The music industry is a mean beast

Maybe it is about time to reveal how the horrible machine of the music industry works. Stop dreaming: all they want is your money. They are ready to walk on the dead for HUGE amounts of money. They do not care about their artists nor do they care about the public- as long as the money keeps flooding in massively.
You might ask: how does she know? What is she talking about?
I have met some artists a few years ago and I also had enough time to observe backstage people’s behavior. I have been an enthusiastic Eminem fan and a fan of other hip hop artists too. Through the years, I had time to observe, analyze and be critical. As a music journalist, I’ve seen the evolution of many artists, from their underground beginnings to their inking with a label, sometimes a major label.
While a lot of artists begin with a good level of skills, some are blessed with a charisma and a good personnality. Believe it or not, the music industry is going to swallow it like a big monster and screw it all up, in order to mass produce its “product”( the artist).
So all of you who respect an artist accordingly to his record sales or to his place in the charts, think twice. These are just the result of the music industry’s constant pushing.
Once the music industry has signed an artist, only a few things matter:
– a marketable face so the groupies can keep buying the product. No matter what you might think, the music industry desperately needs groupies. So does the artist. Groupies keep the finances always up.
If the artist is married or engaged, the music industry will try to keep it hidden from the public as long as possible. Otherwise, it will expose the couple’s trouble and, thus, encourage the wife’s bashers to buy the artist’s CD’s massively.
-big labels, no matter what the artist’s previous intentions were, will transform the artist in order to please the MAINSTREAM public, the kind of public that usually loves low quality crap. The artist will be shaped into his label’s will, forced to do what the label wants him to do.
– touring is what brings loads of money in…that’s why the labels will organise very busy schedules for the artist to follow, no matter if it is detrimental to his health…groupies are, of course, very welcome to attend, as they are the main poster, T shirts and clothing line buyers.
-music critics aren’t that much needed by the music industry, as they could happen to be critical towards the artist. They can, however, be useful to promote an artist.
-from the day the artist is signed, his image will be exploited, even after his death.
So am I bitter about all this? No, but my eyes are open.
Beware!
Copyright by Isabelle Esling
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