Understanding An Industry By Vuddha

 

Vuddha throws us a new write-up, as he tries to understand the music industry. Not an easy thing looking from the outside in, read the entire article after the jump.

I wonder if my understanding of the music industry is average. Whenever I talk about “the average American” I'm reminded of a Carlin joke:

I assumed that there is the artist, whether it is a single person or a band, and they wrote their lyrics and the accompanying music. Of course some people have ghostwriters and some bands sample other’s music, but I thought it was the exception rather than the norm.

I hope I'm one of the more naïve music consumers.

Have you seen any of these documentaries?

Everything is a Remix Part 1
Everything is a Remix Part 2
Everything is a Remix Part 3
Standing in the Shadows of Motown

Did you know that Elvis never wrote a single one of his songs? What about Frank Sinatra?

At the other end of the spectrum, have you heard of Martin Max? Check out the man’s goddamn discography. NSYNC, Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Kesha, Nicki Minaj, Pink, and on and on. He’s written over 40 Top Ten Singles.

What about Dr. Luke? This guy has written over 40 hit Singles. One fucking guy. He has written for Katy Perry, Kesha, Kelly Clarkson, and many other attractive white women who apparently create very little original work. Check out his discography.

These guys are modern versions of people like Holland–Dozier–Holland, a group of three people who wrote a large majority of the hits that created the 1960’s motown era. Three white guys. Who didn’t perform a fucking song.

It should be noted that their have been a fair share of hugely successful bands that wrote their own shit: The Beatles, Pink Floyd, U2…and we thank them for it.

The take away for is that behavioval psychology works. There is kind of sound that we naturally enjoy. We aren’t chained by it, and we can explore other soundscapes, but there defeintly is a system of sound that most of us enjoy most of the time, and greedy nonartisitc suit-wearing fucks employee artists who know how to create these little 4 minute long audio addictions.

I want to learn it.

-Vuddha