More On The Soul-Killing Music Industry

Posts like this one and others I’ve mentioned recently help explain why I’ve had an increase in hatred of pop music as my music tastes have expanded. (Although I don’t think there’s anything wrong with enjoying Bubblegum - as it was once known - most of it is garbage) The record industry, as with any established industry (and not too differently from fast food chains), hates risk. They take artists who put out amazing mix tapes and make them bland. As a corollary, when I do enjoy mainstream acts (as opposed to indie), I tend to enjoy the songs they don’t play on the radio. (Lana Del Rey and Fall Out Boy are perfect examples)

Because of the potential for link rot, here’s some of the relevant quotes from the first blog post I linked to:

The prior 3 years of trying to write something that would please both the label and my soul had been a trying experience to say the least.  The label wasn’t really pleased with anything…

… by the end of the whole process, I had really stopped liking anything I wrote on my own, having constantly been forced to look at all my demos and songs through the “Is it a hit?  If not, it’s worthless” lens that constitutes the traditional music industry looking glass.  I could barely even force myself to finish the demos.

So, in February 2013, with no label… I sat down and wrote something …I had no illusion of being a ‘hit’ in any way, something with absolutely no radio potential and no real potential of traditional commercial success at all…

I wrote the story down and made a bunch of acoustic demos, and it made me happy.

…

Now we’re in final mixing, and just yesterday I finally got to listen through most of the material in order, and I nearly cried.  It’s everything I hoped it would be, and yet so much more…

And it makes me smile.

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