It seems to me the biggest driver of art/cultural trends is technology.
All the music we discuss around here was driven by the invention of "the phonograph record", which changed the way music was experienced, performed and created forever.
Simple recording of sounds led to more advanced research via "the multitrack recording studio." During the mid-20th century, you also had the invention of electric guitars & amplifiers, electric keyboards, fuzz pedals, wah-wahs, analog synthesizers, drum machines, etc.
The music we love was generally created by people playing around with new "toys" to see what they could do.
Obviously, computers are the most relevant recent technological development to impact music and how it's made. But it doesn't seem to have led to a renaissance on the artistic side, almost the opposite . . . there are more records than ever before, and more and more of them have an "assembly line" quality . . .
My best guess is the clearest path out of the woods is a return to "live music" over "recordings". You can't synthesize, simulate or download "an experience" the way you can "a sound."
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