RIAA gets it totally wrong again

[Pain_Man]

Got to get this off my chest, after yet another story like this one.

 

It's not hard to understand why record sales have declined 10 out of the last 12 years: for at least fifteen years, the industry--excepting Art Music, which is sometimes called "Classical," something akin to calling all pop music Rockabilly--has offered market researcahed, focused-grouped, poll-tested, ratings fueled drivel. Is it SO far fetched that people are just sick of manufactured crap? Compared to the 60s, 70s, and the first half of the 80s, the music of the 90's and the "Oughts" simply sucks. Where are the Zeps, the Beatles, the Floyds, the Tulls, the Croces, the Dylans, the OMDs, the Depeche Modes? In short, WHERE ARE THE BRITS? Alas, the Simon Cowells and Simon Fullers, while not very succesful, at least before American Idol, are emlematic of the sad fact that the consolidation in the music business has spread the American model of manufactured music to the home of the Beatles.

 

Twice before the British saved American pop music which it turned itself into inspid garbage. After the death of Buddy Holley in 1959, American music turned itself into Fabian and his ilk--just awful. It took the Brits, starting with the Beatles in 1964 to save the popular music invented in America (ironically it originated as a mixture of English "folk" music with African rhythms). The "British Invasion" the Liverpudlians began soon ushered in the most brilliant pop music ever created. Thru the door opened by the Beatles walked The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Yes, Rush (yes, Canadian) and many others. By the late 70s, the wave of conglomeration had led to the crapification of music.

 

One response was the putrid stench of punk. This didn't last long, with only the Clash showing any real talent or staying power. Only a few American bands of brilliance emerged including Fleetwood Mac & the Eagles. Once again, pop music was in the doldrums.

 

By 1980, "the British [were] coming" and that was, again, a good thing. The synth pop, or New Wave, era started just as Disco was breathing its last foul breaths. Depeche Mode, U2, Duran Duran, OMD, Joy Division/New Order, the Cure, the Smiths, and, on the US side, artists such as Oingo Boingo, Tom Petty, Don Henley held things up in the early and mid-80s.

 

By 1990, the creative gas had run out, so to speak. For the next fifteen years the Maurice Stars & Lou Pearlman would bombard us with manufactured shit like New Kids on the Block, InSync, 98 Degrees, Christian Aguilera, Britney Spears. The few bands of real talent, such as the New Orleans-based Squirrel Nut Zippers, found getting their heads above water--excepting the occasional novelty hit--nearly impossible. The Marketeers had taken over completely.

 

Image was all that mattered. It didn't matter if you could sing. If you were beautiful, had a great bod and could dance, they could take a real singer's voice, lay a thin veneer of your own over it (e.g. Paula Abdul, which is what makes her job as "judge" of singing filled with an irony she clearly is oblivious to) or you could completely fake it (a la Milli Vanilli), but most common was taking a thin, nasally voice, like Madonna's, and using "studio magic" put notes back in tune that weren't anywhere close.

 

What talent had once provided, computers could now simulate. Records sales entered into a severe and steep, almost uninterrupted decline. Only rap ("hip-hop") showed any real juice and that was more because of its immense ability to irritate anyone over the age of 20--i.e. parents. Since 2 out of 3 rap fans are white, teenaged boys, relating to life in the 'Hood probably was not the music's charm. It was what the French call epater les bourgeois--to outrage the middle class. But rap quickly revealed a creative sterility. What happened? In came the Marketeers again.

 

There's an old computer acronym: GIGO. If the "artists" a record company is signing have the talent of people who can't get an edition in a Vegas lounge, they're unlikely to produce a "Sgt. Pepper's," "Stairway to Heaven" or a "Strangelove" or an "If You Leave."

 

Then the Internet Revolution took hold. Finally! The idiot-ass executives who run the world's three record company's realized they now had an out. It wasn't their fault for producing shitty music, it was the public's fault for stealing it! (Despite the fact that record stores near college campuses, the evil "centers" of this plague of imaginary piracy, showed increases in sales!) Millions of dollars could be reaped from bogus lawsuits and the P2P phenomenon provided an excellent excuse to whine to Congress and the courts that they were the victims of millions of their fans, er, "thieves." If the Internet would just go away, if CD burners would simply vanish, then all would be FINE. Since they won't, "Let's lock 'em down." "But there's a legal right to record music you've paid for." "Who gives a shit about that? Rights, schmights. Get to work treating our fans like criminals!"

 

"Quality" is a term rarely heard and never heeded in boardrooms and executive suites of the three companies who control the music industry. The buzzword is "piracy." It's now "give us your cute, your cut, your good hair and telegenic looks..."

 

Once again, as demonstrated below, the "piracy" charge is a dodge. A dodge from signing REAL talent--regardless of their looks, or their "marketability", a dodge for actually doing the leg work of going to the small bars, or listening to demos, where great bands and singers have always been incubated, the real talent nutured, the genius honed, refined and made ready.

 

One can only pray the British Isles once again manages to save American music from a nearly terminal mediocrity. But I wonder how like that is now that only 3 companies control everything (Sony-BMG, Universal-Vivendi and Time-Warner). The Capitol Records, the Chrysalis Records, the Atlantic Records and other "indies" that provided the outlet for REAL talent to make it to listener's ears are all gone now--swallowed up by corporate behemoths who care only for profits and the stock (share) price that determines the CEOs mult-million dollar salaries. With such a stranglehold on the traditional channel, I pray the Net becomes the way to pray the cold, dead corporate hands from around music's neck. If music can be delivered directly to the fan, by passing the little plastic disk stage, then the record companies will go the way of the dinosaur. It can't happen soon enough.

 

2005: RIAA gets it totally wrong AGAIN

 

After 2005, RIAA gets it totally wrong again

 

3 January 2006 16:54 by Dela

[picture]Now that 2005 has come to an end, major music labels can assess their sales over the past 12 months. To the annoyance of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), music CD sales in the U.S. dropped by about 3.5% according to Nielsen Soundscan. CD sales had risen by 2.3% in 2004 and the music companies were quick to applaud their anti-piracy efforts and gave those efforts full credibility for the rise in CD sales. However, now faced with a 3.5% drop, the same companies are blaming piracy all over again.

 

However, looking back over the past year, the collective anti-piracy efforts of both the music and movie industries on the Internet reached a whole new level of toughness. Specifically, the entertainment industry has the U.S. Supreme Court Grokster ruling under it's belt, which then led to many P2P services disappearing or changing completely. Now add on the 7,000+ lawsuits from the RIAA against P2P users and the Australian Kazaa case; it was a good year for anti-piracy efforts (from the music industry's usual point of view).

 

So that brings us to a question; if the music industry cited the 2004 anti-piracy efforts for the rise of music sales, then why were their anti-piracy efforts ineffective in 2005? Perhaps the answer is simply that the RIAA was wrong in 2004? One thing that is easily forgotten by music companies is that economical changes affect sales all around the world - sometimes people have less or more money to spend on music. Then you must remember that technology advances lead to new "must have" products every year that consumers buy up, leaving them with less money to spend on music. Then, there is also another factor; maybe less people were really interested in the music selection major labels provided in 2004.

 

It seems the the major music labels of the world believe that all their customers have the same amount of money each year and spend it on the same things. New gadgets like Sony's PlayStation Portable and new iPods (and other MP3 players) in 2005 were purchased with many consumers' spare cash, leaving them less money to spend on music. Also, take into account some of the recent natural disasters in the world, such as the December 2004 Asian tsunami disaster which saw many people donating large amounts of money in early 2005 to help out. There are countless things that are not music-related that could have contributed to the drop in CD sales.

 

Legal music downloads have also grown in popularity. Many consumers now have turned from buying CDs and instead just pay for single downloads instead of full albums on CD. Does piracy affect music sales? Of course it does but can it be solely blamed for CD sales drops in 2005? That's very doubtful. It is probably just easier for the music companies to blame piracy (particularly file sharing piracy) for drops in CD sales than to accept that some consumers were less interested in music in 2005 for example.

 

Source:

The Register

[polopony]

man I can't see any of the current crop of "artists " being around in 20 years .For the most part groups last a couple of years and gone music sucks and sales are down what a suprise who buys a cd anymore to hear maybe one or two hits and the rest garbage ,I'm glad to see some of the older groups going back on tour I'll try to see a few acts this year

[Shamus_McFartfinger]

I buy lots of new music. (Heavy metal rules! ) The current crop of shit that so-called music producers force on an unsuspecting public (like Britney Spears aka The Urban Bushpig) may have something to do with their lower than forecast profits, not sales figures. There?s a huge difference between the two.

 

EDIT: The Sony rootkit debacle obviously helped CD sales........NOT!

[Pain_Man]

I buy lots of new music. (Heavy metal rules! ) The current crop of shit that so-called music producers force on an unsuspecting public (like Britney Spears aka The Urban Bushpig) may have something to do with their lower than forecast profits, not sales figures. There?s a huge difference between the two.

 

EDIT: The Sony rootkit debacle obviously helped CD sales........NOT!

 

 

 

 

 

I think your confusing Britney (who still smoulders) with "KFed" Though she smoulders less after letting a nitwit like that knock her up (twice!) maybe it's true love(?).

 

Way my love life's goin' I ain't exactly got room to preach.

[Pain_Man]

man I can't see any of the current crop of "artists " being around in 20 years .For the most part groups last a couple of years and gone music sucks and sales are down what a suprise who buys a cd anymore to hear maybe one or two hits and the rest garbage ,I'm glad to see some of the older groups going back on tour I'll try to see a few acts this year

 

 

 

That's exactly it. In 20 years, who's going to remember Jennifer Lopez was a "singer" (not without $3M of studio magic).

 

There's a line from a Rush song (a dollar if you guess the song title, the album and the year it was released):

 

Art as expression

Not as market campaigns

Will still capture our imaginations

Given the same state of integrity

It will surely help us along

 

And that's the point. This music today is put together by comittee. It's like weirdass flavors of ice cream from Ben & Jerry's. It'll melt so quickly no one can possibly remember it.

 

Music has to be from the heart, from the soul. Tha's why Zep, Rush, Yes, the Eagles, the Who, Floyd, Depeche Mode, the Cure, et al, are great bands.

 

It's not about scoring the highest focus group numbers. It's not about the latest marketing model. It's not about the lead singer's Q-score.

 

It's about MUSIC. It's about POETRY.

 

MTV is what fucked it all up. The whole country suddenly had one top 40 radio station. If you weren't pretty enough, you had no chance of making it. How many ugly people are getting deals these days? I love Floyd and deeply respect Roger Water's music (his politics are total bullshit but hey, he's entitled to his opinion). But the dude is just shy of butt ugly (according to my wife anyway).

 

But what does it matter when you can write a song like "Wish You Were Here"? If you can listen that song and it does NOT hurt your heart, then you've never lost anyone, never had any special in your life to lose.

 

(The song, for the uninitiated, is about Floyd's co-founder--and namer of the band--Sid Barret; due to drugs and mental instability, he went completely insane about 1970; he was replaced by David Gilmour and Waters became lead singer and lyricist. One day, during the "Wish You Were Here" sessions, the band was coming into the studio when they found Sid Barrett waiting for them.

 

Roger Waters said, "He was this great, fat, mad person." It depressed Roger so utterly that "Wish You Were Here" was ripped from his soul. Does anyone here think Madonna even has a soul?)

Edited April 29, 2006 by Pain_Man

[volvofl10]

There's a line from a Rush song (a dollar if you guess the song title, the album and the year it was released):

 

Art as expression

Not as market campaigns

Will still capture our imaginations

Given the same state of integrity

It will surely help us along

 

Natural Science , off the "Permanent waves " album released 1980 , now wheres my dollar ?, an dont try to send me one of those Mickey Mouse Disney Dollars either

[Pain_Man]

 

There's a line from a Rush song (a dollar if you guess the song title, the album and the year it was released):

 

Art as expression

Not as market campaigns

Will still capture our imaginations

Given the same state of integrity

It will surely help us along

 

Natural Science , off the "Permanent waves " album released 1980 , now wheres my dollar ?, an dont try to send me one of those Mickey Mouse Disney Dollars either

 

AAAANT. Disqualification. Album title: Permanent Waves.

 

JK. I don't suppose 5 aol cds and a can of warm Budweiser'll do it?

 

Very good though. Any one who knows that is a true Rush fan and thus a member of the brotherhood

 

Don't know about you, but I breathed a sigh of relief when that bullshit case against Alex (and his son) in Florida fell apart making the Florida prosecutors look like total idiots; just like they did with Rush Limbaugh yesterday. The Left-Liberal media was having orgasms, "Rush Limbaugh arrested." Not what happened at all. Instead he beat them. But the gov't's got endless resources and time. Since he's worth $300M, I'm sure he thinks paying $30K to end this political persecution by an asshole prosecutor was well worth it. Besides, it's got to be cheaper than to keep paying Roy Black $500/hr!

 

Cool famous people: 2.

Choadswallowing Florida Prosecutors: 0.

 

Alex has also filed a Federal lawsuit against the aforementioned facsist prick cops. 31 counts of violating his civil [human] rights, false arrest, false imprisonment, brutality, intentional infliction of emotional distress, etc, etc.

 

Laughably the thug cops have counter-sued him! I didn't see any cops covered in blood with a broken nose. Nor did I see Alex holding any cops prisoner overnight. What a joke.

 

I hope he wins $50M.

Edited April 30, 2006 by Pain_Man

[spinningwheel]

I like Country myself...it has the same stars for years and is always a fresh sound...

[volvofl10]

JK. I don't suppose 5 aol cds and a can of warm Budweiser'll do it?

 

err , no . the 1$ is worth more

[kevdriver]

I like Country myself...it has the same stars for years and is always a fresh sound...

 

 

 

Spinner Spinner Spinner.................. Stopo horseing around.................

[polopony]

not to mention that there are so many honeys among the female singers