The Music Industry Today

By Stephen Knoll on July 22, 2012
I’d like to preface this article by letting you know, this is only my opinion on music and it favors my type of music. I will try and be as objective as possible during this, but music is something I am overly passionate about and it’s hard for me to keep journalistic integrity at points. So, with that said, I’ll begin.

Music is quite possibly the greatest medium of expression ever created. Music is not only universal, but it is the universe.. Songs and melodies can be interpreted across cultures, races, and religions; anything at all really. No matter who or what you are you can identify other cultures sad songs as well as their celebration songs. It’s pure expression that everyone can understand, and for those people who say they don’t like music, they probably also don’t like living. Music is unique in that no matter how it changes and evolves- it still captivates the minds of the people. Art has gotten abstract and non-sequitur to the point where it needs to be explained in depth and analyzed like it’s a math formula. Now the same goes for writing in that it is studied over and over to find that deeper meaning and metaphorical significance, granted a lot of times I think both are over-analyzed beyond what the creator had intended. Don’t go biting my head off at those last two things because one I still love looking at art and thinking about what it means and second obviously I love writing because I’m a journalist, but the point I’m making is that music never gets analyzed it simply gets felt.

The best thing about music is that it moves people instinctively. I’ve seen and experienced it myself that when that music gets going you resist and first, but slowly and surely you begin to at the very least find a rhythm and sway with it. The club scene is the best example of this phenomenon. I would imagine that 90% of the people in there have white-collar jobs and are kind of boring in the outside world, but step into that club, get a little bit tipsy if you like, and that music begins moving you in ways that are either awkward or amazing and in any case freeing. I hate dancing, but at a rock show with that drum and bass beating into my chest and head? I can’t help but start getting into it. It’s just so expressive and free. There are just so many styles and genres that each have their own type of dance whether it be ska, rock, or hip-hop.

The music styles have begun to shift more and more into that dance club vibe though and that is depressing. It’s not that I so much hate it, but when it begins to dominate the airwaves that’s what saddens me. Don’t get me wrong – in a club or on a long road trip the current pop music is great; it’s catchy, singable, danceable, and repetitive…all the ingredients for a radio hit now. The unfortunate part about that shift is that everything begins to blend together and sound so much alike that it’s lost its musical diversity. There are outliers that break the mold such as Adele and Goyte, but Chris Brown, Justin Beiber, and Lady Gaga – it all blends into the same poppy mush that has a lot of die hard music fans disgusted. Some have shifted towards the indie scene with the hipsters; I have my own personal problems with that but that’s another article.

The underground music scene has always been the place to find the new trend-setters in music though. In fact it was the underground that pretty much birthed punk-rock and all the deviants of it. People like The Clash and Iggy Pop made a living underground and rocked so hard they busted all the way to mainstream while remaining true to themselves. But that was decades ago and now breaking into the mainstream has whole new connotations for the underground. Now there is such an unnatural dislike for becoming popular in the indie scene that is just baffling. I can’t comprehend why people are so quick to throw the term sellout around like nothing when a band gets big. This exact thing happened when A Day To Remember’s 4th studio album, What Separates You From Me, came out and sold incredibly well. Folks, the band didn’t sell out, people just really liked that album. Let’s get a real definition for sell out here: a sellout is a band that compromises the soul and integrity of their music for the lone purpose of making money and becoming famous. Selling out isn’t making the same music and selling tons of albums – that’s being awesome.

My main point here is that music is shifting and gravitating towards mass produced singles and hits with no real sustenance anymore. There are few pop artists that really try to make a coherent album, instead they simply crank out radio hits that sell well on iTunes. iTunes has made a huge impact on this trend though and can be linked as a major reason for it. It used to be that you had to buy a whole album to get the songs you wanted, but the iTunes revolution brought it back to being able to pick and choose what songs you liked off the album and instead buying simple little singles. With this theory in hand record labels reach out to grab the next fad, mass produce hits, and cash in while the fad lasts. Unfortunately, music is a business and this tactic is destroying the integrity of the industry. The good news is that music is the one medium that will never die, and while mainstream music may suck, I think those who really do care about music know that the industry is still thriving and quality music is always somewhere waiting to be found.

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