Are You Listening?

[RoastedTwinkies]

How do you guys feel about the music and media industry today?

Personally, I think music and TV is the worst that it's ever been in modern history. There's a reason why I say this. So many talentless acts have come up over the years, such as Jessica and Ashlee Simpson, Britney Spears, Christina, etc. This is why I stopped listening to the radio four years ago. The radio stations that claim to play "today's best music" have been playing the same crappy songs over and over. Most of it sounds like the artist took 100 takes and then the best parts were edited together. I'm not sure if the recording process actually works that way today, but it sure sounds like it. And if that is in fact what's going on, then they really shouldn't be an artist.

I remember Taylor Hanson was saying that record companies pay radio stations to play that crap over and over, until they sell us, the consumers something. Today, TV and radio is all about the moment's ratings and advertising. I think it's ridiculous. With the number of commercials that they throw at us, I would argue that cable and even sattelite should be absolutely free.

Record companies these days are only out there to make money. I actually know someone who won a local talent search and was offered a record deal by Sony on the condition that she "sex up" her image, so that she would be more like Britney Spears. She told the guy to shove it and I can't blame her for it. I would argue that the Beatles would not have been as successful as they were if the music industry was the way it is today.

Please visit www.areyoulistening.com and watch the video. The website can explain the situation better than I can. The whole campaign is being run by Hanson, but the campaign is not about them. It's all about this bigger problem with the media and the music industry. Hanson have actually been travelling to different colleges in the US to lecture the students about the situation. Unfortunately, they haven't been letting their fans such as myself know where they are going, because we are not the audience that they're trying to reach. So I can't provide any schedule information on what colleges they're going to. If they're going to your college, I'm absolutely positive that your school with keep you posted.

What are your thoughts on the situation?

[Cardcaptor Takato]

I don't see why a campaign is needed to fix this "problem" with the music industry. If people are so worried about the quality of music in the music industry, why don't they try to become musicians themselves and make the kind of music that they think is good, if they think they can do a better job? I just listen to whatever music I like to listen to and ignore the music I don't instead of complaining about it because not everybody is going to think the same type of music you don't like is crap. As they say, "One man's trash is another man's treasure." If you don't like the music they're playing on the radio, then don't listen to it. If you don't buy the cds, then those crappy bands and artists will start losing money and popularity and they'll eventually go away. If people are buying the cds, then obviously there's somebody out there who likes them, not because they're stupid or whatever, but because that's just what type of music they like, and they all have the freedom to enjoy whatever they like to enjoy just as much as you do, so all you can do is ignore it. Music is just entertainment here people; not a civil war.

[RoastedTwinkies]

I don't see why a campaign is needed to fix this "problem" with the music industry. If people are so worried about the quality of music in the music industry, why don't they try to become musicians themselves and make the kind of music that they think is good, if they think they can do a better job? I just listen to whatever music I like to listen to and ignore the music I don't instead of complaining about it because not everybody is going to think the same type of music you don't like is crap. As they say, "One man's trash is another man's treasure." If you don't like the music they're playing on the radio, then don't listen to it. If you don't buy the cds, then those crappy bands and artists will start losing money and popularity and they'll eventually go away. If people are buying the cds, then obviously there's somebody out there who likes them, not because they're stupid or whatever, but because that's just what type of music they like, and they all have the freedom to enjoy whatever they like to enjoy just as much as you do, so all you can do is ignore it.

I disagree with you highly. Most of what you said is easier said than done.

Ignoring the music you don't like isn't the solution in the long run. The artists you don't like will eventually fade away, but more "flash-in-the-pan" acts will come along.

The major problem here is the fact that record companies don't care about building careers for artists anymore. In the video, it mentions the fact that record companies are only interested in making their millions for that quarter and then they want to dump you. So tell me, if you decided that you wanted to become a musician, how do you plan to get your music out there without the support of a big record company that they're not willing to give you? Where are you going to get the money to pay radio stations to play your music?

The only solution I can think of is this campaign. The solution is to support indie bands and smaller record companies that want to build careers for artists.

[Sailorasteroid]

The way I see it, with the increase in population and changes in economic structure, there's never going to be a true mainstream music culture. There will never again be a Frank Sinatra or an Elvis or a The Beatles--people who everyone knew and respected and made good music. Music has splintered into all the genres of hip-hop, R&B, country, etc., and all of these are strong enough economically that they have their own radio stations, record store sections, and so on. What's left for the ersatz mainstream is a series of copycat singers doing songs that the teeny-bopper singers of old would be embarrassed to play. Ditto television with cable and satellite. Ditto ditto movies with the advent of DVDs.

However, this organization would be just another layer in the onion. We don't need to reform the system, we need to let it die of its own bloat. Let Hollywood and the record companies go bankrupt and then you'll have a new wave of creators, working with the new technology, producing things people want to see and hear.

[yoshmaster5]

I kind of agree with Cardcaptor Tatako. you can't do anything about this... all I do is ignore all the crap that's going around. if I have to listen to it, I tune it out. the only radio station I'll listen to is NPR, and others if they have Jazz playing. I'll only listen to Jazz music on the radio, because that's actually worthwhile to hear. I don't care what's going on right now, because it doesn't apply to me, and I don't want to make a career as a singer anyway. If I had to be a musician, I'd either try to get a teaching job at a university, or try to become a really good Jazz hornist. that's all. it hink, that ignoring it is the best way to go for this.

[Cardcaptor Takato]

I don't see why a campaign is needed to fix this "problem" with the music industry. If people are so worried about the quality of music in the music industry, why don't they try to become musicians themselves and make the kind of music that they think is good, if they think they can do a better job? I just listen to whatever music I like to listen to and ignore the music I don't instead of complaining about it because not everybody is going to think the same type of music you don't like is crap. As they say, "One man's trash is another man's treasure." If you don't like the music they're playing on the radio, then don't listen to it. If you don't buy the cds, then those crappy bands and artists will start losing money and popularity and they'll eventually go away. If people are buying the cds, then obviously there's somebody out there who likes them, not because they're stupid or whatever, but because that's just what type of music they like, and they all have the freedom to enjoy whatever they like to enjoy just as much as you do, so all you can do is ignore it.

I disagree with you highly. Most of what you said is easier said than done.

Ignoring the music you don't like isn't the solution in the long run. The artists you don't like will eventually fade away, but more "flash-in-the-pan" acts will come along.

The major problem here is the fact that record companies don't care about building careers for artists anymore. In the video, it mentions the fact that record companies are only interested in making their millions for that quarter and then they want to dump you. So tell me, if you decided that you wanted to become a musician, how do you plan to get your music out there without the support of a big record company that they're not willing to give you? Where are you going to get the money to pay radio stations to play your music?

The only solution I can think of is this campaign. The solution is to support indie bands and smaller record companies that want to build careers for artists.

If more "flash-in-the-pan" acts eventually come along, then I'll just ignore them, and they too will start to fade away because guess what? They're just fads. Fads are a continous cycle that just keep on going around and around and you can't break it because people will always want to be a part of them whether they admit it or not. Trying to stop these bands from coming along is like trying to stop the endless cycle of fads. Do you think Britney Spears was the first singer of her type to come along? I'm sure there were probably other singers like her that have come along before her. Maybe not quite as "sexed up" as her image is, but you still get my point. And if the music industry only cared about making big bucks off of me only to dump me for the next big thing, then like the girl who was told to "sex up" her image, I'll tell them screw you. They weren't worth my time to begin with if that's the only thing they cared about.

I'm not going to get all down about it that I couldn't make it big in the music industry that only cared about money because if they didn't care to begin with, there's other, better careers I could be doing than wasting my time with people that didn't even care. If this campaign is about supporting indie bands and smaller record companies instead of the larger industries that care only about making big bucks, I don't really see how it's any different than what I said earlier about ignoring the music you didn't like and listening to the music that you liked instead. And no offense or anything, but I find it highly ironic that Hanson of all people are organgizing this type of campgain when they're one of those bands that most of the general populace view as being another one of those generic, poppy, teeny bopper boy bands (remember MMMbop, anyone?). I'll be the first to admit that they've improved a lot since their MMMbop days, but in the eyes of the general public, Taylor Hanson still isn't exactly the next John Lennon.

[Akarui Kibuno]

I myself don't listen to the radio and mostly don't watch TV anymore because of the crap running.

Thing is, so long as people listen to it, there's a market for it, so that's what's going to be sold anyway. Sometimes, I'll catch a song at random, because I'll have listened to it in a store, or because my sisters are listening to it, and this is how I discover "new" singers.

But I'm not looking for them. Sure, I'm following on some Japanese singers (like Chieco Kawabe and the like) but as far as "occidental" stuff goes, I don't renew my playlist that often.

I guess the newest song that's on my playlist is Daniel Powter's "Bad day" single. Other than that, I'm not aware of that many stuff, and for all I know, I don't really care.

Sure, I wish I could buy more CDs, I wish there was more to discover, and I'm sure there is, but without "exposition", how am I to discover those talented musicians and bands without much digging that I might not have the time to do ?

So I'll just being a silent prayer, hoping that some day, the companies will realize that yes, "mainstream" is great, profit is great, but maybe they'd do even more profit if their broadened their horizons... to broaden ours.

[LadyFlameSniper]

I also agree with Cardcaptor. The campaign isn't gonna do shit. And the way I see it is, don't like it, don't listen. Mainstream music as a whole won't change until people stop listening to it. And obviously, there's something that's grasping enough people in the country to listen and buy the CDs.

My personal opinion on mainstream music of today is: it has gone downhill, but I still find some gems. For the most part though, when it comes to mainstream, I stick with my 90s hip-hop, r&b, and rock, and 80s pop. Reggae and reggaeton too. Well those are mainstream now.

And I strongly disagree with listing Christina Aguilera as "talentless" She's one of my favorite pop singers and has one hell of a voice.

[NameGoesHere]

I do think it is a good idea to encourage music companies to widen their horizons, and make other bands/genres more easily accessible to the average schmuck in a music store. Regardless of that though, campaigns like this aren't likely to change much in the big business. They have found their hook, and they are not going to let go of it until it stops making money.

Promoting quality in all art forms is a great idea, but you're still going to get a bunch of stick figures when you ask for a portrait. Besides, crappy* bands of today are the fodder for jokes tomorrow.

*That is not to say that all popular music is crappy. Some bad eggs just like to ruin it for everyone else...

[RoastedTwinkies]

And no offense or anything, but I find it highly ironic that Hanson of all people are organgizing this type of campgain when they're one of those bands that most of the general populace view as being another one of those generic, poppy, teeny bopper boy bands (remember MMMbop, anyone?). I'll be the first to admit that they've improved a lot since their MMMbop days, but in the eyes of the general public, Taylor Hanson still isn't exactly the next John Lennon.

I will admit that Hanson definately aren't the next Beatles, but there's reason why Hanson's only been known for MMMBop. What really fuels this campaign is their love for music.

There's a reason why we hadn't heard from Hanson in so long... it's because they got screwed over by their former record company, Island Def Jam. Their last album was supposed to be released three years ago, but the CEO wouldn't let them. So finally, they negotiated their way out of the contract, and lost all of their recordings in the process. So then they had to go back and record all over again.

Island Def Jam used to be known as Mercury Records. But I'm assuming the company got sold or something, which caused the change in the name and afterwords, the entire record company staff had been replaced, and all the CEO's that originally showed interest in Hanson and signed them on were gone. They were stuck with a record company that's only interested in marketing rap music. So we can see why they didn't get along.

At this point, Hanson is turning their negative experience with their former record company into a positive one, by sharing it through their documentary that they've been screening at the colleges. This is something that many bands go through, and that's why we see so many of those "one-hit-wonders".

Their last album, Underneath went to number one on the indie charts. I forget where it made it on the Billboard charts. It definately wasn't in the top ten though. I think they're doing fantastic for an indie band now. But given the way that society is today, I'm not so sure if I'd want to see them in the number one spot on MTV.