“The music business is a long shallow plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs… There is also a negative side.”
- Hunter S Thompson
“There is something sick about a person whose only interest is money. And the same can be said, I think for the Company whose sole goal is profit.”
- Richard J. Haayen
I can’t hold back any longer. I’ve held back from saying anything for ages but now I’ve had enough. I’ve had enough of manufactured Popstars and of Australian and World Idols. They’ve all sold their souls, right in front of millions of viewers (a scary statistic in itself).
I’ve had enough of major labels that only want to make sure their budgets are recouped and who don’t know the meaning of ‘artistic development’. I’ve had enough of the ‘copy protection’ debate. I paid for it, I should be able to make a copy or two for my personal use. The industry should have called this device ‘cash protection’ because all they are doing is money-grubbing.
I’ve had enough of multi-national music outlets who won’t buy or distribute local product but are more than willing to put up cardboard cutouts of the latest ‘gangsta’. David Chapelle, a black American comedian, made a really valid point when he said ‘the American Negro male is the most imitated man on the face of the earth’. Think about it and you’ll realise, unfortunately, how right he is. You only have to go into any mall to see groups of decidedly non-Negro youths standing around, dressed in oversized American football or basketball shirts, baseball caps on backwards and sporting attitudes and expressions ‘str8 outta Compton’. This looks all the more ridiculous by the fact that these guys could be living in Dubbo, Chelsea or Auckland. I call it the AIC Syndrome or the Appropriating Inappropriate Culture Syndrome.
Anyway, back to my main gripes. Following are some other things that piss me right off about the music industry at the moment:
1. The 'next big thing' tag - a shot to the head of any potentially good young band or over-the-top hype for talentless eyecandy.
2. Unscrupulous publicists who use anything as an excuse to promote their wards. Sometimes any publicity is NOT good publicity, especially when it involves footage of an artist bonking their boyfriend, girlfriend, a stripper or favourite pet. I like my pornstars naked but prefer my musicians/movie stars/sporting heroes clothed thanks.
3. Pubs who only put on bands who 'pull' punters. Yeah, sure, pubs have to make money, but then how is a new band supposed to build an audience if you can't play places where you could potentially gain new fans? Some bands might be able to bring a crowd of friends but does that necessarily mean they’re good?
4. Pubs who would rather pay a DJ a stack of cash to spin other people’s discs than take a chance on live performers. Considering bands don’t get a foot in the door at nightclubs, this trend is rather disturbing for traditional musicians. Almost as bad are the pubs that will only employ covers bands.
5. Music magazines that profess to be cool then put Britney Spears (or someone equally over-exposed) on their very next front cover.
6. Radio stations that profess to be cool then play Britney Spears etc., in the guise of 'trying to widen our demographic'. There is already too much of this clogging our airwaves. Give us something fresh, new and different, please.
7. Radio and television stations who dedicate themselves to lining the major label's pockets. Don't these leeches already have enough money?
8. ‘Video hit’ programming that consists mainly of American boys and girls in various states of undress, singing misogynistic rubbish to a melody-less backbeat. Doesn’t anyone know how to write a song any more?
I could go on, but I could also have a heart attack if I do. It hurts to think about all the truly talented folk I’ve met over the years who have been passed over in favour of the latest cutest boy or girl. I don't think it’s going to get better either, despite the good intentions of many dedicated folk. 'For the love of it' just doesn't have the same appeal as 'for the cash'.
Music used to be a thing of joy and celebration; something used to pass stories on from generation to generation, a living historical reference, if you will. The industry has become a money hungry cancerous beast, eating away at the general population, all the while growing tumourously fat and ugly.
While there are some great contemporary artists, more often than not they come from the independent side of the industry or, to put it another way, from the ‘non-commercial’ side of the business. In Australia, this means these artists have a hard work ethic, have to hold down day jobs to support themselves, love what they’re doing and aren’t the slightest bit interested in fashion or hype. This means no self-respecting corporate driven talent scout would even show the slightest bit of interest in them, unless they were to ‘crack’ the market under their own steam. It used to be that record companies looked to the independents to supply the next wave of talent. These days it seems an artist has to have a swag of cash, a vast crew of minders, a network of contacts, lawyers, solicitors and the ability to be in three places at once to get anywhere. An independent artist very rarely gets a look in.
The decay of the music industry into a decadent miasma will be its undoing. It won’t be a new ‘new wave’, or the next Beatles. It will be you and me who will undo it, us who spend the bucks buying music because we love it. I’m damn sure the commercial industry will become so self-absorbed, over-inflated and stodgy that we’ll all simply ignore it until it goes away. Maybe then true musicians will be heard.