The
documentary Money for Nothing
provides insight into the music industry and how today, just a few large
companies control every aspect of it in something called an oligopoly.1,2 Every aspect of it being
right down to what songs we hear on the radio every day. These large companies
are not interested on what the songs are about, just about how much money the
songs and their artists can generate. Everything about the music industry today
is consumer based marketing.1
Today, because the music industry is
all about money it has really taken away the cultural aspect of music. Music is
supposed to be for the people and it is supposed to speak to people and speak
about the world today and it has really stopped doing that. Big companies want
to promote what will sell, so they find a popular sound and keep selling it to
people over and over again, so we have found some sort of uniformity. We wonder
why music all sounds the same and that is why. Also, radio companies are owned
by just a few large companies as well and so we only get what they are willing
to play for us. The music the radio plays is not because it is popular, but
because it is being paid for to be played. We see this in our everyday lives,
the same rotation of music over and over again. We wonder why they keep playing
the same song even if most people we know do not like the song and that is
because it is being forced on the air by money.1
Many people think that the music
industry is a lot of fun to be in, but artists know that it is not because of
the big business of it all. Companies can be very sneaky and the artists need
to be careful of the costs for their videos and studio time, etc. because the
costs are coming out of their pocket and back to the company after their record
sales. The only way to make money off their records is usually by large
companies promoting it because they can because they have the money to do so.
They promote it through the radio, TV, live performances, and in retail.
Through television companies like MTV, which is completely driven by promotion,
a company can pay them to play their artists music video or have their artist
visit a show. People think that MTV is all about playing what the audience
wants and their popular pick, but sure enough, it is just another business and
money driven company in the music industry. They show videos that make people
want to look and act a certain way and that is another thing that promote consumerism
because people will buy clothes that look like their favorite artists or
certain make-up and so much more because of what they see on MTV.1 This is something I believe is
seen a lot in today’s teenage world that can cause many issues or even just
kids growing up too quickly.
When companies promote their artist
through retail many times there is a “synergy” between the artist and a company.2 The artist’s song appears on
stores commercial and at the same time the artist’s album and single are being
promoted, so is the store. There starts to become an association between the
product and the song, so whenever the song is heard that comes to mind.1 For example, Taylor Swift and
the company Target. Her song and face appear in the Target commercial with a
special CD only available in Target stores. Seen in the video below, people
start to develop the association between the two and this adds to consumerism
even more.
Although I do agree with the documentary that
in the music industry companies are all about a musician’s numbers, I do not
agree that music has turned into just numbers and money. I think that people
still do appreciate music and find songs by artists that do have meaning to
them outside of just the songs that are paid to be on the radio. I think that people
will look to music for culture and for hope or a deeper meaning no matter what.
I do agree that it is more difficult with the music industry the way it is to
find the culture and deeper meaning with every song sounding the same, but it
can be done. There are so many independent musicians that get their name out
there even with the industry being very difficult to operate around. A lot of
this, I believe has to do with the internet. The internet is providing many
opportunities to self-promote and get artists names out there with sites like
youtube.com. There are even programs to record your music with like Apple’s
garage band. 1,2
Music will always be an important
piece of people’s lives. It can unite people through its themes and channel
spirit. With the business being so powerful in the music industry it is more
difficult to find that culture because of the money-driven aspect of it, but
there are ways around it. 2
Works Cited
2. Campbell R, Martin CR, Fabos B. Media
& Culture: Mass Communication in a Digital Age. 9th ed. Boston, MA:
Bedford/ St. Martin’s Available at:
https://reader.cafescribe.com/reader/Reader.html. Accessed May 22, 2013.
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