Do the young people of today realize they are being sold a " bill of goods" by the music industry?

Question

It isn't necessary for people to accept the poor quality of music (?) being produced today. In the last ten years, the quality of top 40 music, rock and roll, whatever genre you want to call it, has steadily deteriorated. I want to be able to listen to good music on the radio again, don't you? I know you people have strong feelings about this, so let me know how you feel. And, please, let's have decent, intelligent responses to this.

Answer 1

I agree that music today is tasteless. I hardly even listen to the radio anymore...I just pop in a cd instead. And the subjects we sing about are less than amusing also. Sex, body parts, drugs, cars, money....superficial stuff.
Good music is hard to come by, but you know what? All the crappy musicians out there make the great ones look and sound even better. If everyone was a great musician, they'd get lost in the crowd. Bad music makes good music sound even better.

Answer 2

Well i realize it, anyway, that its just a marketing campaign for profits, no longer a venue for artistic outlet and display.
Yes, I want good music on the radio too, but, I also dont want the airwaves to predict m y tastes and limit what i discover.
So in a way, i dont mind fishing for and browsing music independently-
the sky is the limit (or the net is rather). Live365.com and other homemade radio stations present to me things I never would find on a radio station here, even if they did play 'better quality music'. I can listen to radio stations from all around the world, homemade or city-based, and I am very very pleased with this.
Perhaps were the radio good enough, I would not have been exposed to all of this? (Well I kind of doubt it since I am diverse anyway)
There will still always be the 'accepted and popular' stuff to play, and everything else will not get airtime.
So the crud on the radio is a BIG JOKE, but it hasn't harmed my access to quality music, so I dont mind. I never listen to the radio, except when i am forced to for 2-3 days at work. And its the same songs, over and over, everyday, several times a day, and they're not even good music imo.
Music has been 'franchized' and standardized like everything else. True artists dont have a place there anymore.
Perhaps this will lead to a split, where 'the market' belongs on the ariwaves and 'the artists' make their own cyberniche?

I feel sorry for the kids who believe this stuff is good music. And I feel sorry for those who think that being an artist or being able to sing means whining and huffing in to the microphone like your publicity coach told you to, not like how you actually feel. They are not in touch with themselves or potential, and are being lead astray for exploitation (both the singer and consumer). :/

But a counterargument is that indeed, the music industry has ALWAYS been this way. Music from certain eras all sound the same (the known stuff, anyway). There were millions more artists than those who recieved airplay. Did we ever find out about them? Probably not.... all the shoo-whop songs sound the same, all the indie-rock sounds the same, all the disco sounds the same..... yes, fads occur but still, airplay was restricted more or less to those fads then, as well. So it's like the current fad is composed of talentless sub-produced "music".

I dunno!!!!! :)) MANY sides to this !!!!! *sheesh!!!*

Answer 3

Oh to be young again and have all the answers to everything. It would be so simple if the teens were running the world. Oops, I do believe they are after all. I started listening to music in the days of the big bands such as benny Goodman, Sammy Kay, Glen Miller and many others. Stars like Frank Sanatra, Rosemary Cluney, Red foley, Peggy Lee and many more. I still like the music from that time. Then came along people like Elvis, Ricky, Jerry Lee and again a huge hoast of others. Soon it was the betles and the roling Stones and even the Doors. So many names over the time. I will admit I do not like most of the music popularized since about 1955. I do know that the music we listened to and was performed long before I was born was controled by the industry and to a great extent still is. Rember the days of payola? ASCAP had nearly total controle during the thirtys and up till in the sixtys. So you see there really isn't much new in that respect. What really bothers me is how people fall for what they are told is good music. The sex pistols is one good example of how things can be shoved down out throats and we like it. Pyunk was started with the Sex pistols by a guy getting a group of teens together that could not play any instrument or even hold a tune very well. He taught them a few chords and created that noisy punk sound. The name punk came from a magazine named punk that was aleady being published and it published articles about the sex pistols and their music became punk. I culd go on and on about all the changes and how each generation can't understand the one coming after it. Even Frank Senatra was touted for being very much too sexy on stage in his early days. Churches tried to stop his music then. Things change and if it is for the better or not it still changes and always will. It looks like to me that now the internet is here it will be a big factor in what we listen to. Any one can make a CD and publish it on the net and have many lidten to it. If they like it they tell others and then they want more so off to being a star without going through the normal channels. It is already being done.

Answer 4

its really nothing new

if you are realistic about it the music industry has always peddled crap but there has been music you liked along with it.

Does the music industry dictate what you will listen to or do they know exactly what their target market will buy. As i get older i believe its the latter without a doubt.

and i dont agree with you that music 'has steadily deteriorated" in the last 10 years

styles come in and out of fashion including musical ones and perhaps the styles you like are just curretly out of fashion.

I can think of a few newcomers in the last ten years who are very talented, clever, and not overproduced

As far as the radio goes, 20 years ago and more most of the better new music was not allowed to be played on the radio. now some words are bleeped but before they would not be played at all

Answer 5

The poor quality music of today really isn't any different than the poor quality music of any generation. There has been fluff music and "ear candy" for as long as music has been mass produced. Most of "pop music" is forgotten in a few years, and the music that was more original stands out more, and is played more on the radio. When was the last time you heard most boy band or fluff music from the 60s and 70's, or even the 80's and 90's? Yes, there is some that is still played, but it seems that most fades away.

The unique music that stands out and is of great quality will always stand the test of time. It just isn't apparent until after the generation is over.

Answer 6

That's very, very true. The music industry of today are not accepting anything different than they've already done. There are many people out there who have original ideas, but the big boys of the music industry aren't in it for originality, just money.

The world is slowly going from the horrible pop phase, to an EVEN WORSE total emo music phase.

In the world of suburban America, if you don't like what's supposedly "in", then you don't belong in social activities and groups.

I would be fine if at least some radio stations played a VARIETY of music. Normally, all it is is the top 20, a long talk show, and then the top 20 again.

Basically, the world needs to make more room for different types of music.

Answer 7

I think it's because the music industry is just getting older. Our technology isn't all so old really, and in the beginning stages of radio, not very long ago, the door was opened for the public to hear music at any time they chose. Consequently, lots of musicians jumped into the industry, due to the ability to reach broad audiences and thus make lots of money. Now that the years have passed, and so many, many kinds of music and tunes have been created, the industry has really evolved. How much more difficult it is today to come up with fresh ideas, as compared to the past when music was in it's infancy. Same way with movies. How many new stories and new tunes can be "invented" without it resembling something from the past. I think it's terribly difficult these days.

Answer 8

Well, music is only a by-product of life. It's true that the meaning of music has deteriorated, and everyone here has given great answers.

If you think about it, music is another way to tell stories. So, if music has deteriorated, so has the meaning of life in today's society. Listen to Lenny Williams, Earth Wind & Fire, Aretha Franklin, Queen, Led Zeppelin or Madonna. Then listen to Pussycat Dolls, Dem Franchise Boys, Gwen Stefani, Chris Brown, or anyone new hitting the scene. You can tell the difference.

The point I'm making is: Chivalry, love and respect were combined into the fuel that kept the true meaning of life at its prime. Now you have "Gimme That, Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It, Loosen Up My Buttons" and all that other crap. Now don't get me wrong, they are doing their thing, but the meaning of life and love has taken a downfall that trickled down to music. If society had not painted such an enticing picture of sex, drugs, riding on 24s, infidelity, big butts and money, then you wouldn't hear it being sung as much as you hear it now.

And people wonder why chivalry is dead.

Answer 9

The people are being sold the music they want to buy. If by
"bill of goods" you mean the hype associated with marketing the music, then not much has changed since the 1940s and, perhaps, sooner.

Who says it's "necessary" to accept what one doesn't want to hear?

I have no trouble finding what I consider "good music." I hope you are not surprised to read that my parents made the same statements about my music as you are about current tunes. We use to call people like that "old fogies."

Are you one?

By the way, my music was produced in the late 50's and early 60's. Once in a while, I hear a new piece that sounds great to my ears.

Answer 10

Sure, it's been that way for decades. Now, I think there's quite a few solutions that can be taken seperately or together to bypass the "music industry."

1) Who says you have to only listen to "top 40 music, rock and roll," whether it's on the radio or on a CD or on an iPod? I bought several CDs from a guy selling his music at the local Farmers' Market - a nice blend of jazz and traditional Spanish guitar. And I wouldn't have even know about this guy without hearing him at a public forum. Surely there must be independant musicians putting out original work in your area, and seling their music at local markets, shows, bars, and on the WWW.

2) Is there an NPR station in you area? Such stations typically broadcast music other than "top 40 music, rock and roll, whatever..." put out by the more mass market stations. Take a listen, you might like hearing other genres. (see #1)

3) Is there a nearby college station with student DJs? often they broadcast stuff put out by small unkown bands, local and national (see #1 and #2)

4) Quite a few station put their programming on the WWW. If you have broadband, try doing a search for stations nationwide that offer soething other than the usual mass-market top-40 satellite downfeeds.

5) There's satellite radio, but I've found that mostly offers mostly mass market top 40 stuff anyway. Not worth the money, but that's just IMHO of course.

6) There's various WWW sites that offer public domain mp3 files from various artists that want the exposures. See my list below. It's worth a listen anyway, as an alternative to top-40.