It would mean a lot of substandard releases and poor imitations, which
come to think of it, isn't that much difference from the current
situation.
Presumably it would mean that some of my albums would enjoy greater
sales, which wouldn't be a bad thing as far as I'm concerned
But I don't see such music becoming mainstream, let alone a success.
- Brian Williams: of Lustmord
I'd be rich and wouldn't have the time to answer these questions because I'd
be too busy spending all my money.
- lk: (audiochrom)
I'd take everybody who reads this out to dinner in Paris (but let's just
say I haven't bothered to renew my passport yet....).
- Sara Ayers: ambient artist
It would follow the same course that all other music styles have when they
broke into the mainstream: the musical "edge" that made the music popular in
the first place would be watered down a bit for mass appeal. Then the
record companies, in search of that ever important youth/gen X market, would
push forward ambient artists that were "easy on the eyes"- think Shania
Twain with a sequencer. Then things would be very much as they are in
today's pop market; youth would be king, 13 year old "ambient boy bands"
would talk about how they really loved this music from the start and think
that Brian Eno is great, whether they had actually heard his music or not.
On the PLUS side, it WOULD be pretty cool to see these mall brats trying to
dance to the stuff.....
- Jeff Pearce: ambient guitarist
It won't.
- Robert Rich:Soundscape Productions / Amoeba Music
Well, that would mean that there'd been a huge shift in the mass
mind, which would probably be a good thing! Basically I think this
scenario is incredibly unlikely, though ambient and glitch influences
have seeped into some pop music. I think a more likely evolution
would be along the lines of ambient being picked up by the same crowd
who popularized mellow jazz fusion, muzak and 101 Strings. It
wouldn't surprise me if less challenging ambient music ends up in
dentist's offices and restaurants in the next 10-20 years (in a sense
it already has in the form of New Age). I know this isn't exactly
exciting or uplifting, but I could see it happening this way.
- M. Bentley: eM of the foundry
Help ! Naturally, I would be a hypocrite to state I'm not longing for more
worldwide appreciation but
I really enjoy the independency of the music genre as well. Currently I'm
fortunate enough to shift between several independent labels with a philosophy
set free from any kind of real obligation and pressure. I'm afraid when our
genre becomes mainstream it might loose its charm and integrity and will
jeopordize the artistic freedom, I've been cherishing from day one.
- Vidna Obmana: ambient/electronic artist @ www.vidnaobmana.org
I guess if I had to plan for frequent appearances on Total Request Live,
I'd better start doing sit-ups so I can look good during my "drone and
dance" routine for all the little girlies in the audience.
Slightly more seriously, I think the general public would end up
disappointed that their ambient heroes looked a bit less like, well,
pasty-faced geeks who sit in basements, staring at a computer screens. All
of them except me, I mean.
- M. Griffin: Hypnos Recordings
You mean it hasn't ???
Seriously, there would probably be cries of "sell out"!!!
CD's would have to come with warning stickers like, "Do not operate heavy
machinery, or drive while listening"
If it did get big that would mean a very big shift in attitude from the
average record buying public.
- Paul Vnuk Jr: of Ma Ja Le
then record companies would manufacture a whole bunch of kid 606's and
britneys, white boys with attitude, girls with tits (funny that) etc etc and
there would be a whole bunch of bland electronica stuff pumped out. hmmm,
kinda like now but record companies and artists in electronica would be
divided between 1. being rich, and 2. being bitter about not being rich.
- aspen: www.involve.co.nz
Due to the intrinsic introspective nature of ambient/electronic/experimental
music this would represent a huge paradym shift in the nature of our planet's
youth. This being the case one might see this as the Harbringer of
significant social change or at least a cyclic change. Difficult to forecast
here. For the artists so dedicated to this genre's it could mean "goodbye
day job" and invest wisely. Next main thing? Bring it on.
- Stephanie Santé: midi guitarist
i think it would be a much better place... but i don't see it happening -
even though said boy/girl bands' producers use vocoders and dsp now, there
is probably still a period in peoples lives where they need to figure out
themselves and not think too much about music... (unfortunately that period
can last a lifetime for some)
- John Sheffield: "living room producer"
Did this not already happen in a small way with the ambient house craze of
the early 1990s? What happened: the word "ambient" tacked onto
pathetically bad compilations of watered down dance music, the generic
sound libraries looted for environmental sounds, house divas programmed to
whisper "we are all at one with the universe" breathily into the reverb,
nearly everyone rushing to open the third eye of the cash register, chill
rooms springing up everywhere but rarely scented with inspiration.
People tend to talk of the classics of that period, but these accounted for a
small proportion of the deluge largely made up of generic pandering by
people who, upon finding that a career in ambient music was failing to
produce the desired amount of monetary and chemical and erotic payout,
rapidly moved along to the next trend with a similarly passionate
mediocrity. Yes, the bulge of the ambient house movement was indeed seen
as it moved through the digestive tract of the pop culture snake, but it
was no rabbit - merely a mouse. With computer techno coming into the same
jaws, admonitions based on past experience might be applied here too. But
bigger than a mouse?
Boy bands and girl stars have singing pretty faces
and gyrating sexy bodies - according to the latest market research anyway -
to be presented on stage and on video; but electronic music is less about
image and more about sound, making it hard for even the most beautiful of
humans to present themselves as erotic products. For electronic music to
reach the level of mass market popularity, it must have the pinup and the
floorshow along with the gear rack: look to Mark Bell's production with
Bjork and Depeche Mode rather than to the ambient world for this
hybridization. In the end it will be called pop.
- Joshua Maremont: (Thermal, Boxman Studies, The Archipelago)
I hate to sound like a dream breaker, a down to earth kind of person
but ambient or experimental music are in their very essence not a
popular art movement. They aren't meant to be part of popular
culture. Thinking it could be once of a mainstream importance would
require first to reshape society and culture. My only hope is that
other ambient or experimental musicians and labels aren't doing it as
a manifesto against mainstream culture. My wish is to give a
definition for ambient or experimental music that doesn't include
mainstream culture at all. Cult of Satan is as much determined by the
Cult of Christ as Christian are by the fear of the Evil.
- Dimitri: hushush
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