Media: things that come between.
Live music is mediated by our bodies, by the skills of the music makers and the tools they use (for example, musical instruments or technologies of amplification), by space, by the social expectations of the listeners, and by the will to be engaged with the music, the body, the space, the music makers, and the other performance participants.Other music (recorded music, commodified music, not yet performed music) is mediated by many technologies – print, broadcasting, recordings, internet etc. -- and the people who control them, by business as well as art. Recorded music is schizophonic (separated from its sources).The separation of sound from the sight of sound via audio recordings will likely be thought of as a small historical blip in human history.
The distinction between live and recorded music is increasingly blurred and arguably less relevant in the 21st century than in previous eras.
Media carries music away from ourselves, beyond our communities, and beyond the social habits of the local.
