Music - Is it dictated?

shifty_uk

shifty_uk

shifty_uk

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Just following on from the ridiculous lyrics thread.

There's a wealth of amazing music out there that just doesn't get a word in with the big companies, in terms of publicity, radio time and so on yet the 'charts' are full of uselessness.

It seems those who don't specifically go out looking for decent music are just spoon fed the toss that's bombarded on Radio 1 and the likes.

The corporations/powers that be must pick and choose what comes out, the trends that flow, bombard it so much on the radio, TV and so fourth that everyone(people that don't think) just give in and say they like it because it's 'popular'.

Take this Pitbull fella for example, I've not met a single person who doesn't think his tracks are completely ridiculous. Yet, every new song that comes out gets an insane amount of publicity and people just lap it up because it's there and nothing else is.

Might be stating the obvious or being ridiculous and thinking too much into this but I bet these companies could release practically anything, give it enough air time and the brain dead would just buy into it because of apparent popularity!
 
If you're arrogant, good looking and have little/no morals.

You can get very far in life.

People get lucky, some have an amazing list of contacts in the business.
 
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First of all, just because you think that Pitbull's music is ridiculous, that doesn't mean it is. There are obviously people who like him, otherwise he'd be out of business.

Secondly, I think that there is a problem in that music is so much easier to obtain nowadays. Kids in the past would save up money, go into the record shop and buy the records they really wanted. These days, everyone wants massive music collections so they take everything they can get, even if they don't listen to it.
 
In a word, yes!

Ask Lupe Fiasco.

His first two albums were amazing.

His third album was forced upon him by his record label and its clearly nowhere near as good as his first two and he's openly come out and stated he doesn't like the album himself.

According to his contract which was for 5 albums, the first 2 were of his own creations, 3rd one the record labels, 4th one his again and the 5th the record labels again to try and cash in on him as his contract runs out.

Shocking, but lets not forget this is a business.

http://slumz.boxden.com/f87/lupe-fi...-he-hates-lasers-forced-do-show-goes-1503306/
 
shifty_uk said:
There's a wealth of amazing music out there that just doesn't get a word in with the big companies, in terms of publicity, radio time and so on yet the 'charts' are full of uselessness.

It seems those who don't specifically go out looking for decent music are just spoon fed the toss that's bombarded on Radio 1 and the likes.
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Read back what you've wrote and think about it.

All this is in YOUR opinion. You are obviously the minority and most people like the "uselessness" For the record I don't but I'm the minority as well.
 
They couldn't release "practically anything" because popular music has to have a quality which means it appeals to as many people as possible.

Record labels rely on people who don't have a real interest in music in order to sell records. That's why radio stations like Radio 1 are so popular, because people can just tune in if they want to listen to some non specific music and not be bombarded with stuff that's challenging.

Challenging is probably the key word here. Popular music isn't supposed to be challenging and the business relies on that, and on people's willingness to absorb "catchy" tunes.
 
The industry just follow the "underground" scenes and see what trends are happening then copy that into their commercial products.
 
Music today is utter ****. Whenever she's got the radio on, I'm hearing the same tune that was playing 10years ago, with a different artist and the odd change here and there. And the voice even sounds the same. It's bizzare. Music is dying. Go and buy Bob Dylan "Modern Times", or George Harrison "Cloud Nine", or better yet go to a local gig, and see some young kids having a go. The Industry churns out rubbish. And as for rap. Jesus.
 
TheCenturion said:
It's just that your post reads like you're posting it as fact :confused:

And you're using your opinions to then come to a conclusion that the music industry is dying, which is obviously fallacious.
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I said Music is dying. Meaning the quality of music. I didn't say the music Industry is dying. I said the Industry churns out rubbish.
 
Of course music sales are dictated

Anecdotally, it is cheaper and more profitable for studios to keep 10 Pitbulls on payroll than to sustain one Pink Floyd or Robbie, with their expenses and needs. And the little boat with Pitbul, Akon and whoever is T-Pain of the moment is easier to steer than something like U2 or even Coldplay.

Promotion is quite easy too. The days of MTV where Paul King would play alternative and grunge for 120 minutes are over, the music television is faceless, and set for profit, not exploring niche trends. People like most of us or dmpoole are not profitable, we don't buy 10+ records a month. Our tastes are difficult to change or adjust. We mostly have our fav records already. Kids on the other hand. They do buy. And you can change their tastes.

Now, each song TV stations play costs money, and most stations would rather save as much as they can. So every studio has a showreel of the week that's relatively royalty free to play for TV and radio stations in a loop until cows come home. And very quickly it turns out that you don't need a Taio to be better than Eminem to sell and make a profit, if you surround the kids with the same showreel of 20-30 songs in TV, radio and DJ in a club on saturday night, then Taio that week needs to be better than the other Ne-yos, Ke$has and Lil Waynes. In a level cesspool, any solid floater will automatically become the one on top regardless of how much it stinks.

Puzzle pieces are fully interchangeable - you can mix and match them for effect - pair Lil with a random girl, Pit with a random boy, prop one with the other, pull sinking "come back" artists to the surface, or introduce new generation via duet with any background member of already floating piece and vice versa, etc. If any of the "stars" get too big and too expensive to keep you set them loose and without constant place on free showreel they won't get any air play and are bound to sink on their own. As an example, few years ago everything on top of the pool "featured" Wyclef Jean, he's still very active, release a record every year, but no one cares, he's just grew too big, too known, too unmanageable and too expensive for the pit, everything features WillIAm now instead, so on, so forth.
 
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Vespasian777 said:
I said Music is dying. Meaning the quality of music. I didn't say the music Industry is dying. I said the Industry churns out rubbish.
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Here is my argument:

Musicians are still producing music AND there is a lot of music being planned for the future. Therefore, music is not dying.

The music industry produces music. People listen to it, and it is popular, according to some people it is good. Therefore it cannot be inherrantly rubbish. The only way there would be a case for it to be rubbish, is if EVERYONE hated it. Then you'd have grounds to call it rubbish. However, as this is not the case, I can safely say that 'the industry churns out rubbish' is not a valid conclusion.
 
TheCenturion said:
Here is my argument:

Musicians are still producing music AND there is a lot of music being planned for the future. Therefore, music is not dying.

The music industry produces music. People listen to it, and it is popular, according to some people it is good. Therefore it cannot be inherrantly rubbish. The only way there would be a case for it to be rubbish, is if EVERYONE hated it. Then you'd have grounds to call it rubbish. However, as this is not the case, I can safely say that 'the industry churns out rubbish' is not a valid conclusion.
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I don't need everyone to hate it to have grounds to call it rubbish. I just have to think it's ****. Peoples opinions will always vary. What's your point?
 
Vespasian777 said:
I don't need everyone to hate it to have grounds to call it rubbish. I just have to think it's ****. Peoples opinions will always vary. What's your point?
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I'm not sure that I quite understand what your point is. You've said that music is dying and that the industry churns out rubbish. This is your opinion, not everyone shares this opinion.

My point is that it is due to this difference in opinion which has caused the music industry to be in the state that it is at the moment.

I hate the terms 'good music' and 'bad music'. They literally mean nothing. It should be 'music that you like/dislike'
 
there are still a lot of people unaware of any music other than the charts and there usually the ones heavily advertised. the music that is internet based is always better because its so diverse which mean that there is always something to suit you but that then mean the next guys doesn't quite like what you do an buys something different
 
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