Why Listening Will Never Be the Same

Teachout, T. (2001). Why listening will never be the same. In P. De Palma (Ed.), Computers in society (pp. 198-201). Dubuque, IA: McGraw-Hill.
Unit 8, Article 43

Review by Kim Doyle

In 2001 the sale of pre-recorded compact dropped by 10% outsold by blank discs for the first time. While the author of this article may agree that this was a sign of an acute crisis in the recording industry, he also believed this to be an indication of a “radical and irreversible way we listen to music” (pg. 198).

This article was written in 2002 and by this time millions of Americans were using their computers to share music files by sending them over the Internet. Attempts were made to control this through legislation and by developing software that would prevent this from being possible. These attempts were unsuccessful. Teachout writes in this article that while recording industries saw this as a threat to their existence, there was another implication that was unexplored.

Teachout explains his position by first presenting a bit of history of the recording process. For most of a century records were made through a process known as analog recording. By 1976 this was replaced by digital recording where a computer was used to convert sound waves into a sequence of binary digits. In 1983 we were able to store music in actual digital form by a laser scanning process. The author describes this as the true digital revolution. No longer does the recording process produce a record album. When music is converted to numbers, it becomes an idea and leaves the realm of being an object.

How does this impact the way we listen? Teachout explains this by comparing the listening process to viewing visual art. Replications are frequently made of well-known pieces of art. Despite the quality of these replicas, there is always only one original work. By contrast, music only exists through performance. Even a recording is a performance in itself. It is its own entity. Therefore a recording does not have the same relationship to a live performance as does a replication of a painting to its original. Every time we hear a piece of music, it is an original.

Teachout’s analysis of this in 2002 was to suggest that the spread of computer-based listening would start to alter the way records were being made and marketed. Performers were feeling under pressure to develop recordings that offered something very different than a performance. All songs on a CD had to be very strong, not just a collection of unrelated selections. Musicians needed to take charge of their own recording decisions. The author predicted that artists would start making their own recordings and market them via the Internet. Managerial institutions would likely be created to facilitate this for musicians but the ultimate responsibility for the work would belong for the first time to the artists themselves. Teachout further predicated that record albums would go away as well as record stores. The triumph of the digit was at hand.

Reaction

The triumph of the digit was definitely at hand. As we know now Teachout’s predictions have proven true. He presents a perspective of this phenomenon that I would never have considered. I appreciate his doing so as it really brings into focus the direct impact on the individual artist.

Music in a digitalized format offers a great deal of choice to the listener. By shopping through iTunes we are able to create a selection of songs ourselves rather than purchase an entire CD. We can shuffle songs listening to them in any order. While these choices are appealing, it does take some control away from the artist. It makes sense therefore that artists would need to consider new strategies of making and marketing their music.

As a classical musician I have always been irritated when record labels chop up classical music, selecting a favorite movement from one classical symphony and another movement from another symphony for example. This is clearly not the way the composer would have intended a work to be heard and I find it very disruptive to the ear. It may work well for figure skaters but it doesn’t work for me. Unfortunately this is a process that can easily be done now that music is digitalized. The sad thing is that the great masters of music of whom I speak (Mozart, Bach, Brahms, Beethoven and many, many more) are no longer living to give permission to manipulate their works in this way. I have no doubt that if they were still living, permission would not be granted.

Regardless of how music is recorded and what new opportunities these technological advances may offer, we need to remain aware as consumers how best to support the artists.