The Future of Popular Music

by Brian Stubbs

In today's radio/video culture, the icon focus has shifted slightly that celebrity status can now be applied to not only the songwriter and performer, but to the producer and the DJ. In the future, this idea will be taken even further. The popular media will be saturated with 'impresarios', celebrity management firms who will provide entertainment in all media.

This is due to the inexpensive technology which allows anyone to record or 'produce' their own music with a computer, and the Internet becomes inundated with music of any imaginable type of music of any imaginable quality. The implication of a unified 'e-cash' allows for monetary compensation for artists, through subscriber-based Internet radio stations. It's likely cable companies and federal commissions will have introduced regulations on hardware and software, if not, the net would remain anarchic and creative place to show each other their work. Anyone with a little technical skill could manage a radio station on-line and play what they like. Every genre and physical locale would have representation.

Because there is so much to choose from, order propagates itself, certain individuals become renowned for what they play. 'Contracts' develop where songwriters and producers provide content for specific DJs, creating labels/family/posses. Creative or interesting presentation begets a large audience which in turn attracts advertisers. Money is being made, and these 'impresarios' begin to enjoy a celebrity lifestyle. 'Hit' songs are only popular for a week and these are a small percentage of the total volume of music available. Literally millions of people submit music everyday to be catalogued, and hopefully acknowledged by anyone listening, preferably those who have 'influence'. Many in the music press of the future will say that 'hit' songs are almost a random process, the right melody catching the right ear at the right time... oh, and now we're on to something else. To the chagrin of serious musicians, this net-radio system begets an incredible volume of unoriginal, uninspired, uncreative, crap music that all sound alike.

Like any trend in the popular media, this creates a reaction in the underground. One movement, who call them selves the Rejection (known as 'rejects' or 'stumpies') who refuse to acknowledge current or past forms of art/expression as legitimate, and sever their limbs in protest. Cutting all fingers on both hands, leaving the palms, as the first step, more extreme members remove arms, legs, teeth and tongue, rendering themselves helpless and useless, with a notable inability to express themselves.

The other, less self destructive group are known as Naked Kids, who reject all external aid, be it material possessions or technology, or even clothes. They are squatters, living in filthy abandoned lots, subsisting only on blackberries and other weeds. A cross of hippes-straight-edge-Luddites, they refuse to touch even plastic. The music they perform is only made with their own bodies. Creative use of belly-slaps, armpit farts and eerie vocal melodies strike a chord in all who hear it. Clever 'impresarios' have released field recordings of Naked Kid music online, but the group wants no compensation, save that someone may be touched by their message, and liberated from an online lifestyle. And touched they have been. Millions of our nation's future children will be flocking to live with the Naked Kids, whole cities of dirty teenagers will spring up in the forgotten corners of North America.

It's an interesting idea, the future, and now that I've created a possible reality, it's all the more likely that it will never happen!

(c) Brian Stubbs 1999
All rights remain with the author.