Writing has always been a very important part of my life. I spent a lot of my youth writing stories and creating characters, whether I had plans to do anything with them or not. It was a way for me to express how I was feeling without having to actually talk to someone about it, and it was a way for me to make something productive out of the things that went through my head. I always did pretty well in my English classes, mostly without a great deal of effort. It’s fair to say that I floated through high school, without much care for my grades, my work, or even the teacher’s opinions of me. Not to say that I wanted to drop out, or even realized what I was doing until it was already done. I came to BCC to get myself back on track after a rather confusing year, in order to possibly transfer to a different college within 2 years.

I think that over the course of this class, I was given the opportunity to further my craft, particularly in terms of writing a formal work. Throughout high school, I had a hard time writing essays and papers. I had always found it much easier to write about things that interested me, instead of the general assignments and the “academic” workload that most schools hand out. While this class didn’t actually teach me anything, the assignments themselves served to let me take a different approach on writing each time, and I found that it was much easier to find my different strengths and weaknesses when it came to academic writing, and it allowed me to focus on those and improve.

The first essay I chose is my memoir, which focused on my first major music festival, the 2014 edition of the Vans Warped Tour. Warped Tour is a punk and metal oriented festival that happens every summer, and this was my first time there. I chose to write about it because of it’s significance in my life, as music is my most passionate hobby in life. Writing about it was a large of part of living it, because it allows me to look back on a positive time in my life, and use it to influence my outlook in the present. It was one of the better essays that I wrote for this class, and it was arguably one my favorites as well.

The second essay I wrote was my ethnography, focusing on an arts venue located in Providence, called AS220. I chose to write about this next, because it remained in the music theme that I eventually maintained the entire class, and it was logical to me, as I went from one of my first significant musical experiences, to a recent new step in my own personal musical experience. I liked focusing on AS220 because it is arguably one of the best venues for up and coming local bands to play at. Many people that I have spoken to have praised this venue, and my own experiences there have been unanimously positive. It seemed only natural to use this as the focus of my second essay, and I believe that it is my favorite of all of the essays that I worked on for this class.

The third essay was my text wrestling assignment, which focused on an article that was called “The Shazam Effect.” The article focused on the rise of digital services that have changed the way music is made, and the way that it is produced. I actually found this article very interesting, because this is a topic I have thought about and debated on my own in the past. While I believe that modern technology has allowed music to be discovered in a way based on convenience, it has also cheapened the value of a piece of music, which I believe further devalues art in our society. With the debate of schools lessening the importance of art, and focusing more on athletics and testing, it is important that music and other art forms find their place in society.

The final essay I wrote was my argumentative essay, which continued on the topic of digital platforms for music, and whether or not it cheapens the impact of music. I’ve always been against formats like radio, as it focuses too much on a select few songs with a homogeneous quality to them, which creates a formula to “success.” I believe this discredits the importance of creativity, which is what music’s foundation was always supposed to be. I liked my essay, as I believed it accurately represented my opinions on the matter, and that it was a decent defense of music, but I also didn’t necessarily enjoy writing the essay. I feel that it was because high school assigns so many of these, that it practically numbed me to it.

Overall, I’m glad that I took this class, as it allowed me to try new ways of writing. I appreciated that I was able to focus on my academic writing, and that I was able to improve on it, so that I may do well throughout my career at Bristol Community College and beyond. I thank you for reading this, and each of my essays.

5/2/16

English

Prof. Pappas

Is Technology Bad For The Music Industry?

By Michael Aylward

The music industry has changed drastically over the last 20 years, with the fall of cassettes, the rise of CDs, followed by the digital format. While some trends revive in big ways, such as the return of vinyl as a viable release method, streaming and digital purchases have become the norm in terms of consumer interest. This has opened doors for all kinds of music related services on the internet, such as Shazam, which allows a user to pull a song from an outside source and identify it, leading them to a link to purchase the song. Another popular music service is streaming, which allows users to listen to music for a subscription payment, giving them near unlimited access to all kinds of music, new and old, for a small fee. Options like Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal have diversified what source you can pull your music from, and it has started to create a large debate on whether the near universally easy access to this music has devalued it, and whether a song can have a definitive price on it. I believe that these services allow people to make more educated decisions when it comes to purchasing music, and while it can stimulate the music industry, it has been abused, and it can be harmful to music on a economic and artistic level.

In today’s music industry, streaming has become the standard. Streaming is the ability to listen to and even download music over the internet or even from your smartphone, for a very small monthly fee. Streaming has completely changed the way that music is consumed, and consumers have begun downloading more music than ever.

According to the website Statista, over the last three years, the way music is heard has changed considerably. While streaming has increased significantly over this time, both downloads and physical copies have decreased in popularity each year. “Amounting to $2.41 billion, streaming revenues increased by almost 30 percent in 2015, offsetting the combined losses in revenue from downloads and physical format sales.” (Statista.) 30% is arguably a massive change in the landscape of music as a product, and with the trend seemingly getting bigger with each year, it appears that this is a change is something more than a trend, and will soon become the changing of a climate that has been the norm for almost a decade now.

The question is: can this devalue the art of music? From the start, music has been relatively cheap to purchase, being anywhere from 99 cents to $1.29, and most albums only cost $9.99 to $12.99. With streaming, there is a formula that gauges the payments to a label, the streaming service itself, and finally, the artist. With the amount of work that multiple people put into making a song or an album, there is a long list of payments that need to be distributed, with the artist being one of the last involved. With an already unfair practice and misuse of an artist’s work, streaming has the potential to kill careers of upcoming artists, which can decrease the amount of music being released in the first place. According to Business Insider, “Each time Spotify plays a song, your favorite singer or band gets as little as 0.6 cents, the company said. At that rate, a song would need to be played 166 times for the artist to earn $1 in royalties (100 cents divided by 0.6 = 166).” (businessinsider.com) This is not a profitable format for artists to distribute their work, this has been stated countless times already. Seemingly, the only way to counter this is the rare chance of the “smash hit” song. However, the only way to achieve this would logically be by analyzing the most recent hits in music, and taking from that, to the point of copying the work of another artist. If more and more artists were to do this, we could potentially have a surge of music that, frankly, sounds the same. This could further devalue music, with people seeing it as a formula, an assembly line to create a product that meets certain requirements in order to sell, something that music was never supposed to be about. “The reliance on data may be leading to a “clustering” of styles and a dispiriting sameness in pop music.” (The Atlantic.) This statement speaks to the creative and daring side of an artist, the very reason they are called “artists” in the first place.

Introducing new ways for people to discover new music is a great thing. It can introduce people to music they never would have heard otherwise, and if they like it or not, it is always healthy to be introduced to it. It can change the views and taste of anyone, if presented well. When all’s said and done, however, if there is no connection between easily attainable music and the incentive for an artist to create, it can create a divide, that is not healthy for the industry as a whole.

Works Cited

Edwards, Jim. “Here Is The Fantastically Tiny Amount Of Money Artists Get When Spotify Plays Their Songs.” Businessinsider.com. Business Insider, 05 Dec. 2013. Web. 01 May 2016

Richter, Felix. “Chart: The Rise of Music Streaming.” Statista.com. Statista, 29 Mar. 2016. Web. 01 May 2016.
Thompson, Derek. “The Shazam Effect.” Theatlantic.com. The Atlantic, Dec. 2014. Web. 01 May 2016.

The article I read was called “The Shazam Effect” and it was about the concept of the music industry taking advantage of music-related services like Spotify and Shazam to analyze popular music trends and how it has actually allowed them to decipher what could become a big hit months before most people have even heard of the song. Many record labels, such as Republic Records, take advantage of this technology to form the basis of many of their business decisions regarding new talent, and what music to promote in what area. These new services allow the industry to check what songs are gaining traction, among what demographics, and in what areas of the world. This allows maximum efficiency when it comes down to promoting and marketing new music.

Personally, I find this to be a very conflicting idea. While I like the idea that you can promote to people who are more invested in your style of music than others, I dislike the idea that it severely limits what music can do for people’s interests. One of the important aspects of music as a whole is to provide a concept that can interest people of all walks of life, creating a cohesive fan-base, and building a community off of that. I have always found music to be about community and creativity, and the idea that this could put an end to that worries many people. If the industry can gauge what works like that, they can invest all of their money in decidedly “safe” music, contributing to the idea of pop music, where it is largely homogeneous, with many songs indistinguishable from others. This limits and denounces creativity, and creates a large void between financially backed superstars, who create the same music over and over, creating a comfort zone, and those who wish to experiment and create something that may be new to many people. New can sometimes be a scary concept, but in art, new can create new doors to enter, and as a result, push the industry forward. Looking at many groundbreaking artists in history, who changed the world of music in their stead, it is clear that there was a considerable amount of experimentation and creativity that is brought to the fold.

The article “How Streaming is Changing The Music Industry” from American University talks about the effects that streaming may have on the music industry, as streaming is becoming another popular facet of the music world. Like Shazam, it gives instant access to music at the click of a button, however, unlike Shazam, apps like Spotify and Apple Music allow you to stream full songs, and even albums, for very little money. This means that artists are paid very little for their work, and I believe this devalues the worth of art as a whole. While it can be argued that it allows people to hear an artist’s work before deciding to spend their hard earned money on the music, what’s to stop people from just continuing to stream the music for little to no money, preventing the artist in question from being paid for their services. While music is an art form, and art is an important part of life, it also costs money to make, and is at the end of the day, a product. I believe this is very important to keeping the industry in working condition.

Mike Aylward

04/04/16

Pappas

English 101

Providence Punk Scene Ethnography

The venue was AS220, in the heart of Providence. It was a small room, made smaller by the audience. It wasn’t necessarily a packed venue, but the groups of people stayed in groups, and took over different sections of the floor. There were three bands playing, including local Barrington band, Naked Nick. It was evident that most of the people at the show were not here to see this band, as most people weren’t paying much attention, and the bulk of the crowd didn’t really show up until the second band began playing.

Audiences at a punk show can vary, based on the number of bands, which bands are playing, and the venue. More people are likely to show up if more bands are playing, because you will find people from each of the band’s networks. Audiences are more likely to be enthusiastic during a well known band’s set, because they know the songs, and can sing along, and generally react. There are also different types of people that you can find at a punk show. The first is the general audience. They pay for their ticket, have fun, no more, no less. They are the general audience because nine times out of ten, these are the people who fill a venue. Next is the fan. The fan is someone who came to see the bands, and is often at the shows. They will buy CDs, take pictures, and even hype the band’s set before going. This is an important person to bands. This is the kind of person that can help create the network that an active band needs to succeed outside of their town. Finally, there is the skeptic. They stand in the back of the venue, acting as an outsider, and are either completely uninterested in the show, or in rare cases, heckling the band.

The bands in punk music can also vary pretty greatly, depending on the other bands playing, and the venues as well. AS220 doesn’t allow covers of pre-existing songs, so the bands that play there are only playing original music. Some punk bands are decidedly more “punk” than other bands, while other bands tend to blend punk stylings with other genres, such as pop, metal, alternative influences, or funk. Naked Nick, for example, is a blend of punk atmosphere on alternative music with synthesizers and a saxophone. My own band is a mixture of punk rock and math rock, which is a complex style of rock music based around odd time signatures and tunings.

The overall atmosphere of AS220 can be described as a community environment, where bands and artists can get together, relax, play shows, and generally feel at home. Every time that I have been to this venue, I have had a positive experience, and there is a strong sense of community amongst the local bands. Bands will go to other band’s shows, support each other’s endeavors, and create new networks in which each group can grow and prosper. It’s a healthy scene, and overall, it is quite the achievement to create something in a community like this, and have it be appreciated for what it is as a project. The people are always constructive and helpful in their demeanor, and there is no uncomfortable hierarchy that you would often find with many venues in the modern scene.

Many people in the local scene claim that AS220 is their favorite venue, with good reason, too. The friendly, community-based environment, and the diverse styles and creative minds that gather here are both testament to the quality of this venue. It’s an interesting environment to be in, and it’s even more interesting to see how different styles of people intermingle at the events held here.

My first music festival was only recent, occurring 2 years ago, on July 10th. I remember it pretty vividly, the entrance packed to the brim with eager faces of all ages, colorful posters and clothes, the heat burning into my back. It was arguably the hottest day of that summer, and that was the first thing that came to mind when the first band of the day came onstage, and their vocalist was wearing a thick black hockey jersey. I was completely dumbfounded, and I remember exchanging confused glances with my friend.

“Is this guy for real?” Any skepticism was subsequently thrown out of the window when the band started playing.

Now, I had grown up around heavy music, I was practically raised by punk rock and heavy metal, and it informed many facets of my day to day life. Most of the time, you couldn’t catch me without headphones in, the music drowning out the noise of the outside world. It was an escape, a release. When people would ask me why I listen to such aggressive music, I would answer the same every time. “Why do you pay so much money for therapy?” With this in mind, absolutely nothing could have prepared me for the onslaught of noise, movement, and pressure that a metal concert brings with it. The crowd immediately started moving, slamming into each other, jumping around, all positive, yet all aggression. I could actually FEEL my ribcage rattle with every pulse in the drums, my body reacting to the rhythm of the music. The vocalist moved with a heavy, brooding demeanor, though if you could actually understand the words he was yelling, it spoke of a positive message, a message of survival and perseverance. I was caught off guard, but at the same time, I had never felt more at home and alive. I found myself in that crowd, under the wave of music. Most of the bands went around in the same manner, however I found myself obviously more active watching bands that I knew, and bands that I loved. The environment of the festival was like a campground for musicians, tents all around of people selling clothing, CDs, posters, photos, etc. Members of various bands walked around the festival grounds, dispelling the notion that they were anything other than regular people who just happened to work a different kind of job. I met a few people during that day, people who informed my life, musically, as well as motivationally. A prime example was meeting a group of people from probably one of the heaviest bands that I listen to, Parkway Drive. Onstage, they flung themselves around with little regard for their well-being, with the music providing a soundtrack to what can only be described as a scene of complete chaos. Offstage, however, they were quiet, friendly, and very well spoken. I found this funny, because people immediately tend to think that metal musicians are aggressive and unhappy offstage, as they are onstage. However, as I stated before, this was just music. This was a means of releasing negative emotion in a creative and productive manner, so that they could improve their lives off the stage.

The climax of the night came in the final band. This was the only band that played alone, with no other bands playing at any of the other stages throughout the venue. This was the big show. The resulting performance was massive, with thousands of kids all pressed into one section of the pavement, a mass of people waiting to go completely insane one final time. Without a doubt, the band delivered. At one point however,  I remember a man flinging himself around, with very little regard for those around him. It frustrated me, because this wasn’t supposed to be about violence. However, violence found it’s way in, as his incessant punching landed a blow on a girl, who probably couldn’t be more than 12-13. I know I wasn’t the only one who saw it, as there was an immediate response. Some of us pulled the girl out of the way, others went straight for the guy. Security wasn’t necessary at these shows, because we acted like a family. I always felt a need to protect those around me, even if I didn’t know them. The only clear thing I remember from the altercation was punching the man in the mouth, and watching a group of people drag him out of the festival grounds. From a distance, this seemed like a random act of violence, but to us, this was just how you handle people at these kinds of shows.

Overall, my experience felt all too short, even at the 12 hour mark. These kinds of places are always like a second home to me, and honestly, all I want to do is be able to be up on one of the stages in a few years. Watching the artists who have succeeded in their ambition is one of the most inspiring and powerful moments of my entire life, and I took numerous lessons that I apply to my own life, on and off the stage. For that, I owe everything to the music.