is it possible for a band not to sell out these days?

Question

in the world of corporate kickbacks and fatcats can a band stay true to it's original concept and vision and still be successful or do they have to play the game just to survive

Answer 1

If you want to sell at all, you have to sell out. That's just the way the publishing companies have made it. I don't just blame the companies, though - that would be foolish. What about the consumers? They keep on buying the same plastic, packaged crap.

Answer 2

The only way for any true "artist" (be it musician, performer, cinematographer or actor, whatever) to NOT sell out is simple; don't sell yourself to the majors.

By not becoming part of the culture industry, you aren't selling out. But that also means you will not get any commercial success or recognition. So success today is determined by how much you are willing to sell yourself out to the majors, play their game, and be willing to let yourself be turned into a disposable product.

Today's commercial music is basically product designed for a specific target with low attention span who enjoy the pre-disgested disposable drivel known as commercial pop. The main goal is to sell an image, a style, a ga-zillion copies of your CD and lip-syncing concert. The idea of making music as an expression of self is not a marketable nor profitable ideal, so while the culture industry encourages the release and promotion of products which "sounds like" they could be genuine, the reality of it is much more insidious than anyone would care to admit.

But what's the point when the product being promoted and sold on a daily basis appears to be supported by millions of people?

What really wigs me out is the fact that commercial music as we know it represents but a maximum of 5% of all available recorded music on this planet. There are so many independant labels and musicians out there who still do their art without compromise but they will never get any recognition because they aren't sold to a major label, they don't have a hip video that plays on MTV and they don't have that slick production sound that the radio stations are exclusivelly playing.

And I haven't even talked about strictly non-commercial music yet.

Basically the best way to be successful in the music buisness is to sell out and let the majors dictate everything you will be doing from that point on; music, style, lyrics, image, etc... Without selling out to the majors, you will be stuck to remain at the level of independant.

Cheers

Answer 3

There is no such thing as selling out. If you think there is, then you'll NEVER make any money with the band, as you'll be selling out if you sell tickets to punters who want to watch your band...etc.....

If you want to make money you can rent you music out (like to advertising companies), play gigs and sell tickets, and so on..... Its not selling out, its called making a living.

If you are refering to the old days like the 60's and 70's with this so called 'selling out', it doesn't exist no more, because there is too many coporations that you selling out to in normal life, so it just dont make sense! Get signed and start making money first, then once established, you can then make a difference by either setting up your own music company and setting a new path rather than letting the idiots that are in music now dictate to us what is cool and what is not. They need a major wake up!

Answer 4

There are loads of decent bands making a good living and getting their music heard without selling out, you have to look beyond TV and big radio stations.
Somebody like NOFX is a good example, they are all millionares and have hardly ever been on TV or on the radio.

Answer 5

I think it is most likely that bands start off meaning well, sticking the two fingers up to the corporate types, but once they've been spotted, if they want to get big quickly and get back some of the money they've invested, pay off loans etc then they have to bow down to the fat cats, but once they've established a core group of fans and have a good set of people behind them, most bands try to shrug off the high % of control and start to fend for themselves, otherwise they will lose their identity.

Answer 6

You can rock on and make people listen, but without the power of the corporate brand behind you, it's just not possible.

If your not interested in selling many records or having hit singles though, you can still tear it up and just about fiddle a living doing it.

Good luck though dude.

Answer 7

Checkout NOFX or Pennywise, There are alot of successful bands like these that refuse to appear on MTV or on the big radio stations.

Answer 8

Yes, it's called indie (as in independent) music.

Answer 9

Sure! Just ask the Dixie Chicks. They can tell you how to do it!

Answer 10

yup