Pt 2: Is music dead?
In April 2008 Pirate Bay, a major illegal downloading website, was shut down and the owners were jailed for one year. The music industry see it as a great victory against the dwindling record sales.
I don’t.
Personally I’d rather see child pornography, pro-eating disorder, and other sites of twisted nature get shut down, not places hosting Britney’s latest track. Like it said in my local paper, people have been sharing cassette tapes and CDs for years, so what’s the problem now? Also, record companies leak tracks when they want feedback, but then cry when music leaks behind their backs? Pur-lease.
If record labels want to know why artists were celebrating Diamond status a decade ago, but platinum today…read below:
Cover songs.
We hear the same song being sung so many times in one lifetime. The labels and/singers can’t be bothered to come up with something original, so they reproduce the same thing over and over again. Why should I have to buy the same track that my mum bought twenty years ago and my grandma bought fifty years ago? Not gonna happen.
Length of albums.
I know it increases the chances of having songs you’ll skip/hate, but I preferred when there were 15+ songs. Now we’ve got ten. Someone on another site said it’s because a long tracklist is too expensive, but money doesn’t seem to be a problem when it’s time for a re-release. A strong album doesn’t need extra tracks six months later. A strong album should last a lifetime without anything else added.
Star guests.
If a singer is good enough then they shouldn’t have to rely on ‘special guests’ to sell records. Collaborations are nice when there is clearly chemistry between them, but the public can smell desperate tactics e.g. Ciara and many, MANY others get T-Pain (in the ass) on their tracks. Jumping on the bandwagon will only get you so far because eventually people will look past the guest and at the MAIN artist. Also, the bandwagon riders will eventually jump off and ride somewhere else, and then the single flops. Example one, Ciara’s Go Girl featuring T-pain. Example two, Kat Deluna’s Unstoppable featuring Lil Wayne.
Greed.
These labels and artists want their ‘loyal’ fans to buy their re-release album 2-3 different times (for 4 or less new songs), shell out hundreds or thousands on concert tickets, and pay for fanclub membership (where the ‘exclusive’ info provided is already on the internet for free, or it will be in a week or so).
What do you think? Is music thriving or dying?
Tagged with: music industry
Filed under: Music
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Copied from Ivory’s Intellect blog:
I agree with you 100% that’s the main reason I stopped buying albums. Its like they’re cheating us outta our money just so they can make a quick buck by putting out a wack ass album knowning fans are gonna buy it just bc we like the artist.
For example, that Keyshia Cole ‘A Different Me’ album, I’ve tried to listening to that cd since I bought it the first day it came out and still haven’t listened to all the songs. Its been sitting up in my closet and at the most I only like about 3 songs, and one was a remake of a song that she had on her last album( that ‘trust’ song). So I spent $9.99 for 3 songs. That just don’t add up to me.
Copied from Ivory’s Intellect blog:
Yeah, I (legally) listened to Cole’s latest album online and only liked one song. The last album is great and I bought it a few days after hearing it, and only skip one or two tracks. Her latest one was just to capitalise off of her popularity.
Copied from Ivory’s Intellect blog:
ivory, let me start off by saying i like your site. and i agree, music BEEN dead with big, pac, pun, hell, with marvin gaye too as far as im concerned!
music just aint what it used to be. if the chick is pretty and she can carry a tune good enough to smooth it over with AutoTune, she has a deal. i find myself re-buying old stuff like the first Monica CD, i just bought jodeci diary of a mad band the other day, i HATE the new music that is out now.
chaka and patti would have sung beyonce and keri hilson off the stage in tears. keyshia too! i do like keyshia cole though.
i’m just waiting patently for my MJB to come out with some fire, hope its sans t -pain too.
i am a music lover @ heart i love all types of music, i could go on and on about this everyday, i know songs verbatim that were made before i was born, that had to do with my mom blasting marvinj and all that other old school stuff every sat morning while she was making us clean.
*sigh*
we are in our last days…
Copied from Ivory’s Intellect blog:
There is an immediacy to everything these days.
Gotta get that album out, gotta get so many ‘featuring’ artists, gotta get the clothing line, gotta get the sports drink line, gotta get the twitter account, gotta get the publicity stunts going, gotta get ‘what’s hot’ instead of coming up with true originality, gotta use the same producers as so-and-so, gotta re-re-release, deluxe edition, the remixes, dvd videos, live versions, gotta recoup for that crap video i put out with the director who directed my competition’s last video, gotta do Cannes, gotta do Fashion Week, gotta be seen, gotta be seen, gotta be seen…
what about HEARD?
Can we focus on the artistry?
Even those good-selling artists today who others claim are uber-talented give me pause…not because of their talents (Beyonce) but because of the CONTENT of their work.
It’s too mechanized; perhaps way more mechanized, this industry is, than it’s ever been.
I will buy an album if I really and truly love the artist and the music. I hardly ever download. I’m an old-school head; I like to collect albums. I like to have it in my hand, viewing the cd sleeve so I can see not only the singer but the producers, the musicians, the technicians, all of those un-named faces that help make the Rihanna’s and the Beyonce’s and the Ciara’s, etc. of today.