Quote:
Originally Posted by Voce
Variation means little in terms of how popular it is. If you seriously take a look at the popularity of classical music compared to other genres, then yes, it has fallen out of the public eye. When I say "public eye", I don't mean just the current classical audience, as you seem to be referring to. I mean the entirety of music listeners, whether they be listening to rap, rock, jazz, classical, reggae, whatever. I'm not saying that more popular genres are bad, I'm just presenting my opinion.
|
the audience for classical/art music is as large as it ever was.
it has barely changed. unfortunately, not growing exponentially.
however, if you compare it to the "audience" for rap, hiphop and dance music, then you are comparing apples and oranges. rap, hiphop and dance did not HAVE an audience 100 years ago which could be compared to the audience at that time for concert music.
Popular music as a mass-media commodity is a relatively modern invention. To compare the rapid growth of CDs, MP3 downloads, use in television, etc.. of pop music versus classical is an unfair comparison.
Any music audience has a considerably wider range of choices now than 100 years ago. The reality of music dissemination is considerably different now than it was in the previous centuries (19th, 18th, etc...), even when compared to the early 20th century.