Better late than never. Maybe.

Anecdotally, externally, and academically, all that I’ve discovered and presented seems to convey the diversity, creativity, and very personalised and individualistic nature of music to people in general. While top 40 draws in adherents in massive numbers, the appeal of such performers is either short-lived, contrived, and uninspiring to people who prefer something more authentic, sacred, and interesting.

There are seemingly countless little offshoots and styles branching in every direction; as though the progenitor tree of music is yet to reach a fatalistic zenith. Whether this occurs or no is irrelevant; what is important to remember is that outside the realms of what is profitable, marketable, and easy to chew, swallow, and pass on effortlessly pales in comparison to the grandeur, majesty, and wonder of more pure , although less ‘popular’ creative expression
.

Hear ye hear ye….

As I’ve progressed through this blog, I’ve got more and more interested in the reasons why certain artists and genres find it so hard to break into the mainstream, and why the mainstream music industry is the way it is. The artists that I featured in this blog, while having very different sounds, had something in common - they weren’t 4-piece ‘edgy’ rock bands, pretty pop singers, or winners of a reality TV show. They are examples of talented artists who are working hard with integrity to make a mark on the industry. To all the Music Journalists out there: these are the stories we want to hear - a diversity of coverage in what music in all its forms and features has to offer - not fluff pieces that will get recycled tomorrow.

***over & out***

Caitlin.

Don’t miss out on “all the good stuff”… (conclusion)

Don’t let the radio and popular music journalists stop you from experiencing all the other genres and music styles that aren’t being represented in “top 40″ music.

Don’t be afraid to look for authentic, unique music from talented musicians in places other than your local radio or MTV.

Don’t miss out on “all the good stuff”.

 

Concluding statement

One of the obvious gaps in ‘Top 40′ music is clearly alternative music performances. ‘Top 40 music misses all the good stuff and I chose to focus on dance music as it is very rarely represented in mainstream music charts, and is what I think is good music. When dance songs are in the charts they are usually of poor quality and are manufactured in a studio and not mixed by a DJ. 

Dance music traditionally began records were short and mixing was the best way to include sample of different music. The structure of the dance music industry is different to mainstream music industries and is a collection of smaller independent recording companies, which means that the major recording companies have control over what music is played in the ‘Top 40′ music charts. 

 

Overall Team Trout found many examples of alternative music performances and provided a vast body of research to support our ideas including academic research that illustrated the relationship of popular music with individuals, social and cultural implications of popular music and alternative performances. 

 

Music journalism is clearly a difficult job as there are many contributing factors, such as bias, history, education and class that influence what one writes and about which music style. It is often better to seek out non academic research when looking into music as academic research seems to be limiting as academics are often not in the culture or subculture of the music style they are writing about. In saying that, just relying on blogs, magazines, websites or radio to gather information about music is often too bias and designed to appeal to a limited audience. 

 

In conclusion I think it is best to seek out whatever genre is most appealing to the individual. There are many sources to discover alternative music performances as can be illustrated by the blog that we put together in just 3 weeks. ‘Top 40′ music is made for a particular audience and doesn’t promote variety. Alternative music is in my opinion better than the music offered by mainstream music companies that floods ‘top 40′ music charts. 

Concluding statement - top 40 obviously ‘missing the good stuff’

This blog wasn’t made to blatantly critique top 40 music without reason and substantial evidence as to why we were doing so; our aim was to raise awareness about other styles that we feel have more to offer than the commercial and arguably contrived strains of top 40 ‘popular’ music. Furthermore, we feel that our individual opinions, academic research, rants & ravings, etc, help to convey the very personalised nature of music that seems largely ignored, or overlooked, by top 40 artists who seek wealth, fame and prestige. This is arguably achieved only by appealing to as many people as possible; sadly through providing the most easily palatable, commercialised product at the expense of something perhaps more insightful, creative, or artistic.

If you are an avid music fan out there, who only listens to top 40 music, in a very shallow and non-engaging way, please take the time, to fully take in what our blog is trying to provide - that being, an insight into other styles of music, in a much more active and personal level, and trying to raise awareness of the fact that there is much more on offer out there, that you can hopefully enjoy and take meaning from.

Please be aware that ‘top 40 misses all the good stuff’, and ‘the good stuff’ is waiting for you to take hold of it and listen to your heart’s content.

Pole Dancing Tunes - top 40 SMUT!

Hurra! I did my first pole dancing class last night at Pol-arise. (Orginial name huh! :p )

 It was super fun and super sexy and I wasn’t suprised at the choice of music for our routines….

The first move we learnt was called the “Kate Moss” (no, it wasn’t compulsary to get high first! :p ), and we did this to “Nothing sweet about me”. The next move was a spin called the “Fireman”, which we did to one of my Brownie Unit’s fav songs at the moment…… I found myself singing and dancing along to “Loosen up my buttons baby, say what you’re gunna do to me….”.

The other tracks (highly suitable for pole dancing) included all top 40 or previously top 40 songs like “Flaunt it” and “Smack That”. This really reinforces earlier posts about the appropriateness of the content in many “popular” and top 40 songs. It’s pretty confronting to hear a 5 year old Brownie Guide sing along to all the words of “loosen up my buttons baby”, and then go pole dancing to the same track the very next day!

 

CD Review: Gotye

 Gotye (aka Wally de Backer)’s first full-length album, Like Drawing Blood, is a lively melee of sounds, instruments and styles. The tracks are have been recorded entirely by the artist, who plays all instruments, and has sampled a number of sounds in the tracks.

 The music defies genre and borrows from a number of styles. Songs range from the strings-driven rhythmic tango of ”You’re Coming Back” to laidback, dreamy “Heart’s a Mess”. Gotye is a drummer firstly, and this is the reflected in each song, particularly in funk-inspired “The Only Way”, which features intricate rhythms at the song’s close. The reviewer’s pick, however, is “Thanks For Your Time” a cheeky critique of recorded tele-prompter calls, with an unforgetabble bass riff.

“Like Drawing Blood” is an independent release, available online through the artist’s website.

 

Wiseman sheds some light…

I’ve found it really easy to write about music journalism, but then really difficult to write about music itself. I just can’t seem to get it right; to do the music/musicians justice. I feel like it’s too multi-layered and complex to be summed up concisely by a lone writer with only a single perspective. But reading Nathan Wiseman’s article Writing Rock: A Psychogeography of Pop (2004) has helped me understand a bit more about constructing a piece of writing about music. The idea that in order to write music one has to write in a poetic style was new to me, but makes a lot of sense - maybe poetry is the only way to begin to describe music. But I’m still unconvinced that a piece of writing can totally encapsulate the feeling/meaning/intent of a song - it can only reflect the listener’s perspective of the song. In one way, I think you could never really ask a musician what their song is “about”, because there is no one answer, it’s up for interpretation.

Rant Rant Rant - damn you Rolling Stone!!!

So yeah…

check out this article from music magazine Rolling Stone’s online website, called Artists to Watch: Ten Artists and Bands Who are Bringing the Future of Music, Today. Note that the artists are mainly rock, female singers, electronic and rap/RnB acts…….AGAIN. Are there any other genres of music besides these???? Apparently not!! In particular I just want to note here that as a result of writing on this blog and reading other bloggers’ comments, I have had more exposure to music out of my area of expertise, than I could possibly have had from reading music magazines or listening to the radio. Of course the music is out there waiting to be discovered, but no one’s covering it, and if you don’t know where to look, you’re unlikely to come across it.

Frustration…….

Making Money: Consumerism and the Capitalist Influences of the Music Industry

The struggle for non-mainstream music acts to be recognised is long and hard. The relationship between the development of music genre and style is now closely linked to the music industry and consumption. Simon Frith notes that in writing about music,”The sociologist of contemporary popular music is faced with a body of songs, records, stars and styles which exists because of a series of decisions, made by both producers and consumers, about what is a successful sound.” (Frith 33)

It is concerning that the music business now takes on aspects of capitalism (Lovering 34) in its operation, and that this influences the production of contemporary music. Lovering believes that the “consumption and marketing of particular kinds of music in particular places clearly influences the development of musical tastes and subsequent musical creativity“. (Lovering 33), and this is certainly true when one looks at the development of the rock genre in all its many forms. While once there was a clear distinction between heavy, soft, hard rock, etc. now the mainstream music industry has amalgamated these sub-genres into one colossal category. There is a blurring of the lines between these sub-genres; and some would argue that what is known as mainstream rock is actually pop, such as popular band Snow Patrol.

The music industry’s evolution into a media sector with capitalist tendencies, makes it harder for musicians who do not fit the mainstream mould to break into the industry. Loverling also notes that “the music industry is profoundly dependent on public systems of regulation…there is and can be no such thing as a completely “free market” in the real world…” (Lovering:34).

To expand further on Lovering’s comment, if there is no such thing as a free market, this explains in part how it has come to be that the music and genres that are deemed successful and popular in the mainstream continue to be produced and reproduced in bulk. There is a multitude of beautiful young pop singers who top the charts on a regular basis with frustratingly similar-sounding songs. This can also be said for the success of musicians in rock, rap and R&B, genres which now seem to have a “brand”, that is, if we watch a music video clip of a rapper for example, we can almost certainly predict the thematic content, aesthetics and sound of the piece, because they signify the rap “brand”.

Perhaps it is a case of supply and demand, where at present the supply is plentiful in response to a demand that is narrow? I just can’t accept that this is the case, when the plethora of music styles available and supported online suggests that there is a wider music audience interested in more than Top 40 rock and pop. The reason for this must lie strongly in our consumer culture, where the music industry’s view of music is as a “commodity” (Loverling) to be capitalised on, rather than an art form to be developed.

References:

Frith S (1987) “Towards an Aesthetic of Popular Music” in Popular Music: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies. Accessed Online

Lovering J (1998 ) “The Global Music Industry: Contradictions in the Commodification of the Sublime” in The Place of Music, ed. Andrew Leyshon, pp.31-56, New York: Guilford Press