AWmusic

I read Sheila’s article about how she believes that the selection of comedienne Ellen DeGeneres as a judge for American Idol is somehow indicative of the mainstream music industry’s (further?) fall from grace, and she laments the current state of the industry – i.e. this “pop” stuff all sounds the same, no one with any talent is getting radio play, it ain’t what it used to be, etc. She implores dedicated music fans to go to local record stores, see local shows, and support independent artists in general.

I want to address these points one at a time. To start, I find it a little hard to believe that Ellen being an Idol judge is at all “denigrating” to the music industry. It’s true, it is hard to believe at face value that she, not being recognizable to any member of the public (certainly not the demographic that loyally watches American Idol) in any remotely musical area, should have anything intelligent to say about the relative talents of aspiring singers – but who does? Simon Cowell is not a musician – sure, he can rip you a new asshole with eloquence and aplomb, but a cursory glance at the history of his career (starting in the mail room at EMI as a result of his father’s connections there) shows that, musically, he more than likely has no clue what the fuck he is talking about. However, he’s seen a lot of stars rise, and often has played a part in that, and therefore no matter how much ire he earns from “unqualified” fans for tearing apart talented hopefuls, his opinion must carry some weight in the industry. And besides, all of the above is totally irrelevant because in the end it’s his label and – more importantly – his money being invested, so he might as well be the only judge.

The Thoughts of Simple Simon by The Broadfield Marchers

Though we know, of course, that this is not how Idol works. The fans – average folks we can mostly assume – get a chance to cast their votes and ultimately decide the winner of the competition. This is irrespective of how much any of the judges know about music. In fact, their qualifications hardly play a part at all; how many times have you honestly disagreed with the judges when they opted not to send a contestant through the preliminary rounds? I’m willing to bet the majority of fans who watch and ultimately make the calls on American Idol are no more or less qualified to judge talent than Ellen DeGeneres, and most if not all of those fans would agree – except on very rare occasions, or when perhaps the contestant’s looks are unfairly considered – that even if certain rejectees were undeniably talented, the ones who made it into the final few rounds were much better.

They Took A Vote and Said No by Sunset Rubdown

Idol is really just an exaggerated and heavily adorned version of the way big name record labels usually look for pop stars. They hold auditions, or showcases, listen, (let’s face it) look, critique, calculate and decide. Trends form in pop music and especially in this day and age the labels must be very discriminating with their money. No matter how noble one’s artistic intentions can be, certain things sell consistently, and there’s no getting around it. It has to some extent always worked this way, or at least since the advent of the 45 RPM single – Motown in the 1960s was called a “hit-making machine” for good reason. They had a formula for making huge hit songs and producing hugely popular groups – one could reasonably argue that the brilliance of the music was good luck.

Naturally I share many music aficionados’ frustrations with our favorite left-of-the-dial acts never selling in the six figures. It frustrates us that the best bands never seem to get as popular just because they’re not in line with the major musical trends of the time, because the general public simply doesn’t know any better. We’re not going to bother mentioning REM. Yes, they were an indie band who started on the nation-wide club circuit and eventually signed a major label deal and earned platinum sales, but they were an exception. Like Nirvana. And the Replacements. And Sonic Youth. And the Strokes. And the Clash. And Chuck Berry. and Rage Against the Machine.That’s right. Besides all of those exceptions to this rule, artists who work against the grain of pop music never get the worldwide mainstream recognition they deserve. Except maybe Blondie. Or Talking Heads. Or Blur. Or Oasis. Or the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Or Metallica. Or the Ramones. Or Green Day. Never. Not once. And of course, pop music has largely remained the same over the last decade, right? Nothing has really changed in terms of production or image – rap music more or less sounds the same as it did in 2000, and R&B has been pretty much standing still. Our favorite artists from the beginning of the 2000’s – Britney, Xtina, the members of N’Sync – are still largely doing the same things now as they were then.

And of course as high-minded music critics we blame the industry for turning music into a commercial entity, to be bought and sold and disposed of, in the last two decades or so – it’s nothing like in that golden, romantic era of the 1960’s when 45 RPM vinyl singles (which averaged roughly six to eight minutes per side) were released on a weekly schedule and were the driving force of the music market. The market saturation could not possibly have come from our treasured independent artists, whose unprecedented access to recording and distribution technology (i.e. the internet) have not only enabled anyone with a connection to easily locate and download for free – bypassing the music marketing juggernaut entirely – anyone’s music regardless of their mainstream or indie credibility, but also the artists themselves to inundate the internet with thousands of new artists and songs each year, effectively turning every mp3 blog into its own infinitessimal music universe in which every self-righteous music fan (or armchair music journalist) is free to argue the merit of this overwhelming volume of new content while remaining willfully ignorant that ninety-nine percent of the world will never, ever hear it.

It’s true. The internet has thrown open the floodgates. Our local and independent artists are suffering. It is hard enough trying to compete with big-name artists with their targeted images and expensive PR, and now the indie scene has turned against itself with every band being exactly as accessible to the music-seeking public as every other. Everyone is now on even footing – whether you’re in the record store on CD or on vinyl, anyone can download it for free. Anyone with a computer is capable of making music just as polished as something made in an expensive studio. It’s just as easy for people in their living rooms – who may lack talent to the degree of which we so often accuse the mainstream stars – to make perfectly accessible (at times perfectly trashy) music and make it available globally. The notion of “authenticity” in music – if it ever needed to exist in the first place – has been broken down. Sheila was right when she said that we need to support our local and independent artists, and that we should go to their shows, because now our power to promote them on a larger stage is greater than it has ever been before.

Aside from the fact that I think the concept of American Idol could be a positive one; in Sheila’s words, “these shows make artificial stars out of people who would otherwise be working a day job.” To a degree, she’s right, but how many successful artists, independent or otherwise didn’t have day jobs before they got their break? This is a show that gives this opportunity to undeniably talented people who may not have had the chance otherwise, irrespective of whether or not we as critics happen to like the style of music they specialize in. There are many competitions out there that attempt to do the same for independent artists, even if they can’t operate on the same scale. Many people like to complain that the industry nowadays is “all politics,” and that a band needs to have an “instant hit” in order to get noticed, as if it has ever been any different. Do you think our most beloved dinosaur bands of the 60’s and 70’s would have been offered their big breaks if they didn’t have hit potential? Furthermore, do you think the current indie tastemakers like Pitchfork are any less selective in what they choose to promote, and based on the same criteria (try asking anyone who’s tried to get a mention from them)? There was a lot of innovation in pop music during that period, but the fact of the matter was that those artists were moving units, and if they weren’t then they never would have been allowed that freedom.

We as critics of all people should know that the politics of the mainstream music industry no longer need to matter to us – and of course we’ll gloss over the fact that the Arcade Fire and Spoon both had their last albums debut in the Billboard Top 10 – and that there is no use decrying marketing exercises like American Idol. After all, how many people are watching that show because they have an earnest personal investment in one of those contestants having a successful career? For that matter, how many people have American Idol as their only means of discovering new music? Supporting our local and independent musicians is an imperative now more than ever not because they are somehow more “real” or “authentic” than anyone who happens to have a mainstream hit (I don’t even want to ask why the channels through which an artist achieved success should have any bearing on their credibility) but because for the first time they are capable of competing with the big names, and we have manpower on our side. What’s real and what’s not is not what matters anymore. What matters is what we like, whether it’s on the charts or in a basement. Elitism is an archaic practice and should be abandoned. It’s not about more deserving, it’s about equally deserving! Don’t you get it? We don’t need the radio anymore – a comedian judging talent doesn’t have to mean anything. For once we have the power to find music we can love ourselves – we shouldn’t be focused on tearing anything down, but rather on spreading all of the good stuff around.

They used to say that the artists could change the music people listened to – now we have an unprecedented ability to make that change ourselves. So I join Sheila in urging you to get out there and make it.

Tags: opinion