By Paige Thompson
Back in the 1960’s and 70’s, it took a lot to get into the music industry. It used to be that people would look for talent and originality in the bands and musicians they would sign. The classic rock ‘n roll music we know today was the only music teens our age would listen to. But anyone can break into the business these days.
Take American Idol for example, the contestants in previous seasons have not even had to win to get a record deal. Some of the castoffs have been more successful than the actual season winner before. Has the music industry become desperate?
Music companies are looking for anyone that people will listen to on the radio. They can be just the normal person, with an average voice, who doesn’t write their own music, and people will fall in love with their music because of their “story,” and how they are just “your average Joe.” That is all fine and dandy, but now they just want to sell something instead of caring about how their artists actually sound.
But what ever happened to talent? There are a great deal of talented musicians and bands out there, but I am talking about the radio. Our radio stations like 99.7 and 98.9 play all of the music many people listen to. Ke$ha, for example, writes a lot of her own music, and I do like that, but does that really matter if she can’t sing? All Ke$ha is a girl in a trash bag, prancing around the stage, talking in weird voices. She never even sounds like she is singing. I thought that a musician had to be able to sing.
The music industry has changed drastically. I know I was not alive, or even a thought, in the 60’s and 70’s, so what do I know about the music industry then? Well I have heard a lot from my dad, who was there, and I listen to a great deal of classic rock. The industry wasn’t commercialized back then like it is today. You would pay a whopping fifteen dollars for a concert ticket, and t-shirts would not be the thirty-five dollars you see at concerts today.
Today everything is materialistic with music. In the 70’s, there were not Led Zeppelin barbie dolls or huge televised competitions to find the “next great artist.” Music was just music, and the industry was not full of commercialization like it is now. The way the music industry is now just goes to show just how much it has changed. I love the music I listen to so much because it isn’t commercialized. I like not hearing about it every day on TV or the radio, and I like not going to Target and seeing my favorite band plastered all over t-shirts and magazines.
I find it hard to be able to like someone so much, for such a long time when everyone else does and when they play that person’s music all the time. I avoid the radio as often as I can because I am afraid that if I do, I will hear Lady Gaga too much and I will not like her anymore. Sure, Lady Gaga can be commercialized as well, but at least she is talented. She has the ability to write good pop songs, she went to Tisch School of the Arts at NYU at age seventeen, and learned piano by ear at age four.
The music from the 50’s-80’s was so great because most of the bands and musicians were talented back then. They did not seem like they were concerned with being super famous or rich. But while there is still going to be commercialized music in the music world, I can only hope this dies down and the days of future music become more like the days of past music.
I don’t think you can say the music industry wasn’t commercialized at all back then. First of all, inflation has of course made concert tickets and band merchandise seemingly more expensive. There also wasn’t CD burning and music piracy back then, so bands didn’t have to rely so heavily on touring and merchandising to make money. Also, I think the Internet is partly to blame for this. Not only is it easier to get well-known as an artist, but it’s easier for listeners to be a part of the underground scene which back then was often restricted to big cities (a la CBGBs in New York).
Also, you said that, “I thought that a musician had to be able to sing.” Actually, just the singer has to sing. And there’s something to be said for people who don’t have classically wonderful voices. Back in the day, Nico had a creepy deep voice and was a notoriously crap singer, but her voice has personality. Then look at someone like Leona Lewis, who has a wonderful voice but kind of just sounds like so many other divas before her. I think the problem doesn’t lie in artists being bad singers; rather, it lies with Autotune and overproduction, so everyone sounds like a robot. That’s what really irritates me about the modern music industry. Music sounds canned, cheap and mass-produced, and if you do only listen to the radio, then you’re only getting the tip of the iceberg. There are so many cool things going on in the music industry now if you care enough to look. I know that’s how you feel, too. Maybe next time you can write about the process of discovering new music and why it’s a good idea to do so.