The internet and the increasingly greater access to advanced technology can perhaps be deemed the most revolutionizing cultural force of the last fifty years. In that time, we have gone from computers being mechanical machines used only by advanced specialist to having mobile phones that are many thousands of times more powerful than the most advanced computers used to send people to the moon. The camera that, fifty years ago would have been coveted by professional photographer the world round is now common place and taken for-granted on the ubiquitous iPhone. With this greater access to tools that are frankly, incredibly sophisticated, has come a revolution in the amount of content that has been created. Take any category of entertainment for example, whether it be books, movies, music, or even mediums that had not yet been invented such as the short-form content of social media. The sheer amount of content that is being created today is on a scale never before seen. For example, on YouTube, one of many content sites, approximately 270,000 hours of videos are uploaded every day. (For context, that would take one viewer 30 years of constant watching to finish viewing all of it). Given that there are still many people who are just beginning to gain access to high level technology and the internet in developing countries, the amount of content produced is all but guaranteed to continue on an upward trend. But let’s consider how exactly these two forces, the internet and access to advanced tools for content creation have changed the motive and accessibility of creating entertainment.
Consider the music industry. Before internet and access to advanced open-source technology, creating music at all was an extremely challenging affair. Aside from the relatively easy task of obtaining the instrument to directly create the music (which depending on the genre could involve vocals and expensive synthesizers), finding a way to record the music was sure to be a very expensive and demanding endeavor that was near impossible to accomplish without the help of a record label. Even after an artist managed to get their music finished, it is nearly as difficult to get it heard by the public without deep connections to the established marketing lanes which allow one to become mainstream. In other words, it was nearly impossible for a solo artist to independently grow create a successful career in the music industry. On first glance, the internet and greater access to technology have seemed to create a newfound sense of democracy within the music creation landscape. Today it is extremely easy to download a free music production software, produce some music, and upload it to Spotify where it can organically be discovered millions of listeners. Self-promotion is also much more accessible through the many and various social media platforms. It seems then that this change initiated by technology has lifted the music industry from the oppressive regime of record labels and towards a more populist environment where the people decide who gets heard. The reality of the situation is not so black and white. While it is true that creating music has become easier and more accessible to a wide swath of people, this has ironically made it even harder for the talented person to stand out.
Our society is in a sense, drowning in content. A quick visit to a local bookstore will find the reader inundated in mediocre novels by unheard of authors while the same is true for the listeners experience on Spotify where thousands of upcoming artists produce mediocre music that takes hours to sift through making one want to turn back the industry established artists where at least a modicum of quality is still upheld. The increase of content creators has not increased the quality of content being created. Rather it has buried the best and brightest artists under an enormous pile of low-quality content. This change has an even more insidious future however, as art has been replaced by content, the potential artists of the future are not exposed to the great works of past artists. Instead of listening to the timeless music of the bygone past and the movies of classic Hollywood, they are consuming anti-intellectual content from the myriad soul sucking social media outlets. Obviously, it is nearly impossible to create inspiring and beautiful works of media without experiencing the great Western artistic tradition oneself. It is increasingly common for the youth of today to read nothing, listen to nothing, and watch nothing except for fruitless short-form content. How then can we not expect to go on a downward content spiral with music, movies, and books becoming of worse and worse quality.
This is not to say that the newfound artistic freedom wherein anyone can express their creativity needs to be stifled. It is merely meant to bring awareness to the downsides of such a development and to encourage the consumers and enjoyers of artistic mediums to be increasingly selective in what they choose to support. Additionally, it is a reminder and plea for people to give older works which might seem outdated by today’s standards a chance. There is a reason for these works have stood the test of time.
Perhaps, I am being dramatic and the positives that come from relative democratization of content creation outweigh the negatives. Perhaps there was always been a wide portion of the human population that has never appreciated fine art in any capacity. However, I think two takeaways can be of value from the present state of cultural output we find ourselves in. Firstly, that cultural curators of art are desperately needed in the free for-all that is online content creation. We should not be so naïve to assume that we can individually discover for ourselves the diamond in the rough of entertainment content. There is always room for an expert curator, who in limiting the field of young artists, preserves and ensures that the best musicians, writers, and creators, float to the top of society collective attention. This, however, goes hand in hand with a change that can take place in the attitudes of the consumer. We must together, demand better. Better music, better movies, better books. In every facet of art we need to reject the superficial, whether it is the frivolous and sultry rap or repetitive and cliché superhero flicks. As long as there is a market for high quality entertainment, it will continue to be created so it is of high importance that we show our support.