CD sales dive into toilet, end of musical civilization

[Gordon, Alex]

I fail to see how someone -- with a phd, no less -- could ever conclude
that 'music has lost its aura of magic' from simply monitoring 346 music
fans over two weeks! That's like monitoring the sky for three seconds at
noon and concluding that it is always daytime. And how does one measure
an aura of magic, anyway?

And comments like "any jackass with a home studio and a computer can
make a record" are ignorant beyond belief...

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On
Behalf Of robinlandseadel at comcast.net
Sent: 09 January 2007 15:25
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: NP: CD sales dive into toilet, end of musical civilization

 Here's a long article from a Huston paper that is mostly about the
decline and demise of the CD (along with music as a communal activity).
This passage touches on the role of music in the 19th
century:

"Indeed, some believe that the entire world of music has been devalued
by the very fact of its ease of access. A study at the University of
Leicester in England earlier this year came to that very conclusion.
Music psychologist Dr. Adrian North and his team monitored 346 music
fans over the course of two weeks, and they concluded that music had
become a commodity and had "lost its aura" of magic. "In the 19th
century, music was seen as a highly valued treasure with fundamental and
near-mystical powers of human communication," North told the BBC. No
more: "The degree of accessibility and choice has arguably led to a
rather passive attitude towards music heard in everyday life."

http://houstonpress.com/Issues/2007-01-04/news/feature_print.html

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