This morning I want to speak about music and the state of things. So, I may have said the other day that I studied to be a music producer in college. I worked with bands and musicians of all stripes and varieties. I really enjoyed this process and when I got out of school, I’d truly hoped to be in the music business.
I also had 60k in college loans to pay back. Now, I was fortunate enough to be able to pay those off quickly, and in less time than was needed. However, I was not able to do so in the music business. I hate to say this as a blanket statement, but the state of the music business is the fault of two parties – the radio business and the record business itself. I once tried to make this point to a friend in the business and she’d never made the connection between radio and records. But, the connection is there to make. I cannot remember the last time I listened to a commercial radio station and was wowed by any of the music I heard. Sadly, rock and roll is stuck in this cycle of, what I call, ‘grunge-alike’ bands. These bands all aspire to sound like some version of Pearl Jam. This is a lofty goal, mind you. But, it’s been 18 years since their first record. Time to move on. Pop music has had bright moments over the past few years, but overall it’s pretty bad.
What it seems to come down to is bad and complacent executives signing a litany of sound-alikes that do little more than write one song…and away they go. Sad, really.
We thrive on good music and it’s just so hard to find any.