Mediaite (how do you pronounce that?) has a post that ties in with my own about the Rebecca Black phenomena and how the internet warps the music business. Word is she's been signed to a label - for what was being debated, just two weeks ago, as the worst song in America - giving credence to my "obnoxilicious" theory:If something of value is online, it loses 80% of it's worth - because everyone will want it for free - but worthless crap gains in value, mainly because curiosity seekers will pay to see and/or hear it.
Of course there are exceptions, but I think it's a truism, and would like to hear what you think.
Another thought:
A 13 year-old girl, with an awful record, has been made into a millionaire almost overnight. Unworthy politicians like Obama - who, I'll remind you, also famously raised money online - can put together considerable war chests in the same amount of time. Can you imagine what could be done if that kind of money was going to something or someone worthwhile?
I say you can't because A) otherwise you'd be doing it B) it's expected that good things must rise on their own, and C) you're all too damned cynical.
I don't know if contemporary culture is ever a meritocracy. (Perhaps at one time, but certainly not now). Van Gogh was never accepted in his time; Emily Dickenson published less than 2 dozen poems. I don't cite those examples to validate a premise of "genius is never obvious to contemporaries" but to cite how pop culture is supposed to suck-- it's the rare exception that is not only popular but meritorious.
ReplyDeleteFrom Justin Beiber through to Rudy Vallee, there's a row of supertankers enough to cross an ocean of hit recordings by all the teen idols du jour and an iceberg could take them all and the world would not miss them. But John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk would have to share swim fins built from the popular support they had in their day.
Yeah, I know.
ReplyDeleteI was just reading an article that said, if you want to kill your arts career, the best thing you can do is work in more than one area. And, of course, here I am thinking I'm hot because I'm so good at rock and rap and country and,...
And,..and - oh yeah - I play music and paint and draw and,...
Fuck, I'm doomed to failure.