Popular taste is like a slide show. The majority finds their one thing
that they fixate on (actually they're usually told what to pay attention
to), and that one thing gets projected onto the big screen - larger than
life. Now just because thatıs all they see at the moment doesn't mean that
the other slides in the wheel aren't there anymore, or that they cease to
exist. It simply means that the masses aren't looking.
Yes, the disco ERA is dead. But there is some fantastic disco being
produced by artists today. The same goes for acid-jazz and trip-hop and any
of the other buzz-word oriented movements.
Let us not forget that the music business is about money (duh...). And I
mean - its about money for everyone involved, including the artists that we
discuss on this list. Nobody becomes a professional musician, or desires to
be a recording artist, more so for any other reason than to make money.
Ideally, our motivations go much deeper than just the pursuit of monetary
wealth. You really should be making music because you love it and you need
it, not just because it pays the rent. But lets face it - if ALL you want is
to make music - then do it in your bedroom for the rest of your life and get
a regular job. It'll be a hell of a lot easier on you and your family. None
of the recording artists out there today, no matter how cool they are, would
do it for free. Not if they had to go through the same kind of crap that you
do in order to have and to maintain a career in this business.
And that is the fundamental problem with niche markets like acid-jazz.
Without the kind of support that they seem to have had a few years ago, most
of these bands can't make a living. They can't sell enough records to stay
with the larger companies, who can then take that band and catapult them to
the next level. Perhaps the next slide in the wheel...
- And I'm out...
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sun May 12 2002 - 23:15:35 CEST