4 Comments for this entry

• Mat
  July 1st, 2014 on 8:46 pm

  On the other hand there is no one correct path to success.
  What if you’re an awesome singer in a small town but you have no friends with any interest in music to start a band with?
  What if you do start a band and work hard and have fun but never quite get the lucky breaks that all the big famous acts did?
  What if you had to quit school early and get a job and work hard to support your sick mother and your siblings and now this is your last and only chance at doing something for yourself?
  What if you’re a middle aged woman who’s never been kissed and this is the only shot she’s ever been given at showing everyone her talent and passion?

  I think Dave missed the point big time. These shows don’t take anything away from those who form a band and work hard and put all their time into making the music they feel within themselves.
  These shows create options for everyone else who never had the chance to do that.

  Reply
• Marty X
  July 2nd, 2014 on 10:07 am

  On the surface, interesting points Mat. But these shows kill the creative side of the music ‘industry’ right at its very beginning.

  It’s that creative side which gives birth to all that great, enduring music Voice, Idol & X Factor contestants COVER so they can potentially win the comp & release a whole album of COVERS for the Christmas rush. Next year, it starts all over again as these shows pump out another round of glorified karaoke singers, eager to sell us another round of cover songs.

  Record labels needn’t bother scouting pubs for new artists who’ve spent years honing their craft, writing & developing their own material & building a following. That ‘talent’ is now ready made on reality TV – complete with brand recognition.

  So where will all that great new music come from in this new business model? That original music which inspires us & enriches our lives? Nowhere.

  And, just to note from our own personal experience in this wonderful new environment: We’ve approached record labels over the past few years. One label told us ‘We don’t have time to listen to your album right now, we just signed the top 30 Voice contestants & we’re focused on that’.

  Your various points about these reality ‘talent’ shows lifting people out of hardship don’t add up. Performers might be famous for 5 minutes, label gets richer, performers hit the scrap heap before the next season. Anyone even remember who won Idol 3 seasons ago??? Their lunch-time shopping mall circuit would be long dead by now.

  The great casualty of this system is art & culture.

  If you have no friends in your country town (or wherever you live), playing music together is a great way to meet & make them.

  We’d all be way better off if these shows died suddenly. The only way to make that happen is to stop watching them.

  Dave knows what he’s talking about.

  Reply
• Mat
  July 3rd, 2014 on 7:42 pm

  The creative side of the music industry has always been under fire from the business side.
  There have always been industry execs and labels who focused on the latest thing or what they thought would sell or who they thought they could most easily market or control instead of looking for real music and musicians.

  “Reality TV” talent shows have made no difference to that and if they died suddenly there would be no change other than a tiny number of people would miss out on their fifteen minutes of fame.
  The labels that concentrate on the contestants of these shows wouldn’t be interested in the sort of music that you and I love anyway!

  Where will the great new music come from?
  From labels who actually care about music.
  From YouTube.
  From independent music festivals (admittedly there’s few of those in Australia but the UK has loads of them).
  From people with passion who won’t let anyone tell them no and keep pushing and playing until they have that one lucky break that all artists need.
  And maybe, just maybe, from someone who did well in a reality TV show and received the encouragement they needed and made the right contacts to create amazing music of their own.

  Reply
  • Marty X
    July 8th, 2014 on 5:44 pm

    Mat, there are so many aspects to Reality TV ‘talent’ quests which are so profoundly damaging to our music and culture that you can’t explain it away by saying “the industry’s always been this way”. It hasn’t. The ‘industry’ is now more insular, narrow and unimaginative than ever.

    The list of shitty repercussions which happen because of these shows is so long and ugly, I can’t cover them in a post reply like this. A whole generation being taught this is the way forward, as the crowds roar, the hype soars and mass commercial media hits fever pitch… over a karaoke competition.

    Deep down, people who defend them know it’s bloody wrong, but they’re participating anyway.

    This stuff is the worst thing to happen to music in living memory. Of course there would be a difference if they died a sudden death. Again, that won’t happen til we all stop watching.

    And no (on this we seem agreed) there is nowhere for great original music to come from in this ocean of reality bullshit.

    I cannot believe you’re defending this stuff. Just realised – you’re probably yankin’ my chain.

    Reply