wgroeneveld
/
brainbaking
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull Requests Packages Projects Releases Wiki Activity

once upon a time in shaolin

This commit is contained in:
Wouter Groeneveld 2022-02-28 14:55:04 +01:00
parent 250447316c
commit ba4413a025
1 changed files with 30 additions and 0 deletions
Show Stats Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

30
content/post/2022/02/once-upon-a-time-in-shaolin.md Normal file
View File

@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
---
title: Once Upon a Time in Shaolin
date: 2022-02-28T13:51:00+01:00
categories:
- braindump
tags:
- music
---
A quick---and for me, unknown---one from my favorite collective, the Wu-Tang Clan. Their seventh and latest studio album, _Once Upon a Time in Shaolin_ from 2015, is a "single album concept". Their take:
> The music industry is in crisis. The intrinsic value of music has been reduced to zero. Contemporary art is worth millions by virtue of its exclusivity ... By adopting a 400 year old Renaissance-style approach to music, offering it as a commissioned commodity and allowing it to take a similar trajectory from creation to exhibition to sale ... we hope to inspire and intensify urgent debates about the future of music.
[Wikipedia claims](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time_in_Shaolin) that "_Feeling the value of music had been cheapened by streaming and online piracy, Cilvaringz and co-producer RZA hoped to return music to the value of fine art._"
The result was a sale of `$2 mil.`, a lot of controversy, and a bunch of angry fans. While the method might not be the best, the message is quite clear and hard to disagree with. I wonder, is _streaming_ by many rightfully considered the same as _piracy_? Considering this is exactly how Spotify started, there must be some truth to this...
When I told my parents I was [into buying CDs again](/post/2022/02/how-to-enjoy-your-own-digital-music/), their first reaction was _lol_. Their second was "here, take our collection, it's going to the trash anyway". The once much loved (and expensive!) CDs are now completely worthless thanks to Spotify. The expensive audio installation of my dad was trashed years ago in favor of a couple of Sonos speakers, so they don't even have a way of playing CDs (and don't see why one should bother with ripping).
While in the past my parents would regularly take the time to open up the closet, choose a CD, and enjoy the music, they now just rely on _the algorithm_ and seem to have forgotten how it was to enjoy a smaller selection... Having too much choice (and convenience) seems to _reduce_ both satisfaction and involvement in music.
Another problem of streaming I hadn't even considered is [greenhouse gas emission](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming_media#Greenhouse_gas_emissions):
> A 2021 study claims that one hour of streaming or videoconferencing "emits 150-1,000 grams of carbon dioxide ... requires 2-12 liters of water and demands a land area adding up to about the size of an iPad Mini."
But, but, the physical CD surely requires more material and surely is more polluting, right? We've got you covered: [this article from the conversation](https://theconversation.com/the-environmental-impact-of-music-digital-records-cds-analysed-108942) says that "On an individual level, purchase of a physical CD may be more environmentally friendly if it is to be played more than 27 times". That's quite a lot. Or is it? If your collection isn't limitless and you buy deliberately, it's not.
I'm not just a nostalgic sucker whining about _Better Dayz_ (Yo, 2Pac). It's really, really sad to see that Cilvaringz and RZA were right. The intrinsic value of music _has_ been reduced to zero. And I am part of the problem.
Thank you technology and greed!