blog.mp3adrenalin.com

So, Avril Lavigne wants to be my girlfriend! Sorry Avril, your song is like, so whatever. Why is that?At one time, the strategy for success in the recording business went something like this: A person that owned a recording facility, otherwise known as a producer, would scout artists on the basis of being creative, expressive, and unique, and seek to bring them under contract. Then, they would go into to the studio hoping to capture that “magic,” and beget a hit record.For a while cultural influence could easily be observed in the fact that there were musically distinct regional dialects. Cities such as New Orleans, Memphis, Los Angeles, Nashville, Chicago and Detroit all had their own sounds. Styles became more homogenized as the business grew, however.The famous Beatles’ album “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” released in 1967, was a watershed for popular music. Rock music was formally elevated from the role of merely serving as ritual dance music to taking on the characteristics of serious art. By the 1970s, much of the rock music arguably had more artistic merit than most of the so-called art music being composed at the time. In fact, some of the rock musicians were refugees from that very scene. However, by the year 1978 an album called “Frampton Comes Alive” by Peter Frampton had shattered previous sales records and attracted the attention of business people who were not at all musically-oriented. These newcomers then began to buy into the music business. As they bought more and more, like all bean-counters, they began to influence the production process. Marketing specialists analyzed and scrutinized every aspect of the business. Rather than relying solely on the talent and creativity of people that could sometimes be unpredictable and difficult to manage, they developed ways to manufacture “hits” and “stars” through engineering and calculated marketing. What this meant, among other things, was that artists lost bargaining power and control over their careers.In the early 1980s MTV hit the scene. The music business adapted to a visual medium. Being that the visual aspects of product viability then equaled or surpassed the musical aspects in importance; and given the influence of other previously mentioned factors related to the new business model, the qualifications of the potential labor pool were significantly reevaluated. For example, why did guitar solos eventually almost disappear from rock and roll? Well, guitar solos are hard to play. From a labor management standpoint, the lower the skill level required, the less bargaining power labor has.There is also the issue of increased media conglomeration, where the same corporation owns the radio stations in every town. This does not encourage the type of market that is conducive to innovation, creativity or free expression.Urban music is dominating the current popular music scene. Back in the day, as it were, when people would ask me if I liked rap music I would reply, “How else can I find out what’s going on in the world?” This was actually before I heard Chuck D describing rap as the “black CNN.”However, I don’t care much for most of today’s big selling rap. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing personal against Young Jeezy. After all, a man has to eat. What I lament is that corporate leeches, people with no interest in the music whatsoever, exploit rap. What was once a culturally-based art form growing out of the courage of those faced with struggles imposed by circumstance is now in large part a packaged culture marketed to people who have never been near an inner city. Why would someone who is born into a situation where they have access to relative safety and economic opportunity wish to trade that for a lifestyle of street violence and crime? For every suburban or small town gangsta’ wannabe, there is likely someone from the projects who would have gladly saved them the embarrassment of all that posing and just traded places with them outright.Additionally, commercialization of rap tends to trivialize the aspects of social criticism in the music that can serve to draw attention to issues that we as a nation need to address.Making money has always been important in the music business. There was a time, however, when the most influential people did actually care about music. Those days are long gone.The real losers in this have been the musical audience, and our culture.Benjamin Harris is a senior guitar performance major and can be reached at dgp2h@mtsu.edu.