In Reply to: Deteriorating State of Today's Music..... posted by Todd Krieger on May 11, 2006 at 19:02:44:
i'm 40 years old (a gen-x'er). i'm an avid musicologist and i'm always on the hunt for something new and exciting. so i do not put the blinders on to new music at all. i think what the problem is, is that not even 20 years ago a new artist/band could get signed by a major record label and not be expected to have a "hit" album on the first release and sometimes even the second release. sometimes even if the artist/band had a small but consistant fan-base that would be enough for a major label to keep the talent on the roster. now since all the mega-mergers in the 90's, the greed of shareholders and the ploriferation(sp?) of the "beautiful people" (but with little talent) that is force-fed to the masses, it is very difficult for the many artists/bands out there that do have talent to get signed to (what's left of) a major label. and if you do get signed, you better have a hit album right away because there is no such thing as "artist development" anymore. even bands that made a big impression on their first release better keep up the momentum or they'll be dropped faster than a hot potato. even the "beautiful people" can't avoid that trap!fortunately, there are the indie labels out there and i suppose to some extent the internet can have advantages for the little guy. but at the same time it's really up to the music lover to hunt out the good new music, but it is very easily overshadowed by the major label crap that bombards the airwaves, billboard 100, MTV/VH1 and displays at record stores. you almost have to stumble upon the great new music by accident (for example: i discovered Gomez a few years ago without ever hearing them anywhere and they are even on a major label!).
downloading of music for free probably isn't helping things either. i feel like one of the oddballs out there now that actually "buys" the CD. so many times i have overheard younger people than me say to each other in record stores "don't buy that, you can download it for free or burn my free copy of it." how the hell can we ever expect an artist to continue their talented craft if this is the result more than 50% of the time. that's a major cut to them, hence this is why the major labels have gotten so cut-throat with their own employees.
so it's a combination of many things that have "deteriorated" the music industry and therefore has spilled over into what we hear in the mainstream.
my advice: do not participate in free downloads of artists/bands that you really like or most of all, that are on an indie label.
JR
"spin the black circle!"
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Follow Ups
- more like the Deteriorating State of the Music Industry...(longish) - vinyl*junkie 08:41:38 05/12/06 (2)
- Right on... - Sugardawg34 11:57:52 05/12/06 (1)
- Exactly! - vinyl*junkie 12:41:02 05/12/06 (0)