Charles Phillips
Professor Kenneth Habib
MU-227
March 6, 2017
Moss Growing on a Rolling Stone: How Capitalism Affects Music In the Rolling Stone’s widely popular hit, “Start Me Up,” lead singer Mick Jagger states “You can start me up/ You can start me up I'll never stop/I've been running hot/You got me just about to blow my top”. When listening to this song, does one hear the ravings of a man in love with a woman, or the beginning of an ad for Microsoft Windows ’95? Recently, popular artists are releasing more music with the intent of selling out to big corporations. The Rolling Stones are an early example of this form of music production when they sold “Start Me Up” to Microsoft for $3 million. This song was exploited for the sake
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In his article “Did Stones Sell Their Music Short?,” in Billboard, Timothy White argues that “[i]f the artist actually appreciates and uses the product, then such ringing musical endorsements are concordant with the desired perceptions of impressionable consumer.” White exemplifies that if the artist actively “appreciates and uses the product,” then it is justifiable to write a song about it. If an artist wrote a song about a product that he or she did not like to use, then that artist is utilizing that music for the sole purpose of making money. Music in its purest form should be created for the enjoyment of the band’s fans, not for the lone purpose of making money through advertising products. To substantiate his claim, White provides an excerpt from an interview with Collective Soul singer, Ed Roland. Roland states: “’A computer company offered us a million dollars to use ‘Shine,’ but the song wasn’t written for or about a computer, so that was out of the question’.” White uses this quote to convey that true artists would not sell out their music to companies if the subject matters of each song had nothing to do with the commercial. Roland agrees that it is reasonable for a musician to sell their music to a mass marketer, as long as the song is in agreement with the product, but he does not feel that his artwork …show more content…
For example, I have seen many commercials featuring bands I recognize, often with catchy jingles or lyrics. However, I rarely find myself listening to the actual content of the lyrics. I was once watching a commercial for a microwaveable burrito company, in which Bon Jovi’s “Wanted: Dead or Alive” played. This song contains lyrics about gritty cowboys from the Midwest, not about a simple microwaveable burrito. Since these two subject matters are completely different, I was left with more confusion than with a craving for a burrito. If the company, for example, did a spin-off of “Dead or Alive,” including lyrics about a burrito, this would be more appealing to consumers as the two subjects are in agreement. My friends and I thought that Bon Jovi’s music had a deeper purpose as opposed to being written just to be sold off to a burrito company. This resulted in a loss of respect for the band in the eyes of me and my peers. Like Bon Jovi’s situation, YouTube star Tay Zonday who had his song “Chocolate Rain” go viral on the web, changed his song so that it could comply to a Dr. Pepper’s commercial . Zonday’s immediate stardom sparked many businesses to try to take his song. The winner of the rights to his song had Zonday change his lyrics in order to fit in with the Dr. Pepper theme. This corporate scheme turned an original piece into a song that conformed with what the
Every music artist begins somewhere. Every artist had to do something to get their music out there. No one just automatically becomes famous. Then everyone wants to listen to your music. You start out new and anonymous and become more popular over time. Artist become famous by advertising. Every music artist should be able to advertise.
With technology growing more and more each day, it is no surprise that the music industry is transitioning to rely more and more on online sales. However, problems can arise from this when artists are taken advantage of by people who illegally download their music off of the internet for free. When one college radio host publically stated that she illegally downloaded her music, a professor by the name of David Lowery saw a problem with this and decided to speak up about it. He wrote a letter addressed to the college radio host, Emily, called “Letter to Emily White at NPR All Songs Considered”. With this, he also addresses the general public and calls them to make a change in their music buying, or lack thereof, habits. He explains that illegally downloading music is not a harmless task and we must understand the effects that it has on the artists as well as the music industry as a whole. While Lowery has strong uses of ethos, logos, and pathos, his conversational and
Furthermore, various songs are specifically written with certain intentions and nuances to express the artist’s values and beliefs about a topic such as, love or the natural phenomena. Based on the passage, “ Source 2: Selling Out Not Worth the Risk”, it states “ But when outside interests enter the mix, they can replace the passion in an artist’s music and turn the art into just another tool for corporations.” To emphasize, businesses have the power to change any lyric in the song, so the song would lose it’s meaning and instead be about the product the business is selling. Even though, allowing corporations use an artist’s song for advertising a product, enables the artist’s song to be heard from an even more
Even so, when the artist put their time and hard work into making songs that will catch the subscribers attention just for it be free. For instance, Jacob Carter of “The Changing Landscape of the Music Business” quotes “In November of 2014, award-winning musician Taylor Swift pulled her entire music catalog from Spotify, a popular streaming app, claiming that their business model suggests that music does not hold much worth.” This shows that Taylor Swift does not believe with the fact that her music is just out there for free and she not receiving money just for it be out there for the public. Thus, Darrius Johnson of “Selling Out Not Worth the Risk” quotes “In many situations, a record label owns the rights to an artist’s music, and if they license a song to a company or other party the artist has no control over how the song can be used.” To clarify, this information artists would not have their own opinion of doing any commercial because their music doesn’t belong to them but the record labels. This proves, that some artist has their opinion about their music they make and they just want to be free for the world to have because they took their time to create
The music industry is an oligopoly. Since the late 1800’s people like Thomas Edison have been buying up patents in communication technology, forming monopolies, leading to a non-competitive entertainment industry. With only a handful of corporations controlling all aspects of acquisition, distribution and marketing of music, harsh business principles create an exploitative industry that takes the best of what artists have to offer and leaves many of them unable to support themselves. Beginning in the 1950’s with payola and white cover music and ultimately evolving into iTunes and Spotify, the music industry has grown into a billion dollar industry with far-reaching influence and control. Contracts rarely serve the artists’ best interest and many are left out to dry when their usefulness has expired.
“Obscene: so excessive as to be offensive” (http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary). This is the way the Webster dictionary defines obscene. How do you? Some say obscene is vulgar; others say the best way to describe obscene is through disgust. No matter how it is thought of, obscene material is everywhere in society. Television is becoming more liberal, magazines are less edited, and music is more abrasive. At some point, the public must put its foot down and demand censorship in order to keep decency in the world.
I propose that all unsigned rising artist should target the business side of the music industry to be successful in the entertainment business because it allows the artist to be taken seriously and make solid connections that can further his/her career. Learning the works of the music industry also enables a new artist to be further successful and profitable. Recent studies show that most new artists without professional representation and a business mindset have a slimmer chance in getting signed to major or independent labels (Lowry, 2011). Overall, the specific change needed is that unsigned artists should be concentrating on their careers as professionals and not amateurs, thus focusing on the ins and outs of the music business and
The music industry much like every other industry has found ways to connect their product to the people through technology. Now music is readily available to the public through many avenues ITunes, YouTube, and so much more. As music has become more available to the public the industry now faces the threat of illegal downloading and sharing of music files. Many people will purchase an album through a download site and then either post it for free download to others or distribute it to their friends; while those who do this don’t usually face consequence does that make it right?
Censorship has long been an issue in Rock and Roll music. Although our American society celebrates “classic” rock that emerged in the 60’s and 70’s, today, artists such as: The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Doors, The Sex Pistols, and Bob Dylan were harshly judged for their music and image they projected because some members of society feared they were too suggestive, or just completely inappropriate. These rebellious artists fought against their music being censored in the best ways for their bands.
Throughout the video, the narrator describes the way companies, like Song Airline, can create a connection with their audience. The narrator mentions that for companies to be successful, their product must be directed towards a specific audience. Products have to target a certain group of people, so the product can differentiate itself from its other competitors. If similar products target the same audience or if products do not vary enough in what they do, the product will not gain much money. Also, the video states that commercials must be worded effectively to persuade people to buy a product.
Music has become a center piece of life; however it comes with a vigorous price unknown to most of the public. The music industry is littered with corruption. My proposed research problem focuses on the manipulation and control the music industry has upon its artists through an unescapable 360 deal, which in and of itself is not only reducing an artist to almost indentured servitude, but also cripples record labels themselves. The 360 deal is a common mandatory contract record labels utilize to financially support an artist. This includes advances and funds for promotion, touring, and marketing, all which the artist has to pay back to the label. I believe this problem is significant and warrants further research because the record labels are unconstitutionally taking away artists rights in favor of their own greed, in turn, leaving the artist without ownership of their own songs, money, and rights to royalties.
It is clear that the hip hop culture plays a huge role in the lives of many people. It has influenced the way people dress, the way they talk, and the way they act. Unfortunately, many big corporations have taken advantage of this and commercialized rap music in order to gain a profit (Blair, 497). Commercialization is a very complex topic; however, it is important to understand. This is because of the fact that when something becomes widely known, such a hip hop and rap have, it is vulnerable to change (Phillips, paragraph 9). An example of this is when author Nicole Phillips states, “Hip-hop became more about edge and less about the content of the message. It became about sales….” (Phillips, paragraph 9). Therefore, in order to prevent any further change, one needs to understand commercialization and how it works. This paper is going to explore the complexities and nuances of commercialization of the hip hop culture. In order to do this, this paper will consider what commercialization of hip hop culture entails. This paper will also discuss how Elizabeth Blair, author of “Commercialization of the Rap Music Subculture,” conceptualized commercialization, as well as how she discusses the situation in general. After discussing these topics, the paper will move on to discussing cultural appropriation. This discussion will include how authors describe cultural appropriation, and a debate regarding this topic.
"Sex sells" is concomitantly one of the most common and disturbing expressions in the contemporary society. The music industry is a place where sex has actually sold millions of records and where many artists were forced to employ more 'sexual' attitudes in order to really be appreciated by their fans. The sad truth is that it is very difficult for an artist to be appreciated if he or she does not use values that are generally appreciated by music consumers. Many artists have proved this argument to be wrong, but their number is much smaller in comparison to the ones who used sex as a main tool to sell their records.
Radiohead, one of the most popular and contemporary bands of this period, attempted a significant break from the industry standard of fixed price music. In 2007, Radiohead had planned release of its new album, “In Rainbows”, exclusively as a digital download on the band’s website, with an innovative pricing option of allowing its buyers to decide on how much they wanted to pay for the music. Radiohead’s “name-your-own price” pricing model for its new album generated an intense speculation about the future of recorded music industry. The key issues with Radiohead’s innovative distribution model and my views after an analysis of these issues are as follows:
When musicians produce albums, they want people to listen to the albums. There is not one specific way for a band or single musician to gain an audience and promote their music. Musicians use many different kinds of media to promote their music. They use visual media as well as strictly listening media. The radio, television, and the internet are all different types of media musicians use to promote their music.