kaiserwilhelm:

Music Industry Fail. Produced by the same guy. Shocking. No wonder no one is buying music anymore.

Let’s reconsider that statement. I agree that there is a lack of songwriter/producer diversification in pop music.  The writer/producer in question, Dr. Luke,  has written a string of huge hits in the last couple years, but this cycle is not uncommon in pop music.  Before Luke it was Ryan Tedder with; One Republic, Apologize;  Leona Lewis, Bleeding Love; Beyonce,  Halo; Kelly Clarkson, Already Gone; the latter two of which had the same problem as California Girls and Tik Tok.  Then in the 90s there was Max Martin, the 80s saw guys like Desmond Child and Mutt Lange do their thing, and going further back you had the Brill Building and the Motown writing regime.

NOTE: I’m painting with broad strokes here.  There are many more examples of producers/writers who dominated the pop charts for various periods.  Moreover, writers like Max Martin and Mutt Lange are still writing and producing very successful material. 

Yes. A diversified pop genre might be more interesting or even better for our culture, but let’s not pretend like this is anything new.  The appearance of lower sales has to do with an industry that’s distribution networks are in a state of flux.  If you look at the numbers, you see that more music is being purchased now than ever in the history of recorded music.  Diminishing profits for labels have everything to do with market disequilibriums in terms of production inputs and technologies, not material.

I don’t mean to bite anyone’s head off, but for some crazy reason, I take the business of music seriously.  Probably still wishing to be a rockstar like when I was 16.  But I also think our popular culture is important and that we should try to accurately understand how and why it is evolving in particular directions.  Where large media firms are concerned, the cultural ebbs and flows seem to have more to do with economic pulls than with artistry. But, truth be told, I like where pop music is.  I think it’s fun, irreverent, and certainly takes my mind off life’s daily stresses.  Should we really be asking for or expecting more?

JNOMICS 

kaiserwilhelm

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