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phoet · 2 years

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recently i saw something that annoyed me, and it was a bunch of people calling ep 200 of tma “mid” or “anti-climactic” and i just had to take several steps back and go…. what.

as someone who just finished my 3rd relisten, i think that the final episode was as perfect as it could be. i also remember jonny writerman sims talking about how he disliked the sort of crescendo grand endings, that there was something pretentious or performative about them and i deeply agree with that.

sometimes the world really does just end (or restart) not with a bang, but with a whimper. there is no need for a grand face-off, these characters spent 5 seasons battling the impossible power of the entities, and having it all come to a head with jonah magnus begging for his life just is Right Somehow. he helped create the archivist, the person that jon became. he sharpened the very tool that came to end him.

not to mention, the final confrontation between martin and jon before martin stabs him is the most gut-wrenching, angered plea i have ever heard. all martin’s hopes and dreams for a future come crumbling down around him as his worst fear realises. the betrayal he saw coming but didn’t want to believe in. the overwhelming love that he still feels, the love that kept jon from completely surrendering his soul to the ceaseless watcher — and for what? for both of them to die. its painful and it’s heartbreaking and it shakes me to my core every time.

the fact that basirah, melanie and georgie all survive i think is very apt. we are left wondering how the world looks like post-apocalypse, because we will never truly know. and it’s a culmination of what we knew already, that we as the listeners have been acting as ceaseless watchers, we are part of the web’s design. it’s… ugh it’s just wonderful.

i think that with any Big Media that comes to an end, you will inevitably have people who feel let down by the ending, because they don’t want a whimper. they want a bang. but i think that the magnus archives never needed that escalation, and that the ending was exactly what it needed to be.

#the magnus archives #tma #jon sims #jonmartin #martin blackwood #ep 200 was perfect this is my hill to die on #jmart #stop hurting me challenge #basira hussain #georgie barker #melanie king #jonah begging for his life is wonderful actually #i want to relisten…. AGAIN

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enterprisemag · 3 years

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5 Ways covid will change the music industry forever

By Gianfranco Ceccolini, founder of MOD Devices

“It is through the madness of poets, through the disruption they represent, that society breathes.” - Paulo Leminski, Brazilian Poet

With much of the world locking down due to coronavirus, the live arts have been hit particularly hard. In the UK this led to Chancellor, Rishi Sunak’s suggestion that people in the arts should retrain in technical careers, as developers for example, completely missing the public mood.

In many ways, music was the saviour for a lot of people in lockdown, and personally I think there was a huge missed opportunity for governments to pay musicians to entertain the population online. Instead it was up to musicians themselves to lift public spirits. However, the old music structures meant it was hard for musicians to make money from their efforts.

So what are the long lasting effects going to be? In this article we will explore how covid has affected musicians and music production, exploring what the ‘new normal’ will look like for musicians specifically.

More music lovers

For some, music rescued their sanity during extended periods of quarantine. In countries all over the world, amateur and professional musicians alike took to their balconies and rooftops to give unpaid live performances to locked-in neighbours. The performances were recorded and watched millions of times all around the world.

Whilst these musicians weren’t able to monetise these performances, many of them did grow their fan bases significantly. And I predict the impact they created within their audiences, at a time where emotions were enhanced in every way, will be long lasting.

More musicians

Despite Sunak’s devaluation of the arts, I expect we’ll see more musicians, not fewer. Sheet music sales jumped 25% and online tutorials and music equipment companies reported record growth during the pandemic, as more aspiring musicians learned to play, and part-time musicians dusted off their instruments.

The proof is in the numbers – Gear4music, the largest online music instrument retailer, saw an 84% like-for-like growth spike versus the same time last year. My company, MOD Devices, also saw a 200% increase in sales during this period.

In terms of existing musicians, I believe more of them will pivot to having music as their primary career. I expect there will be fewer ‘corporate’ jobs for musicians to ‘fall back on’ when their music careers don’t take off.

With fewer jobs and many industries being forced to embrace automation to counter the vulnerability of humanity during a pandemic, the issue of unemployment will be a chronic one. Why risk re-employing humans when you can keep the economy going during the next pandemic with technology?

Anything that can be automated, will be, and the very human traits of creativity and imagination will thrive. So with less desirable and creative roles being taken up by machines, there will be extra opportunity for humans to work in the arts. The Covid-19 pandemic will have ripple effects well beyond effective vaccines.

More experimental music

Lockdown has given musicians more time, giving them the space to innovate. At one stage, around a third of the planet’s population was locked down, and in most cases governments paid people to stay at home. In some cases, governments even trialled a Universal Basic Income (UBI), a strategy that’s been touted as a solution to the fact global wealth is growing exponentially despite fewer jobs being available.

Having enough income to live off during lockdown, without the stresses of having to earn a salary, will perhaps give an entire generation of musicians enough time and capacity to create. Previously this was the luxury of only career musicians, but now many more will have the chance to try new things, to innovate with technology, or develop new sounds. Couple that with an explosion of music technologies, brought about by many of the same reasons, and you have a perfect storm for experimentation.

Disruption in the way we produce and share music, and ultimately monetise it

2020 will be forever remembered as the year of the online gig/festival. There were very few live festivals allowed anywhere in the world, so festival organisers without deep pockets were forced to diversify or die. Live-streamed performances proved a lifeline for promoters, performers and music fans alike. We had Isolation Festival, iHeartRadio Festival, BBC2’s Live at Home, even a virtual Notting Hill Carnival. And many festivals like Glastonbury and Reading & Leeds showed extensive archive footage.

I believe these experiences will make musicians and festival organisers think differently about how they monetise in the future. Of course, nothing substitutes for a warm, overpriced beer in a muddy field, but I do like some of the innovative new technologies that we’ll probably see extend into the ‘new normal’. One example is Multiview Media, which allows music fans to switch between camera angles seamlessly while watching live performances.

We also saw innovation around how music was created. For example, Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody wrote his latest EP in collaboration with his fans over Instagram Live during lockdown. Crowdsourcing in music was already happening, but it’s taken on a new meaning in 2020. Many craved a feeling of being a part of something, or being connected to other humans when they couldn't be physically present.

Equipment will get smaller

My final prediction is that music equipment itself will get smaller. As bedrooms/lounges/kitchens become the new studios, musical equipment will accordingly reduce in size to accommodate, which any roadie will tell you is a blessing for live gigs as well!

Here are some of our favourite music gear companies that have helped reduce the size of equipment, or reduce the barrier to entry for a musician looking to make or record music:

Teenage Engineering, who produce the pocket operator modular series - “the next generation of portable instruments”

Native Instruments, who recently received a $59m investment to make music creation more accessible

Korg, who are making equipment small enough for the Borrowers to use, like their amazing compact keyboard, analogue loop synth and their MS-20 monophonic synthesizer

Lumi, which is revolutionising the way we learn to play the piano

MOD Devices, my own company, develops powerful, open source black boxes, replacing the need for any mix of synthesisers, effects pedals and computers.

They say it takes 66 days of doing something in a new way before it becomes a habit. This is why I believe the effects of 2020’s lockdowns will be long lasting, and why commentators are so confident that our normality has changed forever. This presents both challenges and opportunities for the music industry. As an innovator, I’m excited about the opportunities.

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