Music "quality" is subjective?

I have seen this statement in many other threads and would like to hear peoples thoughts on the topic. I agree on some level all art is subjective but by and large I think you can define “quality” music.

I live in Nashville TN which is one of two or three places in the United States that are the heart of the music business. I can tell you that here there is never a discussion on the subjective question of quality. You can take a song or track to any producer or music executive in town and immediately get the same response from any of them as to whether the track is “quality” or not. They may not like the piece creatively but they can recognize good vs bad.

I am throwing this out there because I have seen this posted on many other threads and honestly don’t understand what it means. In the world I live in quality it is pretty easy to identify.

Any thoughts.

I can sum it up in three words:

This versus this.

Absolutely -

scottwills said
I can sum it up in three words:

This versus this.

I like Rebecca Black more. Sorry not a beatles fan XD

Does that mean I can’t have an account here? lolololol

For the record, I like “Friday” a lot. I’m a big fan of pop music in general and there’s just so much that’s “right” about that record – the positives just outweigh the negatives. Those that don’t like it, you’re just in denial.

I’m still going to get support to ban you though, Josh, for hatin’ on The Beatles.

scottwills said
For the record, I like “Friday” a lot. I’m a big fan of pop music in general and there’s just so much that’s “right” about that record – the positives just outweigh the negatives. Those that don’t like it, you’re just in denial. I’m still going to get support to ban you though, Josh, for hatin’ on The Beatles.

User banned, we just can’t put up with that kind of behavior.

Regarding quality, I think if you’ve spent any time around whatever art you’re judging you can pretty much tell the difference between artists who have discipline and experience and artists who don’t. I met many of the latter back in school, e.g. writers who read a little bit of Kerouac and thought, “I can do that!” Or musicians who attempted to emulate free style modern jazz without taking the time to learn their instrument. I think it’s a common misperception among would be artists that the mere act of creating something means that creation somehow has merit. But it sure is refreshing when you come across a real artist, and you can almost always tell the difference.

Of course, very few people buying music are producers or musicians, so the perception of quality might be less stringent.

Regarding the Beatles, Paul was okay, but we all know that the real genius was Ringo! An octopus… but in a garden – true mastery!

brownhousemedia said
I have seen this statement in many other threads and would like to hear peoples thoughts on the topic. I agree on some level all art is subjective but by and large I think you can define “quality” music.

I live in Nashville TN which is one of two or three places in the United States that are the heart of the music business. I can tell you that here there is never a discussion on the subjective question of quality. You can take a song or track to any producer or music executive in town and immediately get the same response from any of them as to whether the track is “quality” or not. They may not like the piece creatively but they can recognize good vs bad.

I am throwing this out there because I have seen this posted on many other threads and honestly don’t understand what it means. In the world I live in quality it is pretty easy to identify.

Any thoughts.

You just brought up a subject in a book called “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” The author brings up this issue as to, “what is quality and how can it be defined”. Nobody is really sure what it is, but they know when they see, touch, hear, or taste it. It is an interesting subject indeed.

CreatingDrew said

scottwills said
For the record, I like “Friday” a lot. I’m a big fan of pop music in general and there’s just so much that’s “right” about that record – the positives just outweigh the negatives. Those that don’t like it, you’re just in denial. I’m still going to get support to ban you though, Josh, for hatin’ on The Beatles.

User banned, we just can’t put up with that kind of behavior.

OH NOEZ

I am a become martyr.

I used to read a lot of Vonnegut in high school (it was a phase…). He wrote a novel called Bluebeard, which is about the life journey of a modern artist, and I remembered a quote from that book that this discussion was reminding me of, so went and I looked it up:

Circe Berman has just asked me how to tell a good painting from a bad one.

I said that the best answer I had ever heard to that question, although imperfect, came from a painter named Syd Solomon [...]

“How can you tell a good painting from a bad one? [...] All you have to do my dear,” he said, “is look at a million paintings, and then you can never be mistaken.”

It’s true! It’s true!