I would respond to the previous blog post author (circa 2009) with the following mantra :: 'the music industry is no longer with us’. In approximately three years time personal digital music devices have become ubiquitous domestically and have facilitated disruptive change in the music industry. Gone is the era of purchasing entire albums or buying singles as a means of previewing an artist's latest offering (generally speaking). In its place is a listening audience/ purchasing public that desires a diverse and robust playlist. Although quality is a major contributing factor to a consumer's playlist construction activities; oftentimes quantity and diversity are the most influential considerations. Couple offshore torrent and download sites with the emergence of the Spotify and Pandora business model and it becomes clearer that the gatekeepers of ages past (major labels, radio, and other media broadcasters) are facing death by obsolescence (although a lucky few may still reap the benefits of a push-based promotion strategy as these firms retain power and influence).
Simply gone are the days where the artist could emulate pre-packed radio spun pop songs and place them in the hands of a label A&R exec. and expect to gain a modest chance of success or publicity. (lets fairly assume that the odds of making ‘gold’ status during 1965-2000 through the ‘gatekeeper’ model were approximately 1/200k, with today’s odds of a gold record for an emerging artist pegged at 1/500k). The problem is of course multi-faceted yet ultimately driven by the market’s lack of interest in consuming (ie. paying for) music. However, despite these depressing trends in the industry, the emerging artist may still achieve relative success by rising through the ranks of Internet media 'channels' (YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, etc...) it is fascinating to track the path to stardom that young indie artists take--- it usually arises as a result of having gone viral, often after an organic replication process has taken root.
Now where does this leave us today since we know that a ‘push’ (gatekeeper) oriented strategy is fading as a viable marketing method? Logic would suggest that the contrary to push – ie. a pull strategy- would be warranted in this new great society of music independence and liberated preferences. From the artist’s perspective this is both a blessing and a curse—since the market is becoming democratized the major downside is that genre and song formula preferences are breaking down. As such, if you are a rock artist/group it really isn’t in your best interest to plagiarize the Nickelback, Creed, and Hinder song catalog for ideas on arrangements or melodic structure—the populace is sick of hearing that soulless garbage and of course the distribution structure that was in place during the 90’s that could cram this music down the listener’s ears has eroded away (perhaps due in part to this phenomena).
On the other hand, the blessing is that the artist is empowered and incented to create more creative, inspired, and dare say you -- quirky? -- material. The listener above most other aspects wishes to be entertained or take away a strong positive impression from the song/artist. In today’s world it is becoming more the norm for the individual consumer to ‘like what they like’ instead of ‘like what the corporate machine has told them to like’. (obviously this applies more narrowly to music, these same ‘indie’ and/or ‘hipster’ types will yack about some avante-garde band on their one of many i-devices.) Overall this is good news for the aspiring musician who wishes to have their craft accepted by society, but an adverse aspect if objectives include broad commercialization of their product.
To close, I’ll leave you with a short list of updated ‘factors’ that may influence the commercial viability of a particular song. The factors at issue would influence the ultimate ‘impression’ or positive reaction that a lowest common denominator (‘LCD’) listener would experience.
1. The melody must sound like it was ripped from a nursery rhyme. Plus the vocalist must have less than an octave of range—that way autotune won’t melt down the mixing studio’s eight-core Mac while crunching through the pitch correction algo. [but if pitchiness is really the issue just distort the vocal to oblivion—the kids will think this is really creative]
2. Uses lots of fancy and digital pro-tooling to achieve a vintage sound.
3. So monotonously boring and weird that you can’t help but be pulled into the black hole
4. Subject matter makes you reflect back on your youth spent waiting in line at Abercrombie, how great the 90’s were, etc… yet in the present tense evokes images of hanging out with the Urban Outfitters kids and reminds you of how bad you want to pick up a ‘new’ vintage t after you recover from last night’s hangover
5. Unusual instrumentation- throw in some glockenspiel, grandad’s banjo, some weird pad patch from Garageband, and a sample of your cat screeching while having a nightmare and you are well on your way to the Malibu mansion
6. The song advocates a strong position of anarchism or Marxism (overthrow the 1%). Basically the song should reflect some kind of Hipstetarian belief structure. In this sense it feels like the songwriter is giving you the middle finger yet doesn’t know why they are or whether they are justified in doing so?? Who cares??
7. Golden rule: keep the song under 3:00- we all have ADHD and our Adderall is wearing off.
DGM
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