My thoughts......

Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2004 9:00 pm

The industry has been using the same formula for the past 5 or 6 years and only promoting acts that fit within that formula.

I think consumers are tired of listening to Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and the rest of the pop crowd. It all sounds exactly the same. The acts that do break new ground are lucky to get noticed in the mainstream music scene. It seems like the focus of the music industry is more on the marketing and selling t-shirts than trying to bring new acts to the forefront. Until they figure this out, they will continue to lose sales as fans look to the internet for their fresh new music.

That's my 2 cents worth...
Ron

ubw newbie Joined: Feb 04, 2004 Location: Chicago Posts: 9

I could write for days and days and days about the problems and shortcomings of the music industry. The problems can be summed up simply though, the business of music is run, at the commercial level anyway, by businessmen with little or no creative insight. As a result, with a few exceptions, the top 40 airwaves are dominated by watered down metal, punk, rap, and soul as well as the teenie bopper crap that has been in vogue for the last 5 or so years.

In the general listening public, there are very few people who are able to decipher what is fresh and what isn't. Usually they have to be encouraged one way or another. In the biggest record buying demographic, teenagers (girls in particular), MTV has the single greatest influence on what is sold and listened to. MTV, who is owned by Viacom, one of (if not the, I don't have the numbers handy) biggest media corporations in the world. Same goes for almost EVERY radio station on the air. These are not people who are interested in exposing fresh new acts from any genre, rather, they have a vested interest in keeping the status quo. That way the big boys make money, and keep control of what's being sold everywhere. If a fresh act does come along, they scurry to crank out as many copy-cat acts as possible. In rock, the last genuine act to bring anything unique to the table was the White Stripes, feel about them as you may, but now we're currently stuck with Jet, who, I don't know about the rest of you, but that counting song makes me very...uh...stabby....As far as other rock groups, you can narrow mindedly trace most of them back to Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Dave Matthews Band. Over ten years, and very little new sound brought to the table, and even then, how fresh was Green Day, or to a lesser degree, Nirvana?

The internet brings an interesting new wrinkle to the equation, and if you think about it, you can realize why the suits are so terrified of free range listening (you don't think they would be raising such a fuss about "the loss of cd sales", do you? Shit, they don't seem to care about CD burners, and I, for one, have "stolen" about 50 times more music that way than downloading). Anyone on this board can testify to the quality of music that exists outside the corporate controlled airwaves, and if that becomes easier to spread, they are facing an exodus of young listeners. See, they aren't concerned people "stealing" music from their acts, they're scared of people exploring the other stuff out there without having to throw down money for albums, which creates a MUCH bigger problem for them. Fortunately, as long as sites like this, garageband, et al, exist, there's little they can do about it. We're in a midst of an unstoppable revolution that should be very fun to watch.

There will always be a market for easy to digest bubble gum pop made by beautiful people. There are enough people out there that aren't complex enough to digest anything more that those albums will always sell. But, my hope is that movements like the internet, an increase in non-Viacom music stations (I tune in quite regularly to FUSE, while continuing a long standing MTV boycott), and general social unrest like we have in this world right now, we are probably gonna see some very drastic changes in the world of music over the next couple of years.

That's the way I see it anyway.

Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2004 6:05 pm

Well thought out and well said!!!

I also boycott MTV, and have been for over 5 years.

-minusme

ubw newbie Joined: Feb 04, 2004 Location: Chicago Posts: 9

Thanks! Plenty of room for debate in my rant, but that's what makes for a good thread.

I'm strongly of the belief that anybody that cares about music should hate MTV...but it's not easy...they've been making it alot easier by down sizing the "M" though...

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 12:44 pm

I think VH1 has done much better job sticking to the music.

Pretty much all of their programming is music related..

..Bands Reunited is pretty funny.....
..The 80's show is pretty funny.....

Again emphasis on the music and bands, and not on shows like;

(The Real World) What the hell was that about?? Nothing to do with music!

Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2004 3:39 am

Well.. When I think MTV, just about the last thing I think is music. VH1 used to be music related, but recently I havn't seen much of it....

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2004 7:53 am

I get to watch VH1 quite a lot, plus VH1 Classics. It tends to show a lot of 80s and 90s stuff. I also watch The AMP. It seems a lot better for showing stuff that wouldn't normally get onto the MTV Channels. I never watch Top of the Pops (in the UK) anymore, mainly because it's just dominated by the latest trends, and very little original stuff gets played on it anymore.
The major record labels know which tv music shows to aim at, and how to get their acts shown all the time, so a lot of talent is being missed out on.

Websites like UBW and others can only benefit new talent and spread the word about new artists, many of which can actually bypass the major labels and get themselves noticed. I've been making music for years and had given up on any sort of recognition for what I was producing, but now sites like this one have given me a chance to make a bit of a name for myself and hopefully let other people enjoy my music. I've even had a request from a DJ in Portugal, asking if he can use "Never Alone" on his local radio show.

Tim B (aka mistrust)

Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 5:54 pm

Whats wrong with the industry ? The same thats wrong with the world.

I'll name two. Money, Greed. Whats wrong with artists ? Laziness and babyness !

Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2004 8:13 pm

technology will provail and the indie artists will be heard...there will be ways we haven't even thought of that will help connect the audience to the artist. I know this board is a stepping stone.

Gary

My thoughts......

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