ERIC GUENTHER OF FROM EXILE AND LEVI/WERSTLER PROCLAIMS: “MUSIC IS DEAD.”
In the music game, the barrier of entry has been lowered. Is this good or bad for the artistry of music?
Look at what happened to MySpace. Today, it still serves some function, but I think we can all agree that it is at least somewhat broken. Just from judging some of the comments readers have posted here, the attitude is that the “Myspace-band generation” is beginning to pass. Maybe this is just wishful thinking, but we all have seen how much easier it is to have your little brother’s one guitar and fruity loops drumkit demo uploaded and readily available on their “BIAXIAL ANALISSCUS MAXiMUS — LOOKING FOR SINGER/DRUMMER/BASS PLAYER!!!! TECH/DEATH METAL/AFRO BEAT” Myspace account. Although the tools available today allow everyone to throw some music out there and have it heard (basically, throw poop at a wall and see what sticks), do they really help the industry? To be more accurate, does it really develop and evolve the artistry of the music itself? Or does it simply desensitize our ears as listeners and oversaturate the musical landscape with artists with less dedication, talent, and creativity than those who were able to survive the trials required to accomplish the odyssey recording of a brilliant record, say, thirty years ago? When buying a randomly chosen record off the shelf thirty years ago, wasn’t there a better chance that this record would actually be something worth listening to ten-plus years later?
In reference to my metaphor, I think what has been happening on MySpace is more like watching thrown shit slide down the wall, taking a picture, and calling that a band/music/ “art.”
I am saying all of this with FULL realization that I am as much a part of this as anyone else trying to build a career in music these days. It is a sign of our times and unavoidable. When recording From Exile‘s Monolith with Eyal, we would often joke about how much worse our recordings might be without digital editing. Most bands we listen to these days use these capabilities to the technological limit. Think about Metallica, recording the Black album on reel to reel. I might get eaten alive for this, but I pretty much hated Metallica until I saw “A Year and a Half in the Life of… “; Wacky moments like Bob Rock:”Lars, will you make the next couple versions a little peppery off the top… put a little more weight into it…”, Lars:”If you want weight, I’m your fucking guy.”, Hetfield:”Yeah, make us wait forever.” At about six minutes in this video…
For kicks, check out the reel-to-reel the Black Album was recorded on at about 5:21
Hetfield talks about his 4-track from 1984 that turned into a diamond record. Uh… that shit don’t happen no more. My point is, it took a lot more support, funding, technical help, and a classic dose of luck to get a recording together. These days, it is much easier, which makes it harder to actually respect the work that goes into a completed ‘record’. Many musicians getting their start these days are unaware of this history, it seems.
On to my second point: record labels are freaking out and pointing fingers at everyone; their profits are disappearing because their business model does not function correctly anymore. This is definitely true… But when 80% of what a business tries to sell is a trashy product, year after year, doesn’t this devalue the artistry and work of the medium as well? It’s no surprise the labels are panicking, but (FUCK!) have some personal accountability. Think about the middle to late 90s. Sure, I won’t argue that there were some great records produced in that time period that had a massive impact on me personally and professionally (Radiohead – OK Computer and NIN – The Fragile come to mind), but most of what was selling in mainstream numbers during those years were polished turds. I’m looking at you, Jive records (responsible for Britney, Backstreet, N*SUCK, you get the picture). Basically, the idea of pairing a talented producer with a sex symbol sold a lot of records. This is not music as an art; this is a formulaic business model design for maximum record sales and nothing else.
A loser named Lou Pearlman put boy bands together and managed them, made a metric butt-ton of cash by writing very slanted contracts to young, naive, and eager artists, and now is serving a 25 year sentence in the federal pen for a number of money-making schemes that backfired. The Backstreet Boys, in 1997, after a #1 hit record and a year of touring “larger than life” venues, had only earned $300,000 to be split between six of them. “Wait,” says your little sister, “there are only five Backstreet Boys, stupid!” No, their contract stated that Pearlman was to be paid as Producer, Manager, AND SIXTH MEMBER. Let’s take a look at the 6th Backstreet Boy:
Yeah right, Pearlman has exactly zero musical ability; this was obviously all about money. He and his label made millions before his little boy-toys caught on. Nevermind the question of whether not you would be in a boy-band… would you let THIS guy in YOUR band?
I hate to even insult readers by acknowledging these (scam) artists here, but I’m sure you can see my point. The industry should place some of the blame on itself for the mess artists are in, because for years, they have been disrespecting the consumer with a contrived product designed to do nothing but pad their wallets, and, often enough, screw over the ones on stage that make all those little girls scream! Maybe we shouldn’t be mad at Britney (she’s done more damage to herself than any of us could ever muster), but instead dissatisfied with the products being shoved down consumers throats. I think most of us here are.
It took a different type of musician to make it to the point of having the slightest opportunity to make a recording back when it was only reel-to-reel. Today, MySpace has diluted the pool of “music” so horribly that, combined with the industry’s widespread prioritization of money over art, it is a wonder ANY worthwhile artistic output makes it through the static anymore. There IS hope, though… It’s not that there isn’t brilliant music being made, sometimes it just needs to be searched out. Similar to the days when all we could do to find fresh music was talk to our friends, read a Rolling Stone, or hang out at a local used record shop, the listener of discerning taste has to DIG… A new type of digging, for sure, one involving wikipedias, googles, Oinks, piratebays, last.fm, whatever the case may be… But the essential motivation and spirit of “digging” for new music in 2010 is nearly unchanged. An optimist’s perspective would say that these new resources (even MySpace) will result in a shedding-of-the-bullshit; listeners will easily find the music that appeals to them the most, and artists will find their audiences naturally and avoid the gatekeepers of the past: things like recording technology, record labels, and radio. To be determined, I suppose.
Who knows, what the fuck do I know anyway, I’ve never recorded on reel-to-reel and my unsigned band still uploads music recorded in a home studio to a MySpace page… But at least I can sleep at night knowing that I don’t have either of these asshats in my “band”:
-EG
