|
|
|
|||||||||||||||
|
14/01/2005 The music biz - dumbing down the world
"Nobody ever got rich by overestimating public taste". Is this the mantra of the record biz suits, as they dumb down the musical world? In rockpop, the record labels hype an endless succession of youthful guitar bands, who play music which sounds very, very familiar. In the "jazz" (jazz?) niche, equally youthful new balladeers are wheeled out almost every week, to present watered down versions of the Great American Songbook. In the classical market, crossover warblers, who are never seen on the opera stage, offer weak but accessible arias from the soothing end of the vocal repertoire. The serious music fan keen to extend his/her listening repertoire faces the problem of "opportunity cost". In choosing to listen to a CD by Jamie Cullum, you thereby choose not to listen to Frank Sinatra. When you spend an hour with a Katie Melua album, you've implicitly decided not to explore the Billie Holiday catalogue. The latest Andrea Bocelli compilation goes onto your CD player at the expense of - instead of - Pavarotti, or a great contemporary tenor like Marcelo Alvarez. You can only listen to one album at a time. And your time is limited. Some new, heavily-promoted artists are fine musicians who will eventually go on to produce an impressive legacy. Good luck to them. But, for every heavily-promoted Next Big Thing, there are half a dozen better musicians - established and new - who are largely ignored by the record biz, and, thus, by listeners. I actively seek out new musical talent. But I try to resist being manipulated by record biz advertising/PR departments with big budgets, trying to persuade me to spend my time on the second rate, simply because it's new or briefly fashionable. I'd prefer to spend my time exulting in great music, from all genres and ages, selected purely on its merits. Gerry Smith
[Previous entry: "In A Silent Way: the pinnacle Miles Davis recording?"] [Next entry: "Rolling Stones legacy undermined"] Search entries:
Copyright © Music
for Grown-Ups Ltd. 2005
www.musicforgrownups.co.uk
|
[Archives]
[Previous entry: "In A Silent Way: the pinnacle Miles Davis recording?"] [Next entry: "Rolling Stones legacy undermined"]
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
Site design by watson press website design & authoring |
