Reviews:
 ·Comcast
| He has a Good point. I am glad I can read the article instead of your entitlement minded bias. The problem is unless you are a headliner band like U2 that can pull in a crowd at a concert venue, a career in music is next impossible. Thanks to illegal downloading, the album is now worthless, which means less profit that can be turned around to promote new talent. Has anybody noticed that we do not any superstars of the bit torrent age; where are today’s U2, Rolling Stones, Janet Jacksons; all I see are American Idol and Hanna Montana. Furthermore, illegal downloading had devastated the independent record store. Today it is either ITunes or Best Buy for recordings and if you are lucky as in here in Portland Oregon, we have a single Independent and the only store selling classical music. |
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KearnstdElf WizardPremium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | you mean a legal download gap they could have filled back nearly 10 years ago when they heard about napster? nope instead they spent years in court rooms and not selling DRM free high quality tracks.
in any other industry being slow to pick up a new trend usually means death. but not music, you just fight the new trend rather then have made the right moves when the trend was new.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports |
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2 edits | reply to Scatcatpdx
said by Scatcatpdx:I am glad I can read the article instead of your entitlement minded bias. The problem is unless you are a headliner band like U2 that can pull in a crowd at a concert venue, a career in music is next impossible. Thanks to illegal downloading, the album is now worthless, which means less profit that can be turned around to promote new talent. Has anybody noticed that we do not any superstars of the bit torrent age; where are today’s U2, Rolling Stones, Janet Jacksons; all I see are American Idol and Hanna Montana. Furthermore, illegal downloading had devastated the independent record store. Today it is either ITunes or Best Buy for recordings and if you are lucky as in here in Portland Oregon, we have a single Independent and the only store selling classical music. I don't think the lack of superstar bands today has much to do with piracy. I think a better reason is the way the music business operates these days. Back in the day, many bands started off touring clubs, bars, and other small venues. They often did this for years before they managed to cut a deal for an album released on a label of a decent size. I won't call them a "major label" because, a few decades ago, there were many more record companies out there, before they got gobbled up or forced out by the music conglomerates. And once a band had something out there, it often got played on local radio stations as DJ's discovered it. That was back when stations weren't owned by huge chains, and local personnel had a say in the music a station played. Now, it's all dictated by corporate headquarters so that radio sounds exactly the same no matter where you are. So, if you're a local band, say, in Chicago, good luck getting your local Clear Channel station to play you. The people there may want to throw your self-produced disc on, but their playlists are sent to them, so if you aren't known by the consultants who tell the people at Clear Channel's HQ what should be played in Chicago, then you'd have a better chance of getting on the air if you broke into the studio and did it yourself.
Now, everything has changed. Artists often aren't discovered after they've toured locally and regionally for several years; they're manufactured by the media companies. Do you think Britney Spears was found by some agent after playing small venues for a few years? Hardly. She was groomed for the part from an early age. Ashlee Simpson? Would anyone with...um..."talent" like hers stand a chance if it weren't for her sister? Jennifer Lopez? She only got a record deal because she looks good and because she was already known, so she was moved into music as a way to expand her "brand" into another area. And I won't even mention all the "boy-bands" that were creations of record company execs. All of these so-called artists are creations of the record companies, and the companies like it that way. First, it makes these "musicians" beholden to the corporations that created them, which is good for the companies' bottom lines. Second, they're totally disposable. Once their stardom starts to wane, they can be easily cast aside and replaced with the new flavor of the week. The side effect of all this is that there are very few superstars anymore. Music these days is tightly focused on hitting target demographics, so if you're a record exec wanting to constantly reach the teen demographic, then you don't want bands your listeners will grow up with; you want to constantly change your focus to keep hitting kids as they reach your chosen age range. I remember when MTV turned 25, and there was almost no mention of it on-air and no musical trip down memory lane. In an article, an exec was asked about this, and he said that it was because the channel is focused on its current viewers and has no reason to want to tell them how old it is, since its history would mean nothing to them. And you mentioned American Idol. That show is the music industry's dream come true. Not only do the record companies not have to find new artists, but they get to see what the public likes, then sign the winners and runners-up to record deals. And if those artists don't stand the test of time, it's no big deal, since a new season will be on the air soon enough with new artists to promote.
Just my opinion, but I think the lack of superstars these days has much more to do with the music industry's business decisions than anything else. |
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| reply to Scatcatpdx
said by Scatcatpdx: Furthermore, illegal downloading had devastated the independent record store. Today it is either ITunes or Best Buy for recordings and if you are lucky as in here in Portland Oregon, we have a single Independent and the only store selling classical music. No, the Best Buys and Wal-Marts have killed the independent record store. They sold for less than the indies could and bought in more volume. Plus, you didn't have to make a special trip. Might as well lump in Amazon and all the other online retailers that handle CDs too.
The decline of the independent record stores started long before anybody heard of Napster, and long before broadband was widespread.
AFAIC, the only decent act you mentioned as "Superstars" is the Stones. I've never liked Janet Jackson or U2 and have always changed the station if they were played on the radio. |
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| Yep. The big chains grabbed all the customers looking for "mainstream" artists, since they could buy a CD while they were in there getting shoes, toilet paper, and mops. This left the indie stores only the people looking for more obscure artists not carried by the mass-market stores. That might have kept them afloat had it not been for online sales, since those sites could sell to the whole world and aggregate all those niche customers, getting product to them just as fast as the local stores could order it, at a lower cost. |
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 KrKHeavy Artillery For The Little GuyPremium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
 ·AT&T DSL Service
| reply to Scatcatpdx
said by Scatcatpdx:I am glad I can read the article and see the RIAA's entitlement minded bias. The problem is unless you are a headliner band like U2 that can pull in a crowd at a concert venue, a career in music is next impossible. Thanks to the RIAA, the amount bands get from an album is now worthless, which means little to zero income that can be used while the band creates more music. Thanks to downloading of music on the Internet, bands that don't have a chance under the current system can gain exposure and pick up fans, meaning one day they will be able to issue their own albums, and make a fair amount of the proceeds, as well as get more gigs and eventually concerts, in which they pretty much keep all the money. There, I fixed it for you.
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"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini
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DesdinovaPremium
join:2003-01-26
Gaithersburg, MD | As someone who's worked in the music industry for decades, I applaud your post in ways that are FAR beyond a simple thumbs up!! Excellent observations! |
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KearnstdElf WizardPremium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | but a decade ago did you see the internet as a new business venture for selling your product like pretty much every other major business in the world or did you see it as a terrible enemy that must be stamped out?
what hurt the industry bad was not pouncing the net full force on the first months they discovered the scale of downloading.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports |
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 TransmasterDon't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY | reply to ISurfTooMuch
There speaks the truth. |
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DesdinovaPremium
join:2003-01-26
Gaithersburg, MD | reply to Kearnstd
Quite a few of us on the creative / production side both anticipated and loved the possibilities promised by such an open and accessible communications medium, especially my indie clients. It was the suits in the Ivory Tower that reacted with such paranoia, much the same as they are now. *sigh* |
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| reply to KrK
do nor take my argument and turn them into straw men you fixed nothing. |
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KrKHeavy Artillery For The Little GuyPremium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK | Ok, you were just plain wrong then. Thanks for clearing that up. |
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