Let me take you back to 1940's U.S. of America. Live music was everywhere. Managers and agents always faced a problem with new acts, how to get them bookings. Often new acts where placed on long bills as part of a variety set. So a music group would often share the evening with comedians, magic acts, ect. Of course there would always be a headline act, to draw the crowd. So for a new group you would be lucky if you got time to play more than one tune and often you would have to play a cover tune, to please the crowd. It was very difficult to get a chance to play some of your own original music. Radio and recorded music changed that. Managers and agents could now get your new band into a radio studio and record your music. This recording could then be taken to many radio stations and you could begin to get a name for yourself in a way that was never possible before. Your recordings became your passport to stardom, a good recording would get played allot, and listened to allot, and people would want to go to your live performances. Records where the greatest promotional tool a manager could wish for. Then someone realised that there was a market for home ownership of records. Some people became concerned that nobody would go and see live acts any more if they could hear the music at home, but there was no huge decline in live music. Records became a way to earn a little extra cash but the real money was still in live music. Fast forward to the 1980's. The music industry evolved, they realised that people had allot of disposable income and they wanted more of it. Finding quality acts was a risky and time consuming business, it always had been. So instead they correctly thought that bands could be created quickly and cheaply; and with a little promotional razzmataz, you could take a few good looking kids and create the illusion of a band. This worked rather well because people could afford to throw money at crap. However there was a problem, people still wanted to go see live acts, but sadly allot of these kids could never have been let near a stage as they had no talent and the illusion would be dispelled. So the money from these acts had to be made from record sales alone. Then greed got the better of sense. The industry decided in order to make more money from a band they needed record sales and live ticket sales. So how to accomplish this? simple, throw massive amounts of money into turning bands into global brands, spend money on singing lessons, piano lessons, backing tapes, hairstyles, clothing, dance instructors, ect. Of course it was the bands who paid for all this work not the labels. Somewhere along our journey it was decided that records were no longer promotional tools but products, and they made the radio stations pay for use of those products. This change was the beginning of the end. Since the 60's people have been recording music for themselves from the radio, using whatever technology was available, reel-to-reel tapes, cassettes, cd's and computers. With each new technology came cries of despair from the music industry. What could have been the greatest promotional aid to bands has been reduced to claims of theft and concerns of copyright. The problems facing the music industry do not stem from violation of copyright but from the inability of the industry to evolve to meet the needs of their customers. They want their customers to devolve to meet industry needs. Before the days of enforced radio playlists, it was the DJ's job to select what they thought their listeners would like. Now playlists are created by the industry to push music that most people don't actually want to listen to. The average primetime radio show is the same show no matter which station you tune too, they expect us to enjoy the same mindless rot day after day, then like good little drones go by the album and like happy little sheep go see the same rubbish live. Most people are not yet that robotic. The industry is failing because it is failing its customers and its acts. Sadly some bands have fallen for the industry brain-washing and have forgotten something very important about who and what they are. In the past it was considered a great privilege to be able to support your life and family by making music. Bands in the past got into music not thinking they would make it rich but doing it out of the love of creating and performing. Most bands never made any money, many had to spend their own money from other jobs in order to continue doing what they loved, but the money was not the important thing, the music was all that mattered. Only very few, who where very lucky, could leave that job as a bricklayer or a cabby and make enough from their music to pay the bills. For a while many bands lost sight of these ideas and wanted to make money more than make music, this is hardly surprising considering the attitude of the big music labels. Today music is undergoing a new evolution but it is not by the industry. The ability of modern bands to self-promote, network, and self-establish a name for themselves has never been greater. Websites like youtube and myspace are great ways to get yourself noticed. Independent recording studios are making a comeback and many bands are again beginning to see the benefits of using recordings, as they where in the past, as promotional tools and not products. If things continue as they are the music industry will destroy itself, but maybe that's a good thing. Music will never die as there will always be those with a passion for making music rather than a passion to make money. Support music and not the industry, turn off the radio playlists, and if you can afford to, go buy a ticket to a gig by a band you have never heard of. Who knows what gems you may unearth?
Additionally, with the right computer equipment, a recording studio is no longer a necessity. small bands don't have to pay by the hour for a recording studio, when a bit of work can turn a garage or a spare room into a perfectly acceptable studio, and a carefully chosen/built computer replaces the thousands of pounds of recording equipment. There's a guy down the road from me has a recording studio in his house, so does Patton from RomU. Modern technology has made this possible.
Indeed Loonylion, I have a small recording studio in my house as well, nothing fancy but perfect for throwing a few sounds together. Allot of bands I know do still make use of inde recording studios these days so they can get the benifit of working with experienced sound engineers. But for thrashing out a few tracks for little money nothing beats a home built studio.
This is why i've ended up turning to bands which none of my (hippity-hoppity) friends would know about. Admittedly, I have friends who listen to even more obscure bands than I do but we very rarely listen to the mainstream sounds. What especially irritated me in Britain with this generation's Indie is that suddenly every other band you hear on the radio is doing exactly the same thing in exactly the same way. It's what really put me off Radio 1 after 7pm and Jo Whiley's show; the obsession with constantly showcasing "new music" which just means they play what is effectively the same song over and over supposedly by different bands. My thing with bands you've never heard of is that I insist upon finding bands that aren't neccesarily new but I didn't know about them. I've seriously gotten in Tool quite recently and not a huge amount of people are sure who they are. Personally, it's all about bands that have a sound which is quite unusual and i've not really heard before (Tool is pretty much dominated by the Bass Guitar). I also agree that the music industries need to give up on the idea of manufactured bands; Most of them "returning" has just been old men attempting to dance and lip sync again. However the exception to this rule would have to be Take That as they've come back as a band where everyone has their instrument but they all still sing. There's not nearly as much dancing as before and they look like far more of a natural band now which you can clearly tell in how close they all are.
Pandora.com was good for finding other bands before they blocked all countries outside America (Stupid PRS).
Curse You Americans! Also British Hi5 Loony. Don't question my completely uneccessary Hi5ing, just roll with it...
Blame the government not the individuals, i'm as pissed of the situations here as anyone else in the US or outside.
I listen to Last.FM all the time now. Also, there are several great internet radio stations that stream good music with live DJ's, and I have been introduced to several great bands that way.
would it be possible to get someone to rephrase that sentence so i actually get what c740 is trying to say? I thank you in advance
I hate people who look out obscure bands for the 'cool' value. Just because it's not mainstream doesn't neccessarily mean they're good. Also give me an example of an old men coming back to lip sync and dance, because from what I see, alot of the returning bands have alot of unfinished buisness such as Blur. Also this generation's indie isnt indie... it's pop under a new label, get over it, Stop focusing on labels and look for the bands, there's plenty out there.
nex26 did you just criticise me for things i don't and the world does? I am anything but cool and listening to older obscure metal bands probably won't change that. Also here are some BOYBANDS (I'm not talking bands like Blur who i love) who have reformed because of the money Take That have made from their awesome reunion: Boyzone, New Kids On The Block etcetera etcetera
I wasn't neccessarily critisising you.. it's a just a thing I've come across a few times, "I listen to Modest Mouse because they arent sell-outs" a sell-out being any band signed to a record label. The truth being that Modest Mouse are a load of shite. To be fair Boyzone and NKOTB have both flopped, mainly because the screaming little girls are more intrested in wash ups like Chris Brown.
