lets say you were put in charge to get the music industry back on the right course
what things would you do?

1 thing 1 i would do is... i would totally stop catering to 13 to 15 year olds who dont buy music anymore anyway and start promoting established artists to radio and the video channels..these artists sell on their own but with the added radio and tv exposure they will sell even more...of course you have to have new artists but i would make these people earn their airplay..
[Edited 1/9/07 20:21pm]

The solution is simply to decentralize radio and allow DJ's to play what people request and actually want to hear and to allow multi-format radio to emerge again.

Fire nearly every producer and bring in hungry indies I really agree with your idea of not catering to a base that does not value music, let alone pay for it.

I wouldn't do a damn thing. People need to stop bitch about "today's" music. All these complaining bitches want things to be the used to be. Well, that's not going to happen. Our parents used to think "our" music was shit, so what has changed really? Nothing, except that we're those parents now.

If you want to hear different muisc, stop relying on what they play on the fucking radio and MTV. I never understood why people would want to listen to someone else's playlist anyway. Get off your ass and go look for the type of music you'd like to hear.

eikonoklastes said:

Pretty bitchy today aren't we Today's music is shit. It's lazy, mass produced and talentless as a whole. This has nothing to do with growing into blue haired ole biddies

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I think this one same person who always posts on these threads and gets everyone into a whole argument about how OLD they must be 'cause they don't like today's shit ("But I'm 20, so that's not true") blah blah blah just keeps making new accounts.
[Edited 1/9/07 20:20pm]

eikonoklastes said:

well then you would be going down with the ship because this week's #1 album sold under 69,000 copies

VoicesCarry said:

I've been here for about 8 years. Old timers know me as "Joey Coco".

Supa: I think you must have forgotten about the really shitty, uninspiring acts we had in the 80's. Today's music is not shit, what they play for lazy people on the radio and MTV is shit. There's a difference.

eikonoklastes said:

It's all the same to me.

I'm waiting for the troll to show up.

VoicesCarry said:

Says more about you than it says about me.

eikonoklastes said:

I was talking about the music.

eikonoklastes said:

blah,blah,blah

Most of today's music IS shit....boring,uninspired,disposable bullshit that kids go out and buy,then quickly forget about and move on to the "next big thing".But don't take my word for it,just look at the sales figures.Look at the mess that the music business is in right now.Explain that.

SoulAlive said:

Yesterday's music was shit too IMO. You can't compare the sales figures to those of the past and sales do not equal quality. The music business is in trouble due to the internet.

eikonoklastes said:

Yes,every era has bad music.But back in the day,there was much more good music than there is now.Hell,today's music is so whack that even the stupid songs from back in the day sounds great to me now.

eikonoklastes said:

excuses,excuses

No doubt,downloading has really hurt the music business,but let's not ignore the other problems.There is too much crappy music out there.Most people don't even like to buy complete albums anymore.They would rather download the one or two good songs on these albums.Why would anyone want to pay $16 for a crap CD that only contains two good songs?!

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

When we complain about the sorry state of today's music,they say we're "old fashioned"...."living in the past"...."a bunch of gray-haired old folks who can't move on"...lol...That's fine.Call me old fashioned.If liking well-written songs with real instruments and real melodies is old-fashioned,then okay.Give me Stevie Wonder's 'Innervisions' while YOU listen to Fergie,lol.

Every era has disposible music...stuff that most no one would consider to be great or inspired.

But one of the things I look at is the uniqueness of what an artist creates, regardless of whether you love it nor not....something that when it comes on you can say...yes, that sounds like Prince, EWF, Stevie Wonder, Pfunk..etc...even if it is not. Artists that for better or worse had a certain creativity to their material that was THEIRS. They may have taken their cues from artists who came before them, but they were able to raise the bar to the next level, and do something that built upon the gifts of others.

The trouble with too much of todays music is that it has no real style, or melody that you can communicate. I have a co-worker who listens to alot of what is "current" or fashionable...but when it comes to singing or humming a tune..she always resorts to picking a tune from the 70s or 80s. I ask her to hum a tune from Ciara, or whatever hip-hop inspired artist may be doing the rounds on the radio currently so I can tell her if I have heard it...and she is unable, because she realises that (a) it has no real melody and (b) it typically has a beat that sounds good in a club when you are drinking and dancing, but beyond that it is near impossible to describe to anyone else.

I agree, that programmers should not be allowed to play from a designated playlist. What is wrong with playing an album track not yet released from an artist? I recall many many times in the early 80s calling WBLS in NY and requesting an obscure track from EWF or Prince or Stevie...and within the hour it was played. And yes, you have internet radio where you have alot more variety and certainly anyone can tune in if they dont like what is on the radio...for sure.....but simply telling folk to go look for other avenues for music and suggesting that as a cure is not tackling the root issue of stagnant playlists and label controlled music media.

END THE FUCKINH PLAYLIST AND END TOP 40 RADIO!

simple as that!

I don't think popular music, as a whole, is in terrible shape. Most of us who believe that derive our opinions from the radio and the television. But this isn't 1957, or for that matter, 1997. We all have resources we can use to find substantive, enjoyable and well-crafted music to suit our tastes. The internet is the a source. For example, on the Org alone, I have enjoyed recommendations of artists who are now favorites of mine. So on the whole, "today's music" doesn't need a lot of turning around.

So I think the real question is, "how would you make the mass media play music that YOU will enjoy?" And that's the way I'll answer it.

1. democratize the system again. consolidation of media into fewer hands leads to more dictation and less discretion. but that would require a change in legal and regulatory structures.

2. hire more DJ's and give them discretion to choose their playlists. Remember the term "album oriented rock"? DJs would play album tracks or b-sides that they thought the audience would enjoy. Same thing with black radio. Gone are the days where you could hear the long version of "Love or $" because the DJ thought it was funky.

But hell, I don't listen to the radio anymore and watch videos once in a blue moon. But I'm over 30, so I guess I'm out to pasture . . .

Allow DJ's to play what they want on the radio! Clearchannel needs to allow more freedom.

There has to me more local live music so bands can get better

Give bands more time to grow, don't dump them after one album.

Don't only sign beautiful people.

Allow adults to create adult music (I don't mean porn). Even when I was a kid I didn't want to hear kids music.

Fewer albums created by teams of producers & songwriters, more created by artists/bands.

The most difficult thing--Record companies/ radio, MTV simply need to sign/play artists based on what they perceive to be artistic merit rather than their predictions of what will be "hot" for a month.



We can dream, can't we?
[Edited 1/10/07 11:43am]

Mass pograms at media outlets.

I would forget all about pop music or at least not pretend like it's a valid artform and stop caring about its authenticity.

NDRU said:

Porn music is underrated!

MikeMatronik said:

You can really concentrate on the dialog.

NDRU said:

I love 2 hear bitches moan and grind to some fabolous sleazy and distorted music!
[Edited 1/10/07 14:16pm]

novabrkr said:

Indeed. You can't expect McDonald's to churn out balanced meals. You shouldn't expect the pop media to churn out enduring music.

namepeace said:

I made the food comparison recently. McDonalds is still big, but high quality food is on the rise, after what seems like years of everything becomeing more packaged, more processed, less healthy.

I'm hoping organic music becomes popular, too. But some tree hugging guitar player is going to make a few people sick in the process.

NDRU said:

Another option is pay a little more money to go to the local joints for authentic home cooking, swanky fusion or whatever else you're in the mood for. That way you avoid McDonald's and crazy granola guy.

I would let the record labels continue what they are doing now.

It's the radio that I would go after. I would do the same thing that Clear Channel and some of these other corporations are doing. I would buy up as many stations as I could except I would play no new music on any of them. I would pull all the old funk records I could and that would be the entire playlist on all the stations with no alternatives of any other kind of music for people to choose from. I would continue this format for years until a new generation grows up knowing funk and only funk. Then, the new generation would start making new funk and that's when I would start playing new music again.

In the process, I also would get great enjoyment in watching today's artists return to the gutter that they returned to. It would also give me great pleasure to see the shit hop fans going to the used record stores, searching the internet, asking friends, buying new CDs at random (only to be disappointed) and doing whatever they could to desperately find new shit hop. In other words, have the same thing done to them that is being done to us now.

Another one of those that think people are just getting old. My mother didn't think my music was shit. In fact, she was partying to it every night in clubs. Who the hell do you think was listening to music in clubs when we were growing up? It was our parents. We sure as hell weren't old enough to get into clubs back then.

Our great grandparents would have thought our music was shit because it was fast and fast music was supposedly "the devil's music". If they were alive today, they would love today's music because it's even slower than their music was.

Also, I first started complaining about music in 1985 when I was 17.

That "you're getting older bullshit" is just what it is....bullshit. Because today's music IS shit.
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[Edited 1/10/07 15:29pm]