The State of the Music Industry Address

As far as I’m concerned the quality of popular genres of music died back in 1998 with albums such as 311’s Transistor, Outkast’s Aquimini and DMX’s It’s Dark & Hell is Hot. While all types of new music found on most radio stations are suffering, rap and hip hop are by far in the worst shape. The reasons why really come down to a few factors, all tied back to the way music is marketed these days.

Hardly anyone can argue that we have seen an era in rap and hip hop music to match 1991-1997 with the rise of artist like Tupac, Biggie Smalls, NWA, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and many more all in their prime. One reason I feel that this particular genre is in a stand still when it comes to originality and quality is because of the difference in competition. In the early and mid-nineties rappers were more into the progression of the music as a whole rather and the competition was mainly between the quality of East Coast vs. West Coast. Now, competition is all about personal revenue and ‘personal progression’(if you want to call it that) rather than the advancement of their genre. Everything is strictly numbers. I have always questioned this competition in music from the start. Musicians are artists, not athletes. In music there is no black and white as to who is better; when you try to compare a group of talented musicians it’s like saying which is better: pizza, bowling, or going to the movies? You can’t answer the question and that’s why you will never hear any of the founding fathers/mothers of mainstream American music ever claim to be the best. Lil’ Wayne, Jay-Z, and Noz may all claim to be the best rappers alive in their music but I challenge you to find any Beatles, James Brown, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, or any of the foundational artists to claim they are the best at what they do in their music. The Beatles were claimed to be more popular than god, but did they sing about it? No.  Sure rap was founded on the struggle up from poverty by the majority of artists but until the ego is lost, I don’t think it will improve as a whole.

While these things I stated above are issues, the main issue harming the music industry is Public Radio. How I absolutely despise what has become of public radio. Public radio is the root of all that is evil in music but I do have to hand it to them, they aren’t stupid. I’m sure most of you have all wondered why the radio stations play the same music over and over. Well, so have I, and I have thought about it and I believe I have an answer that makes perfect since and it has absolutely nothing to do with requests. The radio stations receive the majority of their money from two sources: Advertisements and Record Labels. Now, if the radio stations reduce the amount of music they accept and play on a daily basis then it creates a smaller, less saturated market for the record labels. It’s simple economics actually. While some listeners will get completely turned off with the music they are playing, others will continue to listen and actually enjoy the music. Your average listener isn’t going to search for music much further than the radio or music videos on TV(scratch that. Doesn’t exist). Then when they go to buy music they have a smaller selection of albums to choose from and many of them are on the same record label. Am I sure of this? Definitely not, but it certainly seems rational.

With this being said, I am obviously talking mainly about new music that is put in the mainstream. There are tons of good new musicians out there but the vast majority of the public doesn’t know who they are. These are the people the record labels should be signing rather than giving these sorry excuses for musicians too much money and publicity. This garbage needs to go from the radio and replaced with something new and fresh.

If the music industry is so hurt for money then I have a solution: Stop spending millions of dollars in recording to lay down some digital autotuned tracks and go find talent that records simply! Then reduce the price of music or become more creative with your marketing branch. I can assure you there is plenty of money to be made with quality music. Go look at the top selling albums of all time. 99% of them used simple analog recording and the quality of as many as 35 years ago will compete with almost all of the newer and more expensive recording. Talent?

RGM