The Music Industry

[Guest Yahve]

A funny topic I was surprised not to actually see posted so here it is.  Lets start out with a view on how shit has taken over the airwaves.

[Reverend Jax]

Gee, I though it was so obvious, that it didn't belong in the music thread, but in the same thread that contains the topics:

 

Air is Good

Being Rich is Nice

Being Poor is not as Nice

Joy is better than Pain

Hunger Sucks

If there is a Hell, it probably sucks

If there is a Heaven, I bet it's nice

Germans talk funny

 

Oh well....

[The NZA]

Nah, sarcasm aside, id say while this feels like Current Events, i agree with it bein here.  

Were talkin bout music - perhaps the greatest art form at best, lil more than "another corporate slut at the capitalist gangbang" (thank you, Fr. Bill Hicks) at worst.  

Mediums like film manage through this, despite the fact that figures i read showed the cinema inustry makin less last year than videogames.   Indies can still get some exposure, and great ones can have more staying power...even the quality of DVD's, while not helpin, is not pushin the theatre experience out of business, tho i like the new ones that are tryin to keep up.

Comics, well...theyve been barstardized for years, gonna hit rock bottom before they fully turn around, sadly, but i kinda look forward to it.

Now music...that Spin editor has a point when he says its naive to expect the industry to treat music as anythin but means to an end for stocks & such.  But, again...i hate the Recording Industry.  They dont listen to fans; for years now, it hasnt been fans demanding the music they like, but especially in the pop scene, the other way around - the industry's flooded the radio stations with what it wants to sell, and for the most part, we've been buyin.  So forgive me if i dont shed a tear if the same industry notorious for supportin rock stars' drug habits, chewing them up & spitting them out is feelin the crunch of the "digital age".

But this age can do much for music itself.  Aside from the growing popularity of compilation albums we burn for ourselves (which presumably the execs tried to answer, besides sadly tryin to shut down the mp3 scene, with corporate compliations like that Now that's what I call music, which from when i wored in a record store, did sell like hotcakes in its first album or two), there's also the popularity of self-production: again, composers can now reasonably purchase sound engineering equipment & high quality software and record themselves, literally, out of their garages - the Foo Fighters did it, for one.  Athena'd ( :kat: ) know more here than i would, tho.

And while I'm no Pearl Jam fan, i respect them tryin to sell tickets outside of those sharks at TicketMaster; musicians make their money in concerts & merchandising (i.e., concert shirts), scalping them there is far worse to me than burning thier music.  

I do look forward to havin digital/satellite radio & seein what the rest of the country's niche stations play.  Wish i could forsee a revolution in the industry, but its an industry & will stay one, best i can hope for is that the real talent out there that's gettin unexposed 'cause it dont have the general pop look (and possibly even plays instruments!) get exposure, and that people stop complacently listenin to the "hit stations" on the radio, supportin the industry & its singles, or worse yet, filler albums.  

One last point: I think Jazz is the best example of a pure musical art form.  Unless you sell out like Kenny G, your ass aint makin a dime in jazz...those folks who still perform, they do it for love of the music - that's where the good shit comes from.  No deadlines, no financial inspiration, no pressure, play 'cause you wanna be heard.

PS Good conversation on MP3's here.

[Reverend Jax]

Good stuff. You mentioned Pearl Jam. I think Pearl Jam is funny becasue they are the one band that really did everything backwards. The started immediately as the biggest thing in the world. the had videos, hit singles on the radio and a huge mainstream following. As the years followed, they went more underground, more cult-bandish. There hav ebeen no videos since their first album, except for one (Do The Evolution, which was all animated). That's five albums from which came one one video. And with every album, they seem t care less and less what the mainstream thinks of them and their music and just do what makes them and their true fans happy. Most bands don't really care how much Ticketmaster sells their tickets for, so long as they don't raise the price so high that no one buys them. But they do care, and hav gone through so much shit going up against the beast.

 

But this isn't about Pearl Jam, this is about the stupid ass industry. Like you said IC, I'm not sheddign any tears over an industry that had it so good for years through their own assholery and are suddenly seeing difficulties ahead which make churning out crap and making back billions a little less easy. These monkeys have to realize people ain't putting up with their shit much longer nad if they don't seriously do some revamping of their buiness technics, they are going to find themselves in the same situation as the Catholic Church did in 1492 when some dude named Martin Luther decided to give them a list of the things they needed to change. They can listen and try to make a change, or ignore it, and be stubborn and set in their ways, and lose out big time in the long run.