I just went to see Ani Difranco two days ago and of course the show was brilliant. Ani sings and plays MUCH better then she does on record, and the songs come off much better in their live arrangements. But it's no surprise Ani being the kind of artist that she is.

Which brings up the topic of this thread. Big artists like Prince, Dave Mathews, Madonna and Toris Amos to name a few are strong live acts. They can tour on flop albums or no album at all and people will go because of their reputation for putting on good live shows.

Then there are smaller artists, particularily Ani and many others that you guys might know, who actually acquired their audience by touring without label exposure. But it's a special kind of artist; one who plays an instrument and/or has a jam band asthetic(sp).

With the music industry going the way of the dodo (for better or worse) my question is can a strictly pop act make it in the indie market? Can someone like Rhianna or Justin (taking for granted the person can truly sing and dance) gain an audience by touring to where they can eventually put on a fairly splashy show? The reason I ask is because I don't believe it's ever been done before.

Do you think it's even possible? Would an audience even be interested without the marketing push?

C'mon no comments?

CynicKill said:

yes, and they'd be called cabaret performers.