How do some bands get signed ?!

[Jose]

Hi! I thought this would be an interesting subject for this cofee house thing I've never participated in. I've allways wondered how some bands that only have crap songs, and don't play a sh*t get signed! Do they just have friends inside labels ? Make blow jobs to label managers ?! Or maybe it's just the labels that don't want good music to come out cause they'd have less control over them ? Whatever...
Normally one tends to think that good things get the credit they deserve but I know at least 2 or 3 local musicians that are way better than anything we normally see on TV and they never get decent contracts or sales...

:pint:

[Edit] Alert! The beer smiley is NOT working!

[Turambar]

They get signed because the label think they can market them successfully. It's not so much a question of "Are they good?" as it is "Will they sell?".

[krize]

Friends with the label owners ? hehe

[motorollin]

Turambar is spot on. There are loads of talented musicians out there who will never be known because their music is not considered marketable. I sincerely hope that online distribution will become easy enough that people will no longer need record companies. The music industry will go bankrupt, and music will be about music again instead of profit.

[x303]

There are loads of talented musicians out there who will never be known because their music is not considered marketable.

Yep, your right. The last few years have been x-tremely successful for the industry because they re-created the market. Almost brainwashing the ppl by supporting networks and radio stations that play these artists over and over and over again. Until ppl give in basically. The only way the music industry will go bankrupt is if the ppl really gonna care about there music again and have a choice where they don't have to search for it really hard for it. Meaning: Idols/x-factor/etc etc are easier to find than 'difficult artists'.
I still know some of the underground dj's / producers who came on tv and radio years ago and inspired me. They are still underground (bringing out good stuff), but you don't see or here them anymore as they are replaced by these talentless 'artists'. Who can *they* inspire ? More talentless artists ofcourse !

x303

[Oliver]

Well, I don't really agree that the people fronting uninteresting music groups are talentless, just because we may connect them with music we don't respect.

Personally, I have done some work which I don't think was particularly good, as it is what my job required of me, and it helped the company I work for in some way, and allowed me to feed my family.

It's just business.

Also, I think there is often some fantastic work put into commercial, derivative, or regurgitated music. The products will sometimes have some truly wonderful qualities, though it may not be the musicality.

There are many musicians working professionally, producing sound and music for various commercial endeavours. This is much like visual artists working under patronage, or doing jobs on commission. There was certainly a lot of art of the classical world produced in this way, as it is today. There are still some fine points to be appreciated in commercial endeavours of this kind, provided one understands them for what they are.

As for musicians getting breaks for their own work, I suspect it is now as it has always been. It is hard to sell something truly novel, and most people don't really have an interest in music. However, there is much greater potential for musicians to at least be heard, due to internetworking. In my experience, underground radio stations love to have submissions from unsigned musicians.

I am also pretty sure that music has always had a strong element of re-use of past or other people's material. I think folk music has always had renditions and adaptations. Classical music has had many examples of meddlies, tributes, renditions, and arrangements also. This is stretching back a little to my classical training, but I seem to recall playing scores which were credited as 'arranged by ...' etc. I guess a little digging could find some examples. Certainly I think there are many examples throughout history of composers borrowing ideas. This is often done in a way which produces a valid creative endeavour, though.

Anyway, just some thoughts.

[bloodline]

The music industry has very little to do with music. Music is essentially a commodity, there is a limitless supply of artists/engineers/produces and the labels can manufacture as much as they need. The labels big job is packaging the product.

Labels don't sign bands anymore, they essentially build them (mostly using drama school rejects to front the project) and then creating a "mythology" about the band's origin... This is easy to do since 99% of everyone has been in a band when they were young, and 99.99999% of Drama School kids have!