Big Think

Question: How is technology changing music?

Steve Martin: It’s a big question- I hope I don’t ramble on too long, but from my perspective, in a couple different ways- one thing is, and this is gonna sound like the biggest cliché- I’m sure everyone’s saying it, but it’s leveled the playing field enormously. The major labels- the thing that made them successful for the period they were successful, was being able to control access. They were able to control shelf space and who got into Wal-Mart and Best Buy and Tower and Virgin Megastore, one of whom is gone and the other is on the verge of going under. That used to be the only way you could sell mass quantities of music. They controlled that access. They controlled the access to all the major radio stations. They controlled access to MTV, you know, to a lesser degree, yeah, they used to try to buy the press and other media. They don’t have that control anymore, and that kind of control isn’t as important to a lot of different kinds of artists anymore. So, yeah, in that respect, it’s really leveled the playing field. So that used to be their offer. I mean, nowadays, that’s about all they can offer you is say, “you know, well, we have a deal with this producer or songwriter, or we can get you on like an MTV Awards show, maybe”- I don’t know what they can really offer to somebody, you know? So that’s one way they’ve changed it. The other way that I think is less positive is just such a mess out there- there’s just a random insane mess of stuff out there, and I think that’s kind of taken away a little from the whole regional development that used to make things so interesting- like you’d hear about this great band, The Replacements, from Minneapolis, and you know, when I first heard of them, I wouldn’t have been able to point out Minneapolis on a map, more or less, you know? You heard about a great punk scene in L.A. that had X and The Germs and Dead Kennedys and Black Flag coming out of it, and that seemed excited- it seemed exciting and so exotic when they came to New York, or you know, you would travel to D.C. to see, you know, Bad Brains or Minor Threat, or Go-Go music or anything like that. It’s taken a little of the sort of that kind of excitement- at least for my generation- out of that because there’s no more of that sort of event where you had to either travel to see a band or wait ‘til they finally got there, or you know, it’s also taken away, I think, somewhat that kind of process where like your memory of the show or the event becomes more than it is because somebody’ll say, “It wasn’t that great. I just clicked on this link on YouTube, you know, he made a mistake during the fourth song” you know, or “forgot this lyric” and so it’s taken away some of the mystique. Everybody’s sort of naked all the time, you know- everybody’s sort of out there. But in the same respect, I think it’s pretty cool because this ties into the other thing that you were saying about how does it affect my job? It makes it pretty easy for me to say like, this band is so incredible live- hold on a second- I’ll send you the link- you know? It’s like a relatively unknown band that I’m trying to get on, you know, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, you know, and if the booker is saying to me, “I don’t know. I mean, this record isn’t really grabbing me.” I can just say, oh, well, you should see this European TV show we just did!” And just forward that along- and that’s worked!