“If I don’t win, the awards show loses credibility,” Kanye said.
Ahh, yes, we forgot. A million dollar production deserves to win. A million dollars can’t buy intelligence and artistry. Fortunately, somethings you can’t buy. Kanye West among many others believe that spending money equates to a better video and artistry. Also, these statements sum up the broken music scene.Â
The Broken Music Scene
Trends come and go. I know that may seem obvious, but it appears not everyone is getting the ‘and go’ part. With most genre originators moving on to greener pastures (or dissolving completely), labels seem to be clutching to the past as they search for their replacements. Pop punk and hardcore ran their course and those artists have moved on. So why does it look like labels are snatching up pop punk bands like its 1999?
Band X sells alot of records. Band Y sounds almost identical to Band X, therefore, Band Y should sell. Interesting logic, and actually that would probably be a decent plan if it weren’t for Bands A through W, who Band X ripped off. How many copies of the same record can people really be expected to own? Unfortunately for the labels, they’re left with little choice. Anyone who takes a gander at the endless supply of mediocre music on MySpace can tell you- that’s all there is. Band after band emulating their heroes rather than just appreciating them. You really can’t blame anyone but the bands. They own the records they’re copying, so of course they know what they are doing isn’t original. What baffles me is that these bands know they aren’t original. They know they are treading well-worn territory. They know that the artists they look up to so much have even changed their sound to try and escape the clone army and the supersaturation of the genre they helped create. These kids must know that they bring practically nothing to the table, and yet they still have the nerve to send out demos.
Of course, I understand wanting to chase the rockstar dream, but since when is it more gratifying to ‘make it’ as a completely unoriginal joke of a band instead of an innovator that carves out their own place in the history books? Perhaps we’ve made it look too easy. Perhaps the music industry being shrouded in secrecy was a good thing. Perhaps people should stop feeling bad for telling someone they suck and should get out of this business. Simon Cowell is onto something. Pull no punches and leave no delusions. Either they have it or they don’t and 99% of them don’t.
AJ, KOAR
New Found Pop Punk 2006 – Outdated.
Believe it or not we still get a handful of records created by 18 year olds who are still listening to New Found Glory and Blink 182. Guess what, New Found Glory went emo and Blink 182 broke up. THEY aren’t even into the music these kids are copying. Green Day is the premier punk band, the songs are far superior to those in that genre. It’s amazing that not one out of thousands of punk bands can pull it off like Green Day; It’s like Abraham going back to GOD claiming he couldn’t find one righteous person, hence destroy the City. Unless you can say with a straight face that you’re better than Green Day, don’t bother sending out kits.
Hardcore 2006 – Rebelling Against Nothing.
Even the scenester kids claim hardcore is dead. Don’t invest into hardcore, a dying genre that never even deserved attention. Have you attended a hardcore show recently? It looks more like ‘fight club’ than an ‘event’. Hardcore has become nothing more than a soundtrack for an ass beating. This is why the Ozzfest has been crumbling with poor ticket sales. These bands are dissolving left and right, or completely abandoning their ‘hardcore’ following, ala Avenged Sevenfold. We don’t need more bands in this genre churning out the same cookie monster vocals and lame guitar riffs. Do yourself a favor and sit on the side of the stage at Ozzfest and watch these ‘calculated cloned’ bands perform. These guys aren’t ‘rock stars’; they are dysfunctional kids getting high on crack. For goodness sakes, rebellion is all about originality. Today’s hardcore bands are sheep, certainly not goats with horns.
Folk, Indie, Starbucks and the Good Ol’ Acoustic Guitar.
You can thank Jewel and Sarah McLaughlin for inspiring every little girl to pick up a guitar and strum a couple of chords that put you to sleep. Don’t get me wrong, Jewel, Sarah, and Tori had their moments but their disciples failed. Myspace and the net are filled with acoustic coffee house females that still think the Lilith days are hip. Guess what, it’s not. People are beyond personal embellished dishonest diary notes accompanied with choruses that would people to sleep after drinking 2 shots of expresso. Again, think of something of original and help the industry. Don’t believe your own hype.
Put Down The Eyeliner.
What kind of a rock star whores himself for gap campaign and sticks up his thumb? This isn’t dangerous, this is Disney Land. Where do we start here? Rock is supposed to be dangerous, dark, and original. Nothing dangerous about today’s rock bands. In fact, the rap artists are bigger rock stars even though their gimmick is drying up. After listening to the unsigned and the more well known rock bands I realized that the inspiration level is dried up as the California desert.
The Suit, The Tie, The Stripes and the Monkey
Remember when America was helplessly attacked by the artificial demand from the Hives, the Vines, the Arctic Monkeys and the White Stripes? It’s over and you knew it was coming. When you hear something great, you know it, and these bands weren’t even ‘good’. The garage rock revival has come to an end.
Got Inspiration? Try
To say music is struggling to reinvent itself is an understatement…
Some people go to extremes of volume, vision and hype to attract attention to themselves while others are happy to simply do what they do and rely on building a reputation by the responses of those around them. Such is the case with Sydney singer songwriter Lior. Lior’s sound is a rootsy mix of styles that always harks back to the lyric and melody. In early 2005, Lior released his critically acclaimed debut album ‘Autumn Flow’. The album was one of the year’s most successful independent releases, and Lior has since become one of the few Australian independent artists to have a debut Gold Album. Autumn Flow is to be released internationally starting in the UK. Lior will be touring the UK, Europe, and the states in aid of Autumn Flows release. Check out the tracks This Old Love and Daniel.  For more information email Nicholas Boshier. Â
MySpace who have come under fire as “copyright infringers” will use “audio fingerprinting” technology to block users from uploading copyright music to the social networking site.
“MySpace is staunchly committed to protecting artists’ rights, whether those artists are on major labels or are independent acts,” said Chris DeWolfe, MySpace chief executive and co-founder.
The company said users who repeatedly attempt to upload copyright music files will be permanently barred from the site.
Online sites such as MySpace and YouTube have come under fire from major record labels who have sued in some cases to prevent copyright music from being included as the soundtrack to a user-generated content.
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