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Record Companys, Villians or heroes?


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Old 23-04-2003, 15:23
lala
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Do they have too much control over not only the artist but the music it self?

Are they the ones to blame for the lack decent pop tunes out there? Bar Girls Aloud debut single and second (Which is quite good ) and TaTu debut single!

Should the record companys go back to basics and let the artist get on with the music?

Basically what i am trying to say is.............Are the Record Companys the true villians and the ones who are destorying the pop charts with drivel crap?

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Old 23-04-2003, 20:51
Ms.Chili
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The days when Record Companies were run by people interested in music has long gone, most of the small independants have been bought up by the huge Corporations and the music has become secondary to making money, hence the same old safe formulaic crap that is constantly churned out. Most record companies these days are just not prepared to take a risk on new bands and record sales particularily singles are in decline anyway, as for all the "drivel" in the charts, well someone must be buying it?! There is still a lot of good music around but you need to look at the Album charts to find it!

...to answer your question though Record Companies will never go back to "basics" they're all run by Accountants now and they can't see beyond the £££££'s!
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Old 23-04-2003, 23:15
Channel Hopper
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You ask too many questions Lala

Are you a mathematician, a DS Spy , or a sad Wednesday night person ?
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Old 23-04-2003, 23:30
lala
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Originally posted by Channel Hopper
You ask too many questions Lala

Are you a mathematician, a DS Spy , or a sad Wednesday night person ?
Nope i just want to learn more about the sad state the world is in at the moment!
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Old 24-04-2003, 07:11
metafis
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Originally posted by Channel Hopper
You ask too many questions Lala

Are you a mathematician, a DS Spy , or a sad Wednesday night person ?
I like lalas posts, stimulates conversation, which can only be a good thing.
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Old 24-04-2003, 07:18
metafis
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I think the boy band ballon is about to burst. a year ago, youd never have seen the white stripes going into the singles charts as high as they probably will this week.
Two 'new' boy bands , with huge promotion recently, many tv appearances etc etc, only managed to make the lower half of the top ten(according to midweeks for 888), a poor showing considering the amount of promotion they have had.
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Old 24-04-2003, 09:19
FastEddie
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I was not surprised to see the White Stripes go in so high - i mean come on, for all the hype 888 have had, the Stripes have had double or treble in the 'real' music press. Yet another rock bandwagon for Q and NME et al to jump on. Every super overhyped rock band gets a top three single these days - witness even the very average efforts from Oasis and the Stereophonics and the Manics getting monster pushes and instant number ones. It's exactly the same process as the boy bands or Britney but with a different demographic.

Forget the 'boy band bubble' - the entire music industry is going to burst. Sales are going through the floor not because the quality of music is decreasing, but because and entire generation of people are no longer buying music. And why should they when they can get it for free in seconds with broadband and a copy of Kazaa?

EMI yesterday launched their new pay music service - brilliant, but it won't mean jack as long as people can still get the same songs for free. Privately, the major labels are preparing for the worst - when they can't remain as large as now, and when they can't market global stars like Britney any more. I can see the entire music industry going almost back to its roots - no more massive global stars other than those made by word of mouth, and no massive revenues apart from live performance.
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Old 24-04-2003, 13:35
del.g
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Record companies, as is the nature of the business world, are in it for the maximum profit, of course. The problem lies in the fact that they decide what is going to make them the most money. This is what leads to the constant pushes of particular genres and artists, ultimately leading to the current homogenisation of the charts and stifling of creativity. A case of too many eggs in too few baskets.

You could have the best band in the world, but if the record company doesn't deem them to be a success and throw big bucks at them, they will never be a mainstream success. Good music is always out there, its's just that you have to look really hard to find it and don't listen to what you are told to listen to.

It's very true that the industry is in dire straits (pardon the pun!) Remember the time when a sale at Virgin or HMV was a big event that you absolutely had to go to? Nowadays they have the sales and special offers on every other week. It's the norm rather than the exception.

It makes me wander whether the collapse of the industry could be self fulfilling. Sure, no-one is buying music any more, but could that be because what we are being "force fed" is rubbish and people are realising this? Plus, when CD's first came out, I distinctly remember them being £11.99. Now £15.99 is the norm. Aren't market forces supposed to push the price of mass market products down, not up? So with a combination of rising prices and poor quality product, consumers are turning away. Eventually the record companies will disappear up their own jacksies if they're not careful and will have no-one to blame but themselves.

Sorry that went on a bit!!! Just feel a bit strongly about this one. Rant over
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Old 24-04-2003, 16:46
FastEddie
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It's not that people are turning their backs on the 'awful' state that the music industry is in at the moment - they're still consuming the same vast amount of what the record labels are spoon-feeding them - but they're not paying for it. That's the difference.

If people were turning their backs on current music, you'd see a massive increase in sales of old albums...and that's not happening either. If i want to get into David Bowie, i'll download his back catalogue from the net, rather than buy his CDs...and that's the attitude of most people.

In the end, the music business isn't valuable enough to persuade those in power to step in and FORCE the lawmakers to stamp down on mp3 trading etc - mainly because even the BIGGEST labels are owned by organisations that stand to gain ten times as much from the increased sales of computers and internet connections than they stand to lose from piracy.

Sony's electronics division make fifty times as much revenue as Sony Music.

Time Warner are owned by AOL, who are pushing their broadband ENTIRELY on music downloads.

The record companies may be big, but in terms of the next-gen communications economy, they're small beer.
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Old 25-04-2003, 08:25
del.g
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Very good point.

I'm sure I read in an article somewhere that certain companies have been making more money from certain songs from the downloadable ringtones than the records themselves. Mad.
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Old 25-04-2003, 15:15
ttcook
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Originally posted by FastEddie

EMI yesterday launched their new pay music service - brilliant, but it won't mean jack as long as people can still get the same songs for free. Privately, the major labels are preparing for the worst - when they can't remain as large as now, and when they can't market global stars like Britney any more. I can see the entire music industry going almost back to its roots - no more massive global stars other than those made by word of mouth, and no massive revenues apart from live performance.
If the music industry becomes unprofitable because of piracy:-

they would disappear leaving music created by artists who do it for the love of music rather than profit. Probably this would never happen but if it does then that will be a glorius time for music where originality and quality will be everywhere. The streets would be paved with gold, money grows on trees and everyone is happy. If the balance tips then the music industry would change and adapt. No more boy bands, no more j-lo pop just good quality soulful music with genuine meaning to them.

Dream Over

Reality Kicks in

or we would be damned to eternal boy bands, half arsed covers of decent songs, barbie girls singing dirrrty songs and creating scandals, lyrics like "Could it get any more obvious" and the cheeky girls shouting "Don't be shy, touch my Bum".

If we're lucky a nuclear winter could save us from this.
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