Mellencamp and the Fall of the Music Industry

[Fender&EHX4ever]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-mellencamp/on-my-mind-the-state-of-t_b_177836.html

[Fender&EHX4ever]

"Bob Dylan's purpose in life is to write great songs like "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are A' Changin'." This sort of sums it all up for me. The artist is here to give the listener the opportunity to dream, a very profound and special gift even if he's minimally successful."

[Fender&EHX4ever]

"There is no street for the music to rise up from. There is no time for the music to develop in a natural way that we can all embrace when it ripens and matures. That's why the general public doesn't really care."

[companyman]

that was a good read, thanks for posting it. As far as Artists getting their due....sigh, the times ain't changin' anytime soon.

[Fender&EHX4ever]

Yeah, interesting read, this article. I'm not sure I understood his final point, as it doesn't really seem to offer a vision of the future of music and market. But I like hearing his historical perspective.

 

I'm not a HUGE fan of Mellencamp, but he is from my home state, and I think American Fool and Uh Huh! are classic albums.

[crowquill]

tl;dr

 

[companyman]

I've heard a good NPR interview with him about a year ago that showed he is an intelligent, articulate guy. He is a great entertainer and has written some pretty cool old fashioned "Americana" type rock-n-roll, he is a gifted painter as well with many exhibitions and collectors....pretty classy guy who hasn't forgotten where he came from.

[Fender&EHX4ever]

hasn't forgotten where he came from.

 

That's one of his lyrics

 

[YOUTUBE]0CVLVaBECuc[/YOUTUBE]

[companyman]

[Fender&EHX4ever]

I would love to hear his take on Intellectual Property and MP3s. I was hoping the article would address that.

[BassPlayerJosh]

 

I would love to hear his take on Intellectual Property and MP3s. I was hoping the article would address that.

 

 

I was waiting for that. His idea that music should "percolate" up seems to leave him with only one real option. But who knows, seems like a smart guy even if I don't agree with his take on everything there. He probably has put a lot more thought into it then I have.

[seajay]

Yeah, interesting read, this article. I'm not sure I understood his final point, as it doesn't really seem to offer a vision of the future of music and market. But I like hearing his historical perspective. I'm not a HUGE fan of Mellencamp, but he is from my home state, and I think American Fool and Uh Huh! are classic albums.

 

Isn't he considered a god in Indiana?

[Trick Fall]

Interesting article, I think he made some good points, but overall I don't know that I can agree with him. I think the second half of the twentieth century was a unique golden age for musicians and I don't think it will be repeated again. There is just so much more choice now then was available then. Recording is so much more accessible now and so many more people are releasing records and distribution is only a mouseclick away. I actually think long term these will be really healthy things and will lead to a more regionalist sub culture based industry. There will always be a few artists with mass appeal that sell a million records, but I think there will be way more artists that sell ten or twenty thousand records then there was back then.

[Fender&EHX4ever]

 

Isn't he considered a god in Indiana?

 

 

Depends who you ask. Indiana is overwhelmingly conservative (despite having voted for Obama in 2008), and Mellencamp is a pretty outspoken Dem.

 

But Hoosiers are proud of what he accomplished.

[seifukusha]

i do love mellencamp. alort of great songwriting and some great ideas that go with it

[Fender&EHX4ever]

 

I think the second half of the twentieth century was a unique golden age for musicians and I don't think it will be repeated again.

 

 

Interesting. I think I might agree. I started the following thread about a year ago trying to make sense of that idea, though not form the exact same angle: http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?t=2062259

 

 

My point in that thread:

 

There are more artists in the world painting impressionist watercolors than ever before in history, and the tools are more readily available than ever before. We have a larger variety of impressionist artists to choose from now than ever before, and their work is more accessible than ever before. Does that mean the Impressionism is still in it's Golden Era? If you say yes, then I beg to differ. Impressionism had a resonant peak around the turn of the century. It isn't dead, but it isn't impacting the art world in the same way anymore.

[Instrospection]

Great article by Mellencamp.

 

 

There are more artists in the world painting impressionist watercolors than ever before in history, and the tools are more readily available than ever before. We have a larger variety of impressionist artists to choose from now than ever before, and their work is more accessible than ever before. Does that mean the Impressionism is still in it's Golden Era?

 

 

For sure. And I think that there's just more information available. It's not that the avenues aren't legitimate, but I think that most people are trying to figure out what's a valid source of information. By that, I mean, who to trust and where to go to check out music or movies or entertainment that connects with them, personally. I'd seen alot of people trying to fill a void back a few years ago, when podcasting and blogs became touted as the way to reach listeners and promote things. While it was exciting, it died off because I think that most of the people doing it realized that nearly no one was listening to them. In theory it seemed great, but trying to find an audience is difficult, because the reality is that they ultimately have to trust your taste and opinion in content as a DJ.

 

If you look far enough, every movie and album could probably have something good written about them somewhere.....I think that the more people read information or recommendations that don't connect with them, the less apt they'll be in the future to believe what is being said to them. And I think that's a fair reasoning. I mean, how many terrible movies or albums have come highly recommended? I can think of lots.

[carrier street]

Good read. Three comments:

 

1. Did he just blame Ronald Reagan for the decline of the music industry?

 

2. I agree that I would have liked for him to have included his thoughts on MP3 sharing/intellectual property. He kind of just blew by the fact that the music industry failed miserably at taking advantage of new technologies as they became available.

 

3. Understanding how radio spins are counted, I now understand why rock and even pop radio are dead outside of major markets. Does anyone even listen to music on the radio anymore?

[Instrospection]

 

3. Understanding how radio spins are counted, I now understand why rock and even pop radio are dead outside of major markets. Does anyone even listen to music on the radio anymore?

 

 

I'd done a campus radio show here playing alot of cool underground and obscure or forgotten rock n' roll (protopunk, punk, powerpop, etc...Stooges, MC5, Big Star, Chuck Berry, Sonics, Raspberries, etc) and the shows that i'd help out with for newer touring bands that I liked that were coming through town, i'd do album spotlights and whatnot. We have a city wide radius for the broadcast waves (650,000 people...and arguably more if you count the smaller surrounding towns) and i'd still see only 15-30 people at those shows. I'd say that not many people listen to radio--call ins were pretty rare....heh heh, when it wasn't someone drunk and lonely and totally weird!

 

I'm not sure what effect that radio has on people. Obviously if something's on enough major stations for long enough of a time it has a better shot of breaking through to an audience, but even "payola" has backfired, because the majors have realized that they can't really buy hits like they used to. It's tough to say whether radio only really exists because of MTV success or not. But I think that the days of breaking bands via radio like in the 50's/ 60's/ 70's, I think, is gone. It's a good supplement to bands that have already succeeded via other ways such as touring and video, but I think that's about it. If university funding dried up for campus radio, they'd be gone, too.....that's all volunteer and it's not commercial. It's otherwise not viable of supporting itself on it's own, because the artists being played are too diverse and while it's "real" radio, it sort of has a public access cable feel to alot of people.

[HeartfeltDawn]

 

Interesting article, I think he made some good points, but overall I don't know that I can agree with him. I think the second half of the twentieth century was a unique golden age for musicians and I don't think it will be repeated again. There is just so much more choice now then was available then. Recording is so much more accessible now and so many more people are releasing records and distribution is only a mouseclick away. I actually think long term these will be really healthy things and will lead to a more regionalist sub culture based industry. There will always be a few artists with mass appeal that sell a million records, but I think there will be way more artists that sell ten or twenty thousand records then there was back then.

 

 

Recording may be more accessible and more people are releasing records but to me the overall level of quality has been massively diluted.

[Kung Fu Panda]

Ya, good article. But I take issue with his ragging on THe MOnster Mash!

 

Jind of lost me at the end, with the be nice to everyone stuff. I dig it, but what everyone is interested in is where is 'the street' as he calls it. Where are we finding the grass roots original, next generation and style of music.

 

I say it's on the net, at places like bandcamp.com. Problem is, at the moment there's no one who knows what's what, sifting thru that stuff for the gold.

 

 

Hey americans, what about college radio these days? What state is it in? Do people still listen to it?

[Trick Fall]

 

Recording may be more accessible and more people are releasing records but to me the overall level of quality has been massively diluted.

 

 

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but even if there are just as many good records coming out it would be harder to find them now. I do think the quality has gone down and I believe one of the reasons for that is there is less money around. In the 70's and 80's some unknown band signed to a major label would probably get at least a month in a top quality studio. They also would have honed their music playing clubs for a long time before they even got the chance to record seriously.

[spacecommando]

he who walks among the corn must be obeyed

[Fender&EHX4ever]

Ya, good article. But I take issue with his ragging on THe MOnster Mash!

 

 

I thought the same thing when I read that

[c0rs0]

He's like Diet Springsteen. I like him though.