Now It's a Bad Time for Music Producers, But It's a Good Time for Listeners

Some music producer despaired about the future of pop music on his weblog. He wrote that the budget for making a CD had decreased so drastically that music producers could no longer produce a good sound.

I think that one of the main reasons why the budget has decreased is related to the widespread use of the internet.

I listened to pop music most in the 1980s. At that time, the main media for pop music were TV and radio music programs, records, and cassette tapes. I listened to my favorite music on my Walkman, which was, of course, a cassette tape player.

The time of music programs on TV and radio and the sales space in record stores was limited. TV and radio mainly played chart songs, and record stores sold records and cassettes of those songs. The following week, the TV and radio would play other chart songs, and the record stores would then sell those songs.

Of course we could buy pop "classics" such as "Abbey Road" by the Beatles in a record store, but we had to go to a lot of trouble to buy records and cassette tapes of less famous musicians. I used to go around to many used record stores to hunt for the records, which I desperately wanted.

The internet changed everything. Now, you can find almost any song on YouTube, and buy it through iTunes. I download all of the songs that I buy onto my iPod so I can listen to them anytime and anywhere I want.

Before the age of the internet, music producers competed on the chart. But now, they have to compete against all pop music: past, present and from anywhere in the world. The increased competition has resulted in a decrease in the budget for making a CD.

Now it's bad times for music producers, but it's good times for listeners. We, listeners, can get everything far more easily through the internet. I really enjoy collecting my favorite music videos on my tumblr.