Is commercial success with non-commercial music possible?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nightfire
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Good Friend said:
Everything about it really makes me sad. Genuinely sad. I wish it was more fun and less planning and work. I wish there were no walls in people minds that told them that only a young person has something interesting to say, or that only a thin girl can sing well.

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But that being said the audience will not grow up or change much. It is the way of society and really of humans in general. Plus, in all truth the audience shouldnt need to be hand walked to the point of your art, it is your job as the artist to make the point stand out without the curse of being too obvious. Thats where the work pretty much lies i think. Thats where the "artist" part comes in.


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Whats a bummer about teenagers to me is that youd think by now theyd be hip to how trends play out and sort of mock it. I wish there was a movement in youth culture that was of higher intellect and more on the lookout for things that are obvious frauds. When is being aware going to be hip? Probably never. Its much too easy to just pretend to be fighting the machine with terms like "indie". But the machine still stands. Taller now than ever really.
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Sorry about chopping up your quote but I haven't the time to respond to your whole post. I really agree with the first part. It's true that people build walls in their minds and they do it for various reasons, peer pressure, identity crises, bad influences ect. etc.
However, it is sometimes possible to break down those walls and I have witnessed it happen. I admit it is pretty rare that it happens but that makes it no less inspiring to me.

It also true what you say about the thin girl. The mass-media engine rarely acknowledges talent when it requires a special camera lens. Despite this fact many of the great musicians of our time are overweight.

The 2nd part where you talk about hand-walking the audience and leaving the art in your art is very eloquently put. This actually is a good quote on it's own. I think the best art is the kind where you can't easily understand it. I think that may be my favorite part of art is the challenge it can present to my mind, my precepts and my way of life. But I agree, for any sort of challenging art to be successful it shouldn't completely alienate it's audience.

In regard to teenagers these days I believe the situation is more hopeful than you might imagine. I have the rare pleasure of being the parent of a teen and I get to observe these strange creatures regularly whether I want to or not :D
These kids are quite aware of the gimmicks and marketing tricks that are presented to them via TV and other media outlets. They have a very keen eye for what's crass marketing and what isn't. Yes there is the machine, and it is very appealing to those still struggling with their own identity because it offers a nice conveniently prepacked lifestyle. Yes the majority still buy their identity off the shelves but the shelves are stocked with more brands than ever before. These kids have far more choices than i did at their age. Overall they are more open-minded and more capable of critical thinking than ever before. Teens now are more multicultural, more retro-minded, more accepting of alternate lifestyles and this really puts many of the old mores to the blinding glare of enlightenment. I am constantly amused when I catch my teenage son listening to Black Flag, 70s rock, Goth, 80s rap, 90s Shoegaze and modern alternative music and pop all in the same sitting. These teens are full of suprises.
 
What kind of success? flash in the pan quick success that falls away quickly? IF you look at most of the bands or artists that remain HUGE, even after some of them have died, it's because they did things their way, unless there was an unreal ammount of money thrown into them. All of the rip off artists who follow trends are huge for a few weeks and go away, yet the ones that chose the road to be true to their expressions (their soul) touch people emotionally, and that, regardless of the genre, will stick with people (genre's are social...meaningful art is hard wired into us)

So... if you have a rediculous amount of money to throw around, do whatever, and you will be famous... but otherwise just make meaningful original music and if you're lucky enough you'll eventually be successful.

oh yeah...sorry if my message makes sense or not...didn't read the entire thread...just the initial post.
 
TerraMortim said:
All of the rip off artists who follow trends are huge for a few weeks and go away
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I wish they would just go away - but apparently instead enough of our society wants to see them drunk, drugged out, abusing their kids and acting like spoiled brats because they either have too much money, and/or aren't as popular as they used to be.

But this isn't referring to any current social trends :)
 
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