Music, Food, and the Concept of Quality (or "Lady Gaga & the Big Mac")

What do Lady Gaga and the Big Mac have in common? The mind wanders at the bizarre comparison. Is it the fact that they both are known to be seen in public with slabs of meat on them? ;-) Stepping back and looking at the comparison more broadly, what do music and food have in common? They both have the ability to delight (or rebuke) the senses. Food is obviously judged primarily on how the taste is perceived. And each one of us typically judges music by how the sound is perceived. Of course, both are subjective, based on the preferences of the observer. But on a larger scale, as a society, we treat music and food quite differently in how we deem something to be “good” or of high quality.

Let’s start with a look at how we evaluate the quality of food. If I asked you “What’s the best hamburger in the world?” would the Big Mac be at the top of your list? Probably not. The Big Mac may be the best selling hamburger in the world, but in the world of food, the quality of the product is not judged based on the quantity of sales. Sure, when you watch the Food Network and its cooking competitions, things other than taste come in to play, qualities like presentation. But "gross sales" is rarely considered the best measure of the quality of food. What matters most is how we (or the judges) perceive the food with the taste buds, and the quality of that sensation.

But the way our society evaluates music is just the opposite. In the world of music, “best selling” is more often than not, the measure of quality. The Billboard music charts are a prime example. In the food world, no one would confuse “best selling” with “best tasting”. Why, then, is the music world so centered around the concept of “best selling = best”? I’m sure it has to do with the fact that the world of music, as most fans know it, is really not “music” but the “music business”. And in the world of the music business, the concept of “best selling” does make sense. But let’s not confuse “good music business” with “good music”.

As a matter of fact, when you think about food and the concept of popularity, the concept of “bland” comes into play. What’s the best-selling flavor of ice cream? Vanilla. But, surely most of you have a favorite flavor of ice cream that’s more flavorful than plain vanilla. And the more I explore music, the more I come to the same conclusion: if it’s popular, it’s probably bland in a lot of ways. I like my food flavorful, not bland. Hot and spicy is my all-time favorite. But that would never be best-selling. And I’ve come to realize that my taste in music is the same way. What I’ve come to truly enjoy and appreciate would never be the most popular, because it’s not watered-down and bland enough. It’s rich and flavorful.

In the old days, primarily before the Internet, folks found out about music from corporations: the ones who determined what music to put on the radio, on television, and in your nearby stores. It was the music business that supplied the music buffet for most music enthusiasts. But we live in a different world, now. Record labels are struggling (as any outdated entity should), because we no longer need corporations to get our music. We have the Internet as our primary source of music now. Sure, there are some corporations behind that, too. But more importantly, there's an enormous amount of independent artists making music available to the general public now.

But here’s the problem: even though we have a new source of music, we tend to still use popularity of music as the primary measure of quality. Instead of “best selling”, now we tend to use metrics like “most downloaded”. But it’s still quantity that drives our perception of quality.

What’s my point? Now is the time to stop measuring the quality of music by its popularity. That’s what Lady Gaga and the Big Mac have in common: they are both popular and "best-selling" in their attempts to appeal to our senses. But again, “best-selling” applies more to business than to the true quality of the product. And more often than not, it also implies “bland”.

So how do we determine what’s the best music? What’s a better measure of quality than sales? Your opinion is all that truly matters. When you go to a restaurant, do ask what item is the best seller? Probably not. You read the selections, and choose based on your appetite at the moment. The concept of “best-selling” or popularity doesn’t even come into play. Treat your music the same way. Don’t buy into the fact that something is “good” just because it has a lot of sales or downloads (or “bad” because it doesn’t). Make your choices based on your appetite at the moment, from the vast menu of music on the Internet. It shouldn’t matter if the artist has a billion downloads or a single download. If it fits your mood at the moment, that’s all that matters. Treat your music like you treat your food…who cares about popularity or sales or downloads? Who wants vanilla when you have all those flavors to choose from? Your appetite is all that truly matters. Bon appétit!


Copyright ©2010 W.A. Blevins