"Songs have proliferated as lifestyle accessories, but have lost their multifaceted integration into our shared communal existence."

"Songs were a shared resource, and the intense stratification of the current music business... didn’t exist in these more participatory contexts."

"In those days, almost every song had its special setting or purpose, and it wasn’t one you got to decide."

"Genres get locked into a fantasy life instead of enriching real life—in other words, they struggle to rise above what we call escapism."

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Music’s impact on society extends beyond entertainment; it has fueled significant social movements and personal autonomy. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">From the French Revolution's “La Marseillaise” to the Vietnam protests, music has galvanized collective action.</li><li class="ql-align-justify"> Its role as a force for social change remains undervalued, as mainstream genres have shifted from transformative to passive. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">Songs still carry potential for personal empowerment but are often co-opted by commercial interests, diluting their historic role as catalysts for heroism and resistance.</li></ul>

Music’s Historical and Social Power

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Modern music genres allow listeners to adopt lifestyles and personas they may never embody in reality. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">This is “liberating,” offering wish-fulfillment through sound: country fans may not live rural lives, and hip-hop enthusiasts may only playact rebellion. </li></ul>This fantasy aspect of music, while freeing, distances listeners from a deeper, integrated experience with music that once aligned with daily life and rituals.

Music as Fantasy vs. Reality

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Historically, music held a functional place within communal rituals and traditions, tailored for specific events rather than individual preference. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">In cultures worldwide, music was passed down and shared rather than owned, integrated with daily and ceremonial life—weddings, funerals, work songs, and rites of passage. </li></ul>This communal approach positioned music as a shared cultural asset rather than a marketable product.

Music's Former Role in Community Life

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">The commercialization of music detached it from collective ownership, driving music toward a rights-based industry where corporations and artists, not communities, “own” songs. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">This shift established an economic system of royalties and copyright, diverging from music's original purpose as a participatory, shared experience. </li></ul>Today’s genre categorization, driven by market segmentation, emphasizes description over function, focused on individual consumption.

The Shift to Entertainment and Individual Ownership

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Despite the proliferation of genres (over 5,000), music’s capacity to deeply impact and transform lives has arguably diminished. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">Today’s expansive catalog reflects consumer niches rather than communal or life-altering purposes. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">This abundance of categories gives an illusion of diversity, but lacks the cohesion of historical music culture, where each genre served a precise role in people’s lives.</li></ul>

The Multiplication and Fragmentation of Genres

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">While commercial genres today serve lifestyle branding, latent transformative powers remain within music. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">True engagement with music’s “heroic” qualities—those that foster community and personal growth—can only be reclaimed by seeing beyond its current commercial framework. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">Rather than mere entertainment, music has the potential to re-integrate with the deeper currents of human experience, recapturing its historical role as a vital life guide rather than a simple commodity.</li></ul>

Rediscovering Music’s Transformative Role

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">A century ago, music genres were not lifestyle markers. Music was segmented by demographics like race or region, rather than psychographic indicators tied to identity. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">Early genres—jazz, blues, and “hillbilly music”—addressed distinct audiences based on tangible attributes, not aspirations or self-concepts. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">Today, however, genres like hip-hop and punk are deeply entwined with lifestyles, symbolizing identity and societal roles. </li></ul>This shift reflects broader trends in consumerism, as products increasingly serve to express lifestyle choices.

The Evolution of Music as Lifestyle

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Ancient genre classifications emphasized the power of music to shape character and behavior, seen in Plato’s distinctions between modes in The Republic.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Early music classifications were based on practical impact—encouraging bravery or contemplation—rather than personal taste or style.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Pepys’ categories of ballads in the 1600s, which varied by purpose and mood, illustrate a midpoint in genre evolution.</li></ul>These categories foreshadowed a transition from function-based music to the thematic and aesthetic labeling we see today.

TED GIOIA

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