Quote:
Originally posted by Beestie
I have a question.
Where has the variety gone? Seems like I can count the sub genres of each music style (pop, rock, hip hop, etc.) on one hand.
Seems that music reaching mass markets is getting more and more generic and vanilla. I sense a stifling influence on (or a pigeon-holing of) artistic creativity and wonder what's causing it (or it I'm mistaken).
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Believe it or not, there are A&R guys are asking the same question! I didn't really get into this thing until the late 90's, so I don't know how it worked before then, but these days, so many artists have read so many books about how to get signed, that they're forcing themselves into prepackaged molds that they think the label wants to see.
When an artist like Creed hits (i know, i know), for the next 6 months the only thing that comes into the A&R guys hands is Nu Metal.
From the label side though, the big picture is this - it's a numbers game. The label only has so much money to spend on making records. Most of the time, they're going to spend it on things that are slam dunks. Think about the car industry. They may have creative design teams that are building amazing prototypes, but they make their bottom line with endless variations on SUV, Minivan, and Sports Car.
There are still artists out there doing creative things. But they aren’t doing them with a 2 million dollar advance, radio promotion, or TV time – its too big a risk. They’re doing it on smaller labels, with smaller budgets, and hit their smaller fan base with amazing music.
I don’t know where to point you for the “secret stash” of good music, but I can point you to some artists you should listen to. Go get Kenna’s “New Sacred Cow” – produced by the Neptunes, it’s a new wave meets james brown thing. Jarvis Church – never released here, but available in Canada. Charlie Mars – I don’t actually know if his record has dropped yet. It’s the record that Coldplay should have made.