Quote of the Week|

Kealy Roberts on Facebook, 7/14/15: The predictable and well-deserved collapse of the music business is due to practices dating farther back than MTV. Youth and attractiveness, as well, have been key elements in popular music dating back to the early 20th century. At one point the record companies were able to control the release of music, which allowed them (among other nefarious practices) to “sign and bury” bands they felt might threaten those they were heavily promoting. The internet age and peer-to-peer technology destroyed that distribution model.

An unfortunate side effect is that there is no more money in record sales. Musicians make their money through touring and merchandising now. Musicians were getting royally f*cked by the record companies since the dawn of record companies. Now those record companies are sharing in the pain. Had record labels put out product that was worthwhile rather than reverting to the pre-Beatles method of bundling a single with 10 tracks of filler and selling it as an album, things may have been different.

I blame the corruption and greed of the labels much more than I do MTV. MTV merely capitalized on a trend. The labels went along with it, and turned videos into something so bland and corporate that eventually the public lost interest in them as well. F*ck the labels. They deserve to suffer.

The digital age has leveled the field, allowing more artists opportunity to make a living, at least. The pie is smaller, and spread amongst more artists; but the opportunity remains. Being that most music is consumed by youth, I don’t find the plethora of youthful attractive artists surprising at all. At least in pop, country, and rock–though there is a very fine, and almost invisible line separating those genres anymore. Old farts still get by playing the blues, though.

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