At 10:18 AM,
Friday, February 07, 2003
Star Drifter posted the following:
The Music Industry
Rear-Ending and the Great Reacharound
I read just recently that a hip-hop committee is rather upset about Pepsi trading a song from their genre in for Ozzy. I'll start by stating that I have two reasons why this could be good; Ozzy can no longer speak like a human being, and I'd prefer artistry to having to look at those ass-ugly Ozbornes.
But something bothers me. What kind of artist needs PEPSI to sponsor them? PEPSI does not bring you an audience which listens to what you have to say. PEPSI draws in the lowest common denominator of people who ignore the words and listen because they like the beat. The only reason to put that blue and red swirl anywhere near your music is to bilk stupid people out of their money.
I'm part of what must be the majority of all musically inclined persons: the independant musician. Will PEPSI put me, or Greenadder, or Cobalt Party Revolution in any commercials? Maybe the indie artists should stage a protest. "PEPSI is crushing real music. So is Coke. Drink water instead."
So, let me broaden this to a larger complaint. Does anyone remember rock & roll? There was a time when "by the book" pretty much meant to dress like musicians and practice. Rock and similarly minded musicians did what they did under some guise that they were going to pass or fail on their own terms, not by what someone told them to do. Look at the hair metal scene of the 80s. This stuff just showed up when some dudes put on a little lipstick, and it vanished when they collectively gave themselves a rulebook to play by.
Before Nrivana, there were the Pixies. Trying to even explain their approach to music is futile - hyper, gentle, and rhythmic as hell during the most improbable odd tempos. Then the rule became to wear flannel and bitch a lot. How many of the thousands of bitchy, flannel-wearing bands actually made an impact? About three. The first, and the two who followed most immediately.
So what happens if you don't play by the book? You can always play bars all your life. There are a few who make it leave a definate mark on the industry, but the effort is rather gargantuan. The RIAA already tried to shut MP3.com down. Even Microsoft has been working on technologies to limit the encoding rate of the mp3.
Great plan - remove people who aren't in among their members from any exposure. This constitutes the "reacharound" part of the rant, since they paused from screwing each other for long enough provide a little servicing. Other electronic means which could be used for legit swapping of original music (and arts of other sorts) tend to get crushed by fans of PEPSI music.
There are bands who still pull it off. Groups of all genres who are able to turn being screwed over by their own record companies into more fight to get their message out. MP3.Com fought and won for what they do, and for what any musician with a computer and an mp3 encoder does.
The point of it all is, it's not easy for people like me. It's not easy for people who fought their way to the top, nor was it an easy fight. And it
shouldn't be easy. The rules are univerally as follows: believe in what you do, fight for what you do and believe in, and do things on your own terms. This should be art, a celebration of life, and thusly an adventure. What's the adventure in following all the steps that al the other forgotten musicians and one succesful one followed? The only adventure in being sponosred by PEPSI is the gut feeling that they might set YOUR hair on fire, too. But I think we musicians have better things to worry about.
