Good Music

Then came the arrival of the four track tape, a rather monstrous looking piece of equipment, that took up so much space in the front of even the biggest American car, that even the most brave would think twice of entertaining one. There would be no space for a lass, if you get my meaning, so that one more or less died almost at birth.

The cassette tape did not take long to follow, and that became a huge success - but like its counter part the compact disc it encouraged music piracy. However, that too had its visit to the undertakers, then entranced the above mentioned - the ever popular compact disc, which brought a lot of excitement and hope to the music industry.

The impact was so great that even when the well touted mini disc came along, hardly anyone took any notice. But we all was walking into a trap, that not even the richest recording companies could have foreseen the disaster, which was laying like an iceberg waiting for the kill.

The major music companies, or rather some of them went into the making of machines, that could duplicate compact discs, and if that wasn't the death knell itself, they became more greedy and started to make machines that could double duplicate. By this time every thing had hit the fans, and it was flying all over the place.

The small independent record production companies were the first to feel the whirlwind, followed by the small retail outlets and distributions. Like a blocked toilet drain, every thing started backing up, and finally like a rain sodden ground, all the trees started to topple.

Few of the major record companies survived, not by music sales but due to the fact that these people have deep pockets - some of them merged, while others used their large bank balances and assets (not musical) to keep going.

The music business can never die, so it will only be a short time before heads will get together again, and do what is always done - reformulate and start again. This time a technology that the public much as we love them, and depend on them for the survival of the music industry - the time will return when they will have to pay a reasonable price for obtaining music. My bet is that they will be willing to do so, the truth of the matter is they have always been willing to do so - here is an old saying, well worth musing over: 'If you rub butter pan puss paw im' wi' lick eh'.