Music's Inherent Value: The Blog Post

Music can only be valued through the inherent value which it holds. What is inherent value? Inherent value is when a personal experience is of intrinsic value, when the good being discussed is not something you can touch, but something you can feel. And what is the purpose of music? there are many, but the primary ones being to invoke emotion or to have aesthetic pleasantness. One of course can value a song based on how it was made, or who worked on it, but ultimately it is the audience that will value a piece of music based on how it impacted them specifically.
Whilst music is an industry and a revenue generating business, the audience most of the time only really cares about the song which becomes a product of the musician. The production process on some songs may be more intensive than others, it may take advantage of the use of a more prestigious studio, or more expensive equipment, or it might have multiple artists. I don't think that these sorts of aspects add to the inherent value of the music, The most important component of a song's inherent value would not be its production, but rather the skill of the musician. The factors that contribute to how the song was made has a big role in who really owns the song or audio clip. If a musician makes the song by himself, using his own equipment, his own instruments, and finally his own talent, then that musician would own the rights to that song and would be able to decide what he or she would like to do with that song.This path adds more inherent value to the song because the musician can stay true to the song. Not that there aren't good songs that are also renown, if a musician goes through the process of making a song by himself, then it would be more likely that that song won't gain much widespread popularity.
A musician may sign up to a record label, which would in effect market his or her music better resulting in more sales and more money for the musician, but at times this may come with a hindrance for the musician. There have been many cases where a record label would limit the freedom of the musician so as the musician would continue appealing to a target audience and thus keep up the sales for the record label. When that sort of situation occurs, the music loses its inherent value because the musician wouldn't stay true to the music because it is being made for the interests of the record label and not the musician.
I think that music should be treated like an art rather than like a commodity. The way it is handled as a commodity by many record labels reduces the artistic value of the music. Me personally, I like to treat songs as I would treat a painting, both require the imagination and good execution by an artist for it to have appeal. Furthermore, I prefer that comparison because it focuses more on the artistic and inherent value of a piece of art or music. In the music industry, many labels are streaming to produce the next Top 40 hit, and that strategy deviates from the true purpose of music, which is artistic expression. Sure, that strategy may be an effective business plan, but it pushes back artistic value and inherent value as priorities.

 

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