tyketto

SI has mainly hit it all on the head here. To that though, I’m going to add 3 more things.

v. “Pop then ain’t what pop is now.” Thanks to modern sociality what was considered pop in earlier times isn’t what pop is now. In a sense it is, and history repeats itself, but pop in its true sense is all but gone. In the past 15 – 25 years, true Pop has been replaced by bubblegum pop. Catchy lyrics that appeal to teens that get constant play rotation (read: every 30 minutes to an hour) on a radio station. Videos with the same theme (cars, women, choreographed dancing) with the same rotation. Once that flooded the airwaves, there was no room left for true pop. Perfect example: compare the airplay of Crowded House back in the mid-late 80s to say, N’Sync or the Backstreet Boys from 7 years ago. Big difference, but one was based on image, while the other was based on artistry. Without a good strong following (like what U2 has), it is hard to stay in the game for a long time. That’s what makes it hard for CH, Bruce, and others who have relied on their talent to get any mainstream airplay. Nowadays, it doesn’t take talent to make music, when all you would need is something produced. History provides the proof of that. The same idea that was used to create the Monkees was the same idea that produced New Kids on the Block, that was the same for Backstreet Boys, that was for N’Sync.

vi. IP. Thank Metallica for this. with the whole Napster thing that went on with them, the record labels found another way to make money, and that is all that they are after now. Ottmar Liebert (flamenco guitarist) wrote in his blog a few years ago, that he remembers walking into RCA records one day, and having lunch with the company president. The president was a musician himself. Nowadays, you would never find the CEO there, and he isn’t a musician. It is a sad state of affairs when people running the record companies have no experience in the music industry, where previously, they knew it, because they played themselves. Nowadays, Record Companies (read: those under the RIAA) care about intellectual property. If you make music under their label, they will make sure that they own the music, not the musician, even if the musician wrote it themselves. When royalties come in, while the musician gets the fame, the labels get the money. When the musician dies, the royalties still go to the label. They can do anything they want with the music, even sell it. Two good cases in point: Apple records auctioning the Beatles recordings. Paul McCartney wrote a good number of those. Who won the auction? Michael Jackson.

EMI recently announced that they are looking at sell their entire collection as MP3s, without any copyright protections. With the number of labels EMI has, do you think those artists are going to get anything from them? No, because EMI owns the music. Who would want to work in a world where one doesn’t own what they’ve spent their time and energy to create? That is why some musicians have mainly started their own, and have more of a cult following. They may be smaller in popularity now because they aren’t totally mainstream, but it does give them the creative freedom to do what they want to do, plus they own the material they create.

vii. Purpose and passion. The above kind of deflates the meaning and purpose of wanting to do that in today’s world. Once again, unless you have a major following (U2, Michael Jackson, Madonna, etc), you’re really not going to last long, unless you play the game that the companies-that-be direct you to. With that following, and sales of their music still ranking up in the millions, and still occurring, musicians can still carry on their passion, like caring for children (Jackson), goodwill (Bono), empowerment (Madonna), and the like. With those being materialistic and thinking only of themselves, there really is no purpose that musicians have; no making a difference.

When you have things that appear more materialistic, the scenes change, and lost meaning, it’s tough to try to make it in this industry. It’s a fun job, yes, but it is still a job. It’s more like sales and advertising. If you can’t keep up with the Joneses and sell yourself, you’re never going to get ahead. And what generally happens to a poor performing salesman?

Sad state of affairs, the music industry is today.

BL.