Does the Music Business need Musicianship?

[giskardsb 12,565]

This (long) article makes some interesting points about the current state of the music business and how the glamorized label controlled pop business is starting to fail.  No current pop star is better positioned than Gaga to take advantage of such a shift, towards new forms of creative musicianship and artist involvement, if it comes.  

http://thesmartset.com/does-the-music-business-need-musicianship/

some quotes:

(quote formatting is a bit messed up but I can't seem to fix it.)

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I don’t blame MTV. This is a bigger problem than just the failure of a high-profile awards show. But MTV is a good symbol for the larger crisis in music. That network set the tone years ago for a glamor-driven music business, built on pizzazz and personalities instead of musicianship. That paradigm is now deeply entrenched in the entire industry.

And it doesn’t seem to work anymore.

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The situation in pop music today isn’t much different from the early 1950s, when the blandness and sameness of the offerings were obvious to any discerning listener. In 1953 or 1954, you might not have predicted the rise of rock ‘n’ roll, but you did know that this shallow and vapid music on the airwaves wouldn’t last forever.

Where will the next revolution come from? Those with a nostalgic attachment to the past will inevitably be disappointed. The next wave might embrace musicianship, but it won’t signal a return to the past. It will deliver something new and fresh, although growing out of elements already present on the current-day scene.

 

 

Also notice how those

subversive pop songs with actual chord changes and piano parts seem to generate an emotional response from audiences when they slip by the gatekeepers and on to the airwaves. Finally, check out all those commercial music stars who are collaborating with jazz players. Ask yourselves: what do these people know that the suits at MTV don’t?

 

 

As I noted above, these aren’t the new wave, but

they signal the discontent of brilliant creative minds who are unhappy with the current paradigm of glamor-driven music and want to overturn it. Mark my words: it will topple. The overall direction is clear: ambitious performers trying to find their way to the future are seeking out musical talent right now, not just a cool wardrobe or a new dance step.

 

 

I’m not sure how these trends will develop, but I know that the times they are a-changin’.

Hidden beneath the 15 songs played over and over again by the dying radio stations, a whole universe of exciting music-making is out there. I listen to new music every day, and I hear the talent that the current power structure in the music business is ignoring. They don’t want to let you hear it. Or maybe they don’t even know about it.

[BibleThisWay 4,370]

Personally I think it comes off more authentic when an artist has a part to play in the writing (the more the better). The artist playing an instrument also adds a sense of personal-ness to a song to me. 

[13VictorC 1,102]

Probably. Gaga is always a step ahead of the game. 

[Shipper 13,078]

Maybe it's time for Gaga to slowly feed Rock back to mama pa-pa-pap-papopularity. 

[Bebe 17,094]

I don't pay much attention to the charts anymore, most of it is boring.

I think you are seeing a greater push away from the casual pop that's dominating radio. Even the big artists are noticing that this safe, 'commercial' approach isn't working.

Songs like this are vastly different from the Ariana and Meghan Trainor type songs that have been coming out. I think Gaga working with producers like Kevin Parker is another sign of this (Of course Rihanna also covered Same 'Ol Mistakes for Anti).


Most of the problem I see is that so many of these pretty faces in pop not only can't play an instrument but they can hardly hold a note. They are not trained dancers like the MJ's or Madonnas of their day either and their music is the same as all the other max martin produced stuff on the airwaves.

I think trends are moving. I think it would be a pretty easy switch to make the musicians cool again.

I mean yet another example of how trends are changing:

It's becoming more and more cool for musicianship to be at the forefront.