HOW CAN MUSICIANS AND LISTENERS EXPERIENCE SOCIAL MOBILITY BEYOND THE OPPOSITION BETWEEN HIGH AND LOW MUSICAL CULTURE?
How can users interact with an online music knowledge base in order to get what they want from it? Actually the nature of that question is not new: in most societies, throughout the ages, there have been clear tendencies to establish distinctions between forms of culture that are considered as popular, good for the masses seen as uncultivated, and higher types of cultural products. The musical field is certainly no exception to the rule. Why do societies have such an attitude? Generally, when individuals want to go against the grain, they encounter opposition, even when they are involved in the field of media.
However, the internet begins to help listeners from all cultural background to develop a personal musical knowledge. In fact, music streaming services have now captured a record of the whole musical culture. And a music search engine prototype like YMusic can help listeners to develop their individual music listening tastes. So, music listeners do not have to rely anymore either on their family’s tastes, or on their income, as the major part of online music is now accessible for free on most websites. Now that there is a democracy of access, new questions arise: what do listeners want to reach and what can music creators and distributors do to help them to enrich their musical knowledge? Actually the fact that there is a lot of free music online does not mean that listeners can reach it so easily: music industry reports show that millions of songs have not been discovered yet.
Yet people are not less curious than before. So, now that everyone gains access to all styles of music, how is it possible that tastes do not change more rapidly? And that reputable music schools are still primarily frequented by members of the middle and upper classes of all societies? One reason is that, offline, old schemes may stay and that there are links between forms of art which have intellectual expectations and a certain sort of social aspiration. Is this damaging? Should art discovery be a question of spirit, social considerations being left behind? Or not? And what about ethics? Hindustani classical music has its gharanas, which are groups of musicians linked by families, degrees of apprenticeship and interest in a specific musical style. These three factors mean that each gharana applies a specific ideology to music and it affects music teaching as well as music performance and music appreciation. Thus maintaining specificities in the various musical traditions in relationship with social considerations is not, in itself, intrinsically wrong. It is just important to keep in mind that a social community is just a framework to produce a specific style of music and that it is important to disseminate all kinds of music in all sorts of social contexts.
Anyhow, highly motivated individuals that are in love with music generally overcome questions related to social background. Their modest origin can even be a motivator. The case of young musicians involved in hip hop music or electronic music is significant: in the street context or, more generally, in environments without formal music learning, music can radically transform the life of some individuals that take part in it. Their peers identify themselves with those musicians who, having the same social background, achieved success. Even if they will not be able to listen to them during expensive concerts, their peers are their first listeners and they love their music because it helps them to forget for one moment the difficulties of their own life. They feel like music can elevate them and transform them. In itself, music does not change their condition, but it can relieve their problems.