made it yet.

   However, there is something that I am ignoring. Maybe these artists just wanted to make trendy music. Maybe JB heard some House music and just had to sing "Sorry". I think that is alright. And I am certainly not opposed to talented musicians becoming rich for their hard work. But it doesn't mean that I am going to listen to "Hotline Bling" and "Sorry" every day for the rest of the month. I am happy with my songs by The Hives and Gnarls Barkley. I don't need pop radio to choose my favorite songs for me.

   So yeah, I guess I do hate trendy pop music. I can put up with it when others play it, but really I would rather listen to Rush or Jimi Hendrix. I would take the worst Hendrix tune over the best tune by Fifth Harmony.

-Spence