Bob Dylan Says Music Is ‘Too Smooth and Painless’ in the Streaming Age

Music industriousness legendBob Dylanhas some opinions on the boom in streaming services over the last few years . In an audience with theWall Street Journal , the Isaac Bashevis Singer - songwriter shared his belief that the diligence ’s pin to streaming has made medicine “ toothless . ”

Dylan said :

Everything ’s too easy . Just one stroke of the tintinnabulation digit , in-between finger , one little click , that ’s all it remove . We ’ve drop the coin right wing into the slot . We ’re oral contraceptive poppers , regular hexahedron heads and twenty-four hours trippers , hang in , hanging out , gobbling down in the mouth Old Nick , black molly , anything we can get our hands on . Not to cite the nozzle candy and ganga grass . It ’s all too easy , too democratic . You involve a solar Adam - ray detector just to find somebody ’s heart , see if they still have one .

“Everything’s too easy,” Dylan said of streaming music. “Just one stroke of the ring finger, middle finger, one little click, that’s all it takes.”

“Everything’s too easy,” Dylan said of streaming music. “Just one stroke of the ring finger, middle finger, one little click, that’s all it takes.”Image: Kevin Winter (Getty Images)

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It seems that Dylan ’s issues are double : consumer are having too easy a fourth dimension consume music and medicine itself is becoming less emotional . Dylan himself does name as a pennant to begin with in the consultation , explaining that he primarily hear to euphony using streaming services , satellite radio , and ( pant ) CD ’s .

Unfortunately for Dylan , the streaming earned run average is full steam ahead , despite vinyl group seeminglymaking a comebackas a privilege formatting amongst Gen Z and millennials . According to Statista , streaming wasthe most moneymaking wayto take euphony in 2021 by a encompassing margin , with its popularity beginning to overtake more traditional formats like CD ’s and digital downloads around 2014 . The Recording Industry Association of America says that streaming accounted for83 % of the euphony industry ’s revenuein 2020 . Streaming is also the cheapest way to take in euphony in this day and age , withSpotifyandApple Music , two of the world ’s most popular streaming service , cost $ 9.99 per calendar month and $ 10.99 per calendar month , respectively . To put it bluntly : More people are take heed to medicine than ever before , and that ’s probably not a totally risky matter .

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As far as whether or not medicine is becoming less sad or , as Dylan puts it , “ toothless ” in the streaming age — that is entirely subjective . There is something to be enounce about the way streaming personnel euphony labels and artist likewise to favor playing it dependable over advertise the envelope , as outside influences likevirality on TikTokandpost - dismissal editingshape the way art is created . This hyper - fabrication of music and pursuit of a hit that please the palate of the ecumenical public is , in and of itself a toothless approach .

But Dylan ’s point on medicine becoming painless might not be fully accurate . According to a cogitation from 2018 , as report on by euphony news outletPitchfork , music has potentially only have lamentable in the thirty year twain from 1985 to 2015.BBCreported similar determination in 2019 andAeonreported interchangeable finding in 2020 . Anecdotally , take a look at Olivia Rodrigo ’s “ driver ’s license . ” The utterly gutting grief ballad about a passion gone incorrect was arguably one of thebiggest song of 2021and ajuggernaut in the streaming eraas the tune has since rack up 1.6 billion streams ( remember that this was the debut single from a comparatively unheard of actress turn singer - songwriter ) .

peradventure some music is toothless , and mayhap some is not . perchance some music is painful , and maybe some is painless . peradventure it sounds smooth on a computer , and maybe it sounds gamey on a vinyl radical . Whether those things are true are up to the auditor , and are not wholly drug-addicted on the agency the music industry is react to progression in technology .

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