Mellencamp on Music Business

I thought his best point in the whole article was: sing the chorus from I Need a Lover... now sing a chorus from any Mariah Carey song. I've asked a couple of people to try that and you can guess the outcome. I was reminded of the point when I heard Anoop sing an Usher song on American Idol the other night. There's just no song to sing there.

So much of what you hear today in popular music has no underlying song. There is a problem with the record business. His point on soundscan is valid. Music is Big Box business. A lot of what gets played in several genres - rock, country, top 40 come immediately to mind - is unabashed slick corporate garbage. I think a lot of the fractured genres we hear about such as alt country, new bluegrass, some folkie rock are outgrowths of the core problem. People can't stand the stuff played on radio and seek out these slivers of creativity.

Interesting comments. I guess I think this is a pretty hopeful time for American popular music. Lot's of mass-market junk (as always, I assume), but lots of smaller label stuff that is really good (the music more often than the recordings, alas).
J

Jdoris,

While I agree that on the smaller labels you're finding much more 'creative music", the big problem is selling this music, beyond the few fans that actively seek this music out. Fewer places that sell these CDs/records, problems with people stealing downloaded copies of their music, recording budgets being cut for those artist that actually still have a label, extremely limited advertising budget, are just a few of their problems. Not that long ago I talked to one artist who records for a well-known blues label, and he told me that most of his CD sells anymore are from people buying them at his gigs or off his website. Great to see the middleman get cut out, but nevertheless it still severely limits the number of CDs that get sold, as only the "choir" is buying them. Add to that the number of venues that used to book him and his band (and other blues artists) that have either closed down or changed music formats makes it much more difficult for people like him to tour.

Funny I find that despite all the issues there seems to be more music than ever out there to discover and enjoy and even more ways than ever to enjoy it.

most musicians and songwriters are dirt poor. the music 'business' is also made up of working stiffs, just like any other industry.