Pop Music: Marketable > Talent

So I'm very upset at some of today's record companies, selling out on marketable "artists" to build their business on instead of real, musically talented people. It's a musical injustice to the real artists who are relocating to a new city to be closer to the scene, busting their tails rehearsing, sacrificing late nights for gigs while holding on to a day job to pay the bills, being fully committed to finding their breaks. Nowadays it seems that the maximum output one can do musically in the name of hope isn't enough because A&R scouts are looking for the marketing/image potential in recruits that can completely replace musical talent as a factor to bank on...

"Artists" like Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Heidi Montag have/have had record contracts, not for their singing/songwriting ability but for their marketability. Now Duff and Lohan have legit acting ability, no doubt, but I find it very hard to believe that they made an album solely to contribute their musical distinctiveness to the world; I find it easier to believe that they made their albums to diversify themselves and their careers.



I've been listening to Timbaland since I was in high school and have seen him progress from his distinctive bass-line hiphop beats to producing hits outside of his native genre of music. His musical productions are so amazing he often overshadows the headlining vocal artist on their Timbaland-produced single playing on the radio. Nowadays, he charges $100,000 to $300,000 per track! But with producers that have the golden touch comes a darkside of irresistible monetary offers to produce for non-musicians...


Big record companies, like Universal, Sony, Warner and Atlantic can get a pop icon totally unrelated to music like Paris Hilton, pay Timbaland $1,200,000 to $3,600,000 on executive production for 12 tracks of awesome music, have her sing and digitally correct her not-so-lovely ranges, strike a deal with a music distributor, get the marketing department going, hire a firm to design the album art and packaging, and BAM! You got yourself a hit album! The difference between Paris and me making the same album is that she's internationally marketable... but besides that, there's really no difference between one of us doing the vocals for the same body of work.


Art is very, very important to the world, just as important as working for a living and having family and friends in our lives. Without art we would go into depression, living in a world where everything looked the same without any aesthetic variations or distinctiveness. Music is a very big medium of artistry that most people in the world consume on a regular basis, but when the big companies start to lean on marketable rather then musical talent, not only are real artists robbed of their opportunity to shine, but the consumers, you and me, are robbed of the musical substance, pleasure and enlightenment of fresh and new music to enjoy and love for ourselves and with one another. How many incredible musicians aren't given the chance to share their music with the sentimental human beings of the world? What if Celene Dion, Jennifer Hudson or Mariah Carey were bumped out of their opportunities of recording to give their chances to model-looking faces with weak musical skills? There would be no "My Heart Will Go On" or "My All!"

The big music companies are, literally, stealing life away from us and giving it to the already elite entertainers who have nothing to with making original and real music but are able to produce the profits needed to keep the record companies happy.

This, my friends, is greed at work, now affecting us music lovers.
Musical injustice, I tell you...


-gs1r-

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Primer Día
by: Julieta Venegas
Limón Y Sal