Is there a fundamental difference between song and music?

I've been thinking lately about, well, just music in general and I've had some ideas. I've been part of this community for almost two years now and I've been watching it grow. I've become aware of the strange world of music business, and the compelling side is not the music itself but the people who make it, sell it, and buy it. And I now believe that there are two very different flavors of music, that which is comodity and that which is art.

Lets start with the many names that are given to the makers of music. They might be called singers, performers, acts, the kind of people who make music live before an audience. They might be called song writers, composers, musicians, the kind of people who invent music. They might be called divas, pop stars, vocalists, the kind of people whose music is part of thier image. These names are but costumes that people wear to get attention. It all boils down to two things, there are those who create music as an artform and those who advertize music as merchandice. Both kinds are given their place in this society.

As it turns out the music merchants are more succesfull than the music artists. It's not that people do not care for asthetics, but they shy away from art because it is rare. When pure thought and raw emotion become sounds, it doesn't matter how the music comes or where from, only that it is shared. But merchants have a monopoly on distribution, their distribution media are innovative and accessible but they are proprietary. Music that the merchants don't want to sell does not have access to the more successful distribution channels and must be spread by other means.

The music that the merchants do sell is created for efficiency rather than artistry. The music business produces songs in bulk to maximize their exposure. Songs are written and recorded over a period of days, and albums are put together in a few weeks. Songs are short so more than a dozen of them can be played on air per hour. They emphasize vocals over instrumentation and lyrics over melody. This ensures that the fewest number of people can create the greatest ammount of music that is the most marketable. How efficient it is. Combine that with a distribution monopoly and a labor force of over a million musicians and you can bengin to understand why it's called the music industry.

This industry does produce good music but it is not the only sorce of it. That is why I'd like to make the distinction betwen song and music. Songs are like chapters in a book, they may stand alone as short stories but they cannot be fully enjoyed unless they're played with other songs. When songs are put together in a certain order they can communicate whole storylines, that is real music. The music industry is the largest source of songs while independant artists are the best source of music.

The music industry itself ignores this distinction because this kind of thinking is bad for business. Maybe philosophy and business just don't mix, but what ever the reason the music industry does not have the time or the money to produce real art, it can only afford to resell it as abridged synopses. Creating music as an artform requires a fluency in the language of music that few people have posessed throughout history. Today's popular music is founded on a few basic priciples that are centuries old and have developed in the minds of the greatest composers. A favorite quote by George Christoph Licthenberg sates, "Sometimes men come by the name of genius in the same way that certain insects come by the name of centipede-not because they have a hundred feet, but because most people can't count above fourteen." We live in a time when people are very illerate about music music, and most musicians are to Mozart and Bach as most second grade students are to Einstein and Newton. The music industry does not have the resources to educate its musicians.

So for now we have to settle for song and hope that music will develope on its own and find a viable distribution model on its own. Popular music isn't all bad but there is lots of room for improvment and lots of chance that it will get worse. Song writers and singers are powerless to create real music that the merchants will sell because their audience is as ignorant as they themselves are. Once in a while they will create something that is both original and entertaining but that's mostly due to statistical probability because there are so many singers and songwriters in the industry. But given that fact it is still unlikely that the industry will be able to create entier albums that are more than just a collection of songs.