The Internet: “It’s just a means to an end”
Elton John, the pop legend, wants the internet closed down for five years to see what art can be created without the internet.
He has been around for decades and decades to come, and suggests that the internet is destroying good music, but has he thought about the ways that the internet has actually help him along his music career? For example, his albums are on iTunes and Verizon, and his concerts are often streamed live on the internet, especially his 60th birthday bash. He also announced that his albums will be available for digital download, which involves the internet.
Elton hopes that “the next movement in music will tear down the internet”. Unfortunately, The Captain & The Kid, when newly released, barely sold 100,000 copies, which was quite a disappointment.
Without the help of the internet (iTunes, live streaming, etc.) would his album numbers continue to go down?
If Elton really is opposed to the internet, he would demand to have his albums off the internet and oppose to live streaming on the internet.
What do you think about this movement?
August 6th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Stupid, quite simply.
The guy has lost all touch of reality that he had previously.
By the way Grace, I wrote a guestpost and it should be in the drafts, check if it’s okay and everything :)
August 6th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
He even says he’s behind himself; It’s no wonder that people are saying that. :P
I got the post! I was going to email you about it right now. :D Thanks!
August 6th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Ok lets just say that Elton may not be truly right there but he has a got a good point. Its not about only music that the Internet is affecting the quality and growth of good music but in many other senses the Internet is destroying us.
On the other hand its virtually impossible to survive without this rage as it has got more uses than the disadvantages it has.
Lets just say I am 50 percent with Elton and 50 person with Internet hehe
August 6th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
DJ Flush- We know that the internet is killing some things, but on the other hand, we can’t part with it. I’m against what Elton said, but I’m 50/50, like you. :P
August 6th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
Well, did you say he is in late 60’s ;-) I don;t have any comments then!
August 6th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
I can see why certain artists aren’t feelin’ the net in terms of profits and stuff. And you know, technology also makes things…not like they were. But I think the good the Internet does outweighs the bad. Say what you want about MySpace (myself included) but hopping onto somebody’s profile often leads you to listening to music you never would’ve heard otherwise.
And does he think that w/o the Internet, please wouldn’t just burn mp3’s onto CDs and trade them around that way? That’s what everyone did with cassettes.
August 6th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Stop the internet heh. I can’t agree with him on that one. The internet, through blogging, is my cure for shyness haha.
August 7th, 2007 at 8:33 am
Benedict- Hmm…. :P
Bush- I agree with you. He certainly does need the internet !
Brown- The way you put “Stop the internet heh” made me chuckle. :D Isn’t that like ruling the world? And I’ll show you what a really shy blog post looks like:
—
You see that there? A shy blog post. Which means you aren’t that shy! :D
August 7th, 2007 at 9:16 am
Hey you’re right! I’ve been commenting the wrong way all this time! It should have been –
hehehe
August 7th, 2007 at 10:55 am
Your emails bounce when I respond!
August 7th, 2007 at 10:56 am
are both of you in canada? your emails bounce when i reply
August 7th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
heh, I can see why they think that way but I can also see how the internet is also launching music popularity.
August 7th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Brown- Good one! :D
Derrikd- It should work now. :)
Susan- Yes– Elton is complaining about the quality of the music launched on the internet.
By the way: Your first time here, Susan? :D
August 7th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
I’m not quite sure how the internet has anything to do with the quality of music. It’s the people producing the music that have a LOT to do with its quality. It’s not the internet’s fault that people make crappy music.
August 8th, 2007 at 5:33 am
Although the Internet surely has led to a greater proliferation of music piracy, which causes artistes to lose a lot of potential income, they must to forget how Internet has helped them shot to fame in many cases. I can understand the feeling of your music being distributed freely and illegally online, but then it is not right to apportion the blame to the Internet itself - you’ve got to blame those who download illegal music since without demand there will not be supply of such pirated music. It would be better if he suggests that mroe stringent measures should be imposed to restrcit illegal music downloads… banning the Internet is simply not the way to solve problems. If he ever succeed in shutting down the Internet, most probably he will lose all his music fans and have the whole netizen community against him.
August 8th, 2007 at 8:55 am
Yep, it’s my first time here :)
August 9th, 2007 at 5:53 am
I’ve seen Elton John’s outrageous proclamation beforehand mentioned on another blog as well, and have only seen one view on it: “WHAT?! He’s crazy!” Well, that may seem likely, since, as we are all ones who use the internet (hey, you’re blogging about this right? I got referred here). That’s just.. mortal DEATH for us internet-lovers. How would life be without Myspace, Last.fm, or any other sites promoting music, by allowing Artists to display their tunes to the public and visitors to sample a variety of sounds? I mean, one has to admit, the internet spreads information quickly and what better way to promote one’s band other than posting it on the internet?
I think he believes the internet has simply blinded us from what true music is. I mean, with mainstream bands challenging one another for the TOP on Myspace charts and Last.fm streaming… it may only portray the most popular or “hip” bands on the charts, leaving unsigned artists and those not well-known in peril as they might never get discovered. Maybe he believes that the media portrays only half the story on music… leaving the other half mute.
I believe I just shot blind-folded… I gotta get to that article. Google, here I come!
August 9th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Mike- Hmm… The internet has enabled speed production; probably the “quantity over quality” phrase. :P
teddY- He’s only trying to ban the internet; looks like it’s not working! Aren’t we on the internet right now? :D
Susan- Welcome! The next post is going to be by a guest poster named Darr. :)
Austin- Where did you come from? :D Nice to see you here. :) I posted the original news article in this post. It’s at the end named “Source”. :)