[Dixielandjazz] Big Business Sucking The Life Out Of Art

[Robert S. Ringwald]

> "Robert S. Ringwald" <robert at ringwald.com> wrote (polite snip)
>
>> IMHO, there is one answer -- MONEY.  As simple as that.



Steve Barbone answered:

> Doesn't MONEY drive just about everything in life?



Yes, of course.  But it is a shame that it has to force bad art on us.
Sure, with the advent of the Internet and companies such as CD Baby, we are
slowly getting able to get our music out there.  But, Big business still has
a strangle hold on the music, radio and TV business.

My daughter Beth used to work for some sort of show biz company who promoted
the current day Rock stars.  her job was to go out and purchase big screen
TVs and the like to give to Radio station PDs (Program directors).  And the
general public thinks that payola was gotten rid of in the 60s???



>
>> I am thinking even more specifically of the garbage that big business is
>> palming off on the American public as music.
>>
>> They develop a star for just as long as they can eek every little bit of
>> money out of he/her and then discard them like an old rag.
>
> No different from Baseball or Football, or the business world in general.



Yes, it is different in that when a baseball or foot ball player reaches an
age where he cannot perform up to the standards that are needed, he retires
or is dumped.

With the so-called stars of today, most are chewed up and spit out by big
business within a year or two.


 >
>> Very few of these artists (musicians or singers) have any lasting power.
>> Sure, a very few do, but, on the overall scale of things,  not many.
>
> See above. Isn't that true of all things in life? And all people in life?
>>
>> I have mentioned this before:  A few months ago on TV, I watched a show
>> where they demonstrated what they could do in a recording studio with
>> modern
>> technology.
>>
>> They took someone with absolutely no talent as a singer, took him into a
>> recording studio.  When they got through doing pitch correction, adding
>> reverb, music, background singers, etc.  He sounded just like any of the
>> other so-called recording stars who are popular today.
>>
>> You call that art???
>
> Sure, making a silk purse out of a sow's ear is an example of GREAT ART.



Give me a break!


> Musicians do it all the time by juicing up their CDs, correcting errors,
> changing tonal colors, etc. Shoot, isn't that how Elvis started?



I don't think they had the technical equipment to do much editing or
"juicing up" as you say, When Elvis started.  I know that in the 30s, when
the big bands would record, most takes were perfect.  They did not have the
recording equipment and techniques that they have today.

When Elvis first started, I couldn't stand him.  But compared with the
trash that is pumped out today, he was Caruso.


>
> IMO, just about everybody in a position of power over somebody else in the
> world exploits the other person(s). They all lie, cheat and steal so what
> the heck is unique about the music world?



I never said it was unique .


>
> Examples?
>
> 1) The War in Iraq.


I am deleting the rest of Steve's post because it gets into off-topic
subjects.

I would appreciate it if the rest of you listmates do not respond to his
political or religious comments on-list.  If you want to respond, please do
so via private e-mail, direct to Steve.

--Bob Ringwald