The music industry, as we once knew it, is dead.
That might be a harsh statement, but as time goes on, this outlook is becoming devastatingly undeniable. Music was once placed high on a beautiful, intricately sculpted pedestal, and we genuinely cared about what we listened to. These days, the very idea of music itself is tossed around, not meaning much to anybody. The music industry has turned into a place for the money hungry to devour the passions of emerging artists and turn them into cold, hard cash.
Artists like Snoop Dogg, whose most recent album, “BUSH,” is a complete departure from the style of his past albums, have had to change their sound and style in order to survive in this corrupt industry. Snoop Dogg, who was originally categorized as “gangsta rap,” can pretty much be classified as pop now after the release of his most recent album, in which he sings along to poppy beats. The music industry now only accepts artists if they seem to appeal to the industry’s respective demographic, brand and genre, even if the artist is putting out quality music that their fans like. In this way, the label can make money off of the artist and their releases. If you don’t look like or sound like you belong on the radio, labels don’t want you because you just can’t make them money.
Artists like Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, who chose to go on their own path as independent artists rather than signing to a label, are speaking out about the reputation of the music industry. In an interview with Chris Hardwick on a Nerdist podcast, Macklemore said, “Labels will go in and spend a million dollars or hundreds of thousands of dollars and try to ‘brand’ these artists, and they have no idea how to do it. There’s no authenticity. They’re trying to follow a formula that’s dead.”
When you walk through the music sections of, lets say, Target or Best Buy, what do you see? The number of CDs along the aisles and the space itself is shrinking, right? Well, the problem is that physical album sales are at an all time low, so the old style of buying and listening to music is going with it. Nielsen, an American global information and measurement company, released their 2015 Mid-Year Music Sales report, and it showed CD sales were down 10 percent from last year. With iTunes and Spotify, the music industry now makes money off of individual downloads as opposed to album sales. So, the music industry sells songs, not artists and one-hit wonders and singles instead of albums.
The music business is nothing like it used to be, and that fact will lead it to its undeniable demise. Artists are taken advantage of and aren’t receiving the respect they deserve. It’s frustrating because so many people who have always wanted to be in this industry and are so passionate about it no longer want to be just because of how messed up it is now.
