creative deconstruction

The ‘Paradox of Choice’ in the Music Industry

Posted on 02. Sep, 2009 by refe in MUSIC INDUSTRY

There has been an explosion of choice in music. Technology has made it easier and cheaper than ever before for just about anybody to record and distribute their music. An unprecedented number of new artists and new albums flood the market every week, every day.

Not only is there an abundance of choice in new music, but listeners now also have increased options for acquiring and enjoying that new music. CD’s, vinyl, digital downloads, torrents, online streaming, radio, satellite radio, etc.

In spite of all this, music as a driving force in culture appears to be on a steady decline. Recorded music has clearly lost value in the eyes of consumers – the dominant mentality today is that music should be free.

The product of music is also losing market share to other forms of media and entertainment. Games are quickly gaining ground, as are mobile applications. Music is often a large component of these mediums, but as a stand alone product – or as a pure art form – it’s losing prominence.

This bugged me for a while. It seemed to me that when it comes to music the guiding principle should be ‘the more the merrier.’ Perhaps in a perfect world it would be. But the market just doesn’t seem to support this idea.

Instead, it appears that the music industry is suffering from what psychologist Barry Schwartz calls the ‘paradox of choice.’

Barry Schwartz has made a career of studying morality, decision-making and the relationships between science, economics and society. His book, The Paradox of Choice (Ecco 2003) deals with the way that societies with great abundance are witnessing a “near-epidemic” of depression. He argues that a surplus of choice in western culture is actually making us miserable.

Conventional western wisdom says that the way to maximize the welfare of citizens is to maximize individual freedom. Free individuals are able to maximize their own welfare, taking the burden off of the larger society. The best way to maximize freedom? Maximize choice.

Schwartz disagrees.

He argues that the explosion of choice that the western world has seen in just about every corner of society – retail, healthcare, identity, family, music – has actually had very negative effects on individuals. We experience paralysis – with too many choices to make, many people become overwhelmed and make none at all. When we do make a choice, we end up less satisfied. There’s always that nagging feeling that one of the other options might have been better.

And finally, the more options we are given, the higher our expectations rise. The feeling is that with 100 options, one of them had better be perfect. Of course, no choice is ever perfect, so we’re left with the feeling that we could have done better if we had just looked harder, or done something differently. The old adage proves true: “everything was better when everything was worse.”

In the music industry, the explosion of choice has had similar side-effects. Last year my wife and I each received thirty dollar gift cards to iTunes. Sixty bucks worth of free music – not bad, right? You’d think that we would have run right to the iMac for a downloading spree. But we didn’t. In fact, it took us six months to use up the sixty dollar credit on our account. Why? Because we just couldn’t decide what to purchase. There was always the feeling that there was something out there that we’d rather listen too. There was always some new album that was going to be released the next month that we wanted hold out for. The shear number of tracks we had to choose from paralyzed our ability to make a decision.

One of the benefits of the massive amounts of new music in the market today is that there’s a lot more room for experimental and niche artists that never would have made it past the old gatekeepers. So everyone should be able to find that perfect artist, right? Well, no. But the expectation for many has become that they should. All this serves to do is ensure that these listeners will be a little bit more disappointed in the music they do find.

It remains to be seen whether this abundance will be a long-term issue for music industry, and the western world as a whole. My guess is that systems will emerge to regulate the flow of new music somewhat – new gatekeepers. Until that day, we as artists and listeners should enjoy the benefits that do exist as a result of this explosion of choice. We should also do our best to support quality artists who are producing quality music. It’s still possible for talented artists to cut through the noise, but they’re going to need all the help they can get.

Schwartz did a presentation for TED Talks back in 2005 that is worth giving a look-see if you are interested in going into a bit more depth on this subject. It’s a great presentation, if a bit long – about 20 minutes.

Do you agree with this theory, or disagree? Can you relate to any of this? Let me know – I’d love to hear your comments.

Tags: Barry Schwartz, economics, music, MUSIC INDUSTRY, TECHNOLOGY, The Paradox of Choice