My response to Rick Beato.

[ericgiova]

I think Rick Beato's point was about mainstream music. That which is distributed by the major labels, and receives the most media attention, thanks to marketing teams. These "artists" are treated like consumer products. Pop music is getting poorer, that's a fact, but the music galaxy around it is getting richer.

[ShiceSquad]

When Rick Beato said it, what I understood was "The Real Reason Why ***MAINSTREAM*** Music is Getting Worse". So I didn't think he was necessarily "wrong", his argument just didn't apply to anything I care about. I too think it's an exciting time to be a musician. Even a no-budget, no-name nobody like me 😁

[kingbai]

This is a prime example of how to have a real discussion that includes disagreement. It's positive, well thought out and articulated such that it's very clear where you stand but shows that you are listening to the other side of the argument and respectfully hearing the points being made. It's totally okay to agree with some and disagree with others while furthering the discussion. I seriously wish more conversations about divisive topics played out exactly like this. Great response Bernth! Like you, I too enjoy Rick's content and have my own set of experiences that can live in both worlds.

[rebeccaschade]

And here's I'm sitting thinking "What?! You had digital camera when you were a teenager? Not film? Ouch. I'm getting old."

[FleshgodApocalypse]

"Cannibal Corpse listening party" is basically how we like to spend our Saturdays.

[tommyboy]

@bernth Hey man, I just wanted to say that as a self taught guitar player I have been playing for about 15 years but I have never been able to play a single solo. I have been doing your 1 hour practice routine from your patreon and man, I got to hand it to you, my guitar playing has become something totally different. Yes I have the experience but my experience was all wrong. My picking techniques were trash, my left hand placement was trash everything I learned over the years was just wrong. Using your practice routine daily for about 3 months now I can officially say that I can play my very first guitar solo. I can play Symphony of destruction all the way through and I am just extremely proud of myself and I am thankful for you as well. I don't think you will see this but I wanted to thank you for all of your hard work on here. Thank you from the bottom of my heart because of your videos I can do what I've always wanted to do on the guitar! If anyone is skeptical of buying his stuff, take it from me its worth it. Yes its about the amount of time you put into it, if you're serious enough you can break those barriers.

[Jack.Waters]

This is so true. I created 2 singles. Instrumental with 1 guitar. 1 recorded on iPad the other on iPhone. Cost $9.99 each to get streamed to 250+ services. They actually got play on Spotify, YT, and Apple Music. Will I make money? NO and that wasn’t the point.

The point was to do it. To be published. A life marker. I’m 62 and did this! That was the point.

[simonwilkins]

Pretty much 100% in agreement with you here - I'm 64 and I've been paid to play off & on for over 50 years now, and I'm more than a little fed up with many of my contemporaries who say that music was better then / is worse now - I think that maybe there is an argument to be made that audiences aren't as good as they used to be...
Though I'm not a huge fan of digital sound (it gets better as memory becomes cheaper), I totally agree with you with regard to the level playing field argument. The World Wide Web works best when it connects disparate groups of people who otherwise would not know of each other's existence - those connections collectively add up to more hits than any one artist, however well hyped, can achieve alone.
Frankly, anyone who hasn't been blown away by the sheer variety of talent on offer really isn't looking hard enough. Music is a big place, and as far as I'm concerned is something that you should do rather than a commodity that you consume. Here's to open minds...

[tonyjones]

Reading album linear notes was definitely a thing for me. What brands of gear did the band use? What studios? Who was the producer? Studio musicians? Guest performers?
This could have been minutiae but I was captivated by it…almost as much as the music itself.

[chuckmarmo]

Two things can be true and your views vs Rick’s are certainly not mutually exclusive. Rick has very clearly been speaking about the ills of mass-market music, while you are discussing independent artists. This type of scenario has already been described in a famous quote: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” The music that is being heavily promoted via mass-market media is unquestionably getting worse in most cases. But yes, talented artists can independently produce incredible music and make it readily available to everyone. There’s another famous quote I feel is appropriate: "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Without a label and their publicity/distribution power, a very limited number of dedicated enthusiasts CAN find your music, but WILL they?? Meanwhile the regurgitated AI, quantitized, autotuned songs that all use the same samples, presets, and 4 chords are flooding the airwaves, being featured in commercials, boosted by paid influencers, getting exposure at corporate music festivals, etc. Rick’s point is about the widely available and therefore mass-socially shareable music being degraded into a cheaply produced homogenized commodity. The quality and diversity of a 1974 or 1984 Billboard top-20 vs a 2024 Spotify or iTunes top-20 is striking, and not in a positive way.

[CADMAN]

Yes! I agree and I am living proof of how the art form has become accessible for so many of us now. I loved the old times as well. I was in a band in the 90's and we had to practice until we just couldn't mess up when we got to the studio...which we all saved up to make happen. None of us wanted to blow it for the others. It made us better. But overall, I think that the decentralization of music has been a good thing. We don't need some music exec's creating "stars" out of people for us...who wants stars anyway? Thanks for the video.

[ahind]

I still remember when I got my first walkman and first scorpions cassette after saving for over a year. The novelty of taking the music wherever you wanted and having headphones to immerse yourself in was a big win.

[monkeyking]

I am "old school", I was raised in the 80s and 90s, and I can assure you all that listening to music was a very, very different experience. I learned about what music was out there almost exclusively through MTV and whatever friends had discovered. I also started learning to play guitar and bass, and in Portugal where I grew up, guitar players were as ubiquitous as soccer players, so needless to say I was immersed in an environment where music was treasured and was a common topic for discussion. I can't hold it against anybody for the environment they grew up in, but in so many ways the "next generation" simply can't see how diluted their musical experience is, compared to having to buy music one album at a time. Its entirely true that music used to be not only important and valued but also DELIBERATE, if you wanted portable music you had a walkman or discman and you had to choose in advance what you were going to listen to. Its not only about music but about art and entertainment, the fact that you have endless choices now days means you can listen to something for 30 seconds and just move on to the next thing like it doesn't matter, there are thousands of fantastic artist out there, but you don't value any single one of them, if you look up "cool dragon art" you have an infinite supply of it, so each artist is just a drop in the bucket. Its the same with the dating pool, in fact, you don't value the person you're dating because if they have some minor flaw that annoys you then just keep looking, instead of being satisfied. And that's it, the more you have the less you are satisfied, the less you value any one thing. But it can't be helped. The internet is an ocean you can never fully explore, and it is past the point of no return.

[rictutero]

I have been writing metal music since 1996.. but because of Rick's points, I ended up just focusing on my IT-related day job & my music kinda took the backseat for decades. THIS video is a wake up call for me. This is TRULY a good time to be an musician since everyone has a fair shot at the market. - and at a GLOBAL scale, at that. Thank you for inspiring music & words, Bernth. There may be hope for a lot of us old-school independent musicians, yet.

[Pokerface-trds]

When it comes to knowledge and experience, then Rick Beato is the man to talk to. He is an accomplished musician, multi instrumentalist, former producer, sound engineer and he knows what's gping out in the music business.

[adrens]

I agree. When I started making music in my bedroom I always told myself that it was just for fun coz I didn't know of any studios in my hometown and I couldn't afford it either. Now I can record and master myself and this works for me because I don't have any bandmates but I can still use all this technology to create a complete song.

[brandon]

I completely feel that first point. I remember the slow struggle to grow a collection. My dad had a big vinyl collection of 70’s and 80’s. I also had to fight my parents to be able to keep my heavier albums they thought were a “bad influence”. With all my cd’s, and even my dad’s records, I loved combing through the insert. The art and the lyrics. Even the credits. We don’t get that anymore.

[mr.force]

Thank you, I’m 69 and hear all kinds af good, current music. Not a huge metal fan, but your thesis is very well thought out and your delivery smooth. Great work. Greetings from White Salmon, Wa. 😎

[ClosetoHumanMusic]

You've articulated perfectly why this moment is simply the best time in human history to be a musician. Yes, there are drawbacks, but the benefits far outweigh them. I can especially relate as an indie artist living in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere in Austria. Servus aus Oberösterreich.

[steveeymann]

I think that the mainstream music, produced under labels has gotten exponentially worse, and the independent creators like you are the ones keeping it alive and improving it.