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Stup, I agree across the board, except for a few points. The music industry, specifically the record labels they do suppress some good bands and even good music.
If a band refuses to sign a contract which usually gives the artist no control or ownership of their music or lyrics... they get no deal, they get blacklisted, and the radio stations (which to me are merely audio advertising for the record labels and the albums they are trying to push) they get no air play.
For this reason a lot of bands are getting smart, start an underground fan base, they release their music on the internet, sold and distributed via the net. There are some radio stations that are fair and don't bow down... they are very few in number.
For decades the industry creates boy and girl band clones of a couple hot pop groups just to cash in on trend. It's all about publishing, points, selling and regurgitating music and lyrics to new artists on their debut album which usually features no original music from a new artist.
I'd agree with you DUNNA, except that the situation has actually improved over the last fifty years for "good" music. In the fifties and sixties, a band had no way of promoting itself via recorded medium as they had no access to studios. They first had to be signed, then could record. Today, bands are able to get their recordings out dirt cheap because of micro-studios (I know of five near my home), CD burners, the internet and such. It's really made it easier for "good" music to be noticed! Look at the topic that was started in the forum about your favorite gaming songs. I made the comment that I didn't even know half the bands people were putting in there. However, I was able to find most of them at my music store! Wouldn't have happened in days of old.
The problem with "good" music not reaching the masses is that it is just not good enough to be marketed to the masses. Yes, I'll agree that I'm no Brittany, Christina, Justin or Shakira fan, but there are millions who are. They control the marketing, not me. The bands I listen too and would be called "good" music in my opinion (critical differentiator) don't appeal to most of the people I hang out with. They sell less than a couple hundred thousand albums because of this: not enough people like them!
What everyone seems to be asking for is the inverse of what you are complaining about: let's drop the boy band, girl band, pretty boy and pretty girl artists and only promote the "good" music. In this scenario, millions of people would be complaining because they can't get their music, while the thousands of us are as happy as clams. I don't think this business model would work for many companies, so why should we expect the record companies to follow it.
What it comes down to is money. "Good" music doesn't generate enough money to validate the music companies spending their hard earned dollars on it. "Bad" music generates millions and it gets the airplay and promotion. I look at it like this: Lots of people like beer. There are a lot of beer ads. Not a lot of people like tequilla and you don't see any ads. The liquor companies don't get harassed for this, but I think the Busch family has done all right for themselves. How come no one is upset about this?
Don't get me wrong, too few people are making too much money and too many are making too little, but putting inverted business models in place would have nobody making any money!
By the way, anybody got the latest Donny Osmond CD for me to pirate!
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