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Every like this comment gets one like i play 1 note on my saxophone

I think Rick Beato's point was about mainstream music. That which is distributed by the major labels, and receives the most media attention, thanks to marketing teams. These "artists" are treated like consumer products. Pop music is getting poorer, that's a fact, but the music galaxy around it is getting richer.

Rick B ain’t wrong my friends

This is a prime example of how to have a real discussion that includes disagreement. It's positive, well thought out and articulated such that it's very clear where you stand but shows that you are listening to the other side of the argument and respectfully hearing the points being made. It's totally okay to agree with some and disagree with others while furthering the discussion. I seriously wish more conversations about divisive topics played out exactly like this. Great response Bernth! Like you, I too enjoy Rick's content and have my own set of experiences that can live in both worlds.

It may be easier to make BAD music, but it's also easier to make GOOD music and get it out there. A perfect example would be REN, an independent artist with no label behind him, who released his album, Sick Boi, with nothing but KZfaq, Twitch, X, etc for advertising it. Hell, he wasn't even in the country when it was released, he was in Canada having treatment for Lymes disease. No radio play, no interviews on major tv networks, AND he released the same day as Rick Astley dropped his album, and who was on constantly pushing it every time we turned on the radio or tv. So what happened? Ren made number 1 in the uk charts! He Rick Rolled Rick Astley! It CAN be done now. 20 years ago? No way.

When Rick Beato said it, what I understood was "The Real Reason Why

"Cannibal Corpse listening party" is basically how we like to spend our Saturdays.

Wow. You gave a fair response without being a condescending egotist? Fantano should take note.

Two things can be true and your views vs Rick’s are certainly not mutually exclusive. Rick has very clearly been speaking about the ills of mass-market music, while you are discussing independent artists. This type of scenario has already been described in a famous quote: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” The music that is being heavily promoted via mass-market media is unquestionably getting worse in most cases. But yes, talented artists can independently produce incredible music and make it readily available to everyone. There’s another famous quote I feel is appropriate: "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Without a label and their publicity/distribution power, a very limited number of dedicated enthusiasts CAN find your music, but WILL they?? Meanwhile the regurgitated AI, quantitized, autotuned songs that all use the same samples, presets, and 4 chords are flooding the airwaves, being featured in commercials, boosted by paid influencers, getting exposure at corporate music festivals, etc. Rick’s point is about the widely available and therefore mass-socially shareable music being degraded into a cheaply produced homogenized commodity. The quality and diversity of a 1974 or 1984 Billboard top-20 vs a 2024 Spotify or iTunes top-20 is striking, and not in a positive way.

I have been writing metal music since 1996.. but because of Rick's points, I ended up just focusing on my IT-related day job & my music kinda took the backseat for decades. THIS video is a wake up call for me. This is TRULY a good time to be an musician since everyone has a fair shot at the market. - and at a GLOBAL scale, at that. Thank you for inspiring music & words, Bernth. There may be hope for a lot of us old-school independent musicians, yet.

Reading album linear notes was definitely a thing for me. What brands of gear did the band use? What studios? Who was the producer? Studio musicians? Guest performers?

And here's I'm sitting thinking "What?! You had digital camera when you were a teenager? Not film? Ouch. I'm getting old."

Album cover art is what I miss.

This is so true. I created 2 singles. Instrumental with 1 guitar. 1 recorded on iPad the other on iPhone. Cost $9.99 each to get streamed to 250+ services. They actually got play on Spotify, YT, and Apple Music. Will I make money? NO and that wasn’t the point.

I am "old school", I was raised in the 80s and 90s, and I can assure you all that listening to music was a very, very different experience. I learned about what music was out there almost exclusively through MTV and whatever friends had discovered. I also started learning to play guitar and bass, and in Portugal where I grew up, guitar players were as ubiquitous as soccer players, so needless to say I was immersed in an environment where music was treasured and was a common topic for discussion. I can't hold it against anybody for the environment they grew up in, but in so many ways the "next generation" simply can't see how diluted their musical experience is, compared to having to buy music one album at a time. Its entirely true that music used to be not only important and valued but also DELIBERATE, if you wanted portable music you had a walkman or discman and you had to choose in advance what you were going to listen to. Its not only about music but about art and entertainment, the fact that you have endless choices now days means you can listen to something for 30 seconds and just move on to the next thing like it doesn't matter, there are thousands of fantastic artist out there, but you don't value any single one of them, if you look up "cool dragon art" you have an infinite supply of it, so each artist is just a drop in the bucket. Its the same with the dating pool, in fact, you don't value the person you're dating because if they have some minor flaw that annoys you then just keep looking, instead of being satisfied. And that's it, the more you have the less you are satisfied, the less you value any one thing. But it can't be helped. The internet is an ocean you can never fully explore, and it is past the point of no return.

Pretty much 100% in agreement with you here - I'm 64 and I've been paid to play off & on for over 50 years now, and I'm more than a little fed up with many of my contemporaries who say that music was better then / is worse now - I think that maybe there is an argument to be made that audiences aren't as good as they used to be...

I still remember when I got my first walkman and first scorpions cassette after saving for over a year. The novelty of taking the music wherever you wanted and having headphones to immerse yourself in was a big win.

Hello bernth! I just want to say i really love your music or song "farewell" and i just wanted to play on my own acoustic guitar...but i dont know what notes to play since i do not have perfect pitch and also im a guitarist with only 2 years of experience but i really want to learn your song farewell so can i please ask for a tab video of it?

I approach it from a slightly different perspective of engineering/mixing. I was very active in the large-budget/world class studio projects of the 80's and 90's. It was amazing on every level, and it generated what you might call the music "middle class", which was a collection of engineers, studio techs, drum techs, cartage companies, rental companies, piano tuners, production coordinators, studio musicians, photographers, etc. (Not to mention tour support, but I'll keep that separate.) On a large record project lasting 1-2 years you would literally encounter scores of people working towards the same goal for the most part. Much like wagon wheel factories those jobs are mostly gone, as are many of the incredible studios. (Record Plant LA now seems to be on it's deathbed.) Your insights were very positive and well-presented. The music middle class is likely gone forever, but I appreciate your position of offering a much more level playing field for those with enough drive and talent to produce a great product. Nice work... but I do miss the sushi platters that many sessions provided.