Music is everywhere.
You can't go a day without hearing some sort of melodic sound. I even write columns dealing with music every week. But, during the last decade or so, things have changed.
The concept of the "underground" has surfaced, especially the rise of grunge during the days of Nirvana, and now it is exposed. I witnessed four commercials that featured musicians, and these weren't commercials with the typical pop star like Jessica Simpson or Beyoncé - I heard Band of Horses and The Black Keys.
I even saw Bob Dylan in a Cadillac Escalade commercial.
Being a huge fan of the underground scene, I asked myself, "How could this happen?" I wondered, "Where has the security of the innocence of our music gone?" When did cashing in become so cool?
This certainly isn't the first time these questions have been asked. For years, the battle between success and selling out has been written about in everything from Web sites to large-numbered books. There are even organized meetings about where to draw the line, such as various keynote meetings at the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin.
People involved in the industry, whether for creativity or to simply make money, want to know how to grab the attention of our youth and how to stay holding on. Before Nirvana, this was difficult. Since then there has been a steady battle with the emergence of pop stars, allowing their faces to be the spokeswomen and spokesmen of our culture.
But, pop is changing. Rebellion has become mainstream, and with the popularity of Web sites like www.myspace.com and www.facebook.com, the music industry has had easy access to what young, avid music listeners want. And now the industry has found its way - taking the "indie" scene hostage.
The music industry has realized it doesn't need to fork out more and more money to obtain the awareness of our youth - it just needs to go really, really cheap.
Because many independently labeled bands don't have the means for a ton of publicity or don't have access to the amount of attention they need to just rely on their music to make ends meet, they can now be in commercials.
After witnessing not one, but two different products - Nissan and Wrangler - that have songs from the blues band The Black Keys, I felt betrayed and personally hurt by the band because I had been "pushing" the Black Keys since I saw them in 2004. But then I thought, "They're not even on mainstream MTV or even VH1? How could advertisers know they would catch my attention with this?"
The truth of the matter is that music is a constant. But, so is money, and I'm not talking about money in a way that it is a driving force for all of us, since being broke is easier. I've accepted the fact that I may not always have a whole lot of money to buy all the CDs I want to buy or to see all the shows I want to see because I want to be a writer. So I've immersed myself in music journalism, finding all the great magazines and books that teach me about good music. Basically, I've stretched myself out more. But, so have these bands. They aren't always the richest bands and they don't always know the right people.
But, to put it bluntly, we all need to be able to survive. I have found that music journalism is the key to seeing all the bands I want to see for free, and the Shins found out that commercials would secure their financial status for the future. The music industry has evolved into Darwinism, and musicians are fighting for their lives.
We all love music, and some of us even love good music, but throughout it all, I still want to support the good bands. So, let's just support them. If I believe their music has substance and I can see that they're doing something right with their music, I'll still appreciate them, no matter what product they are selling. But, just for the record, you'll never catch me in a pair of Wranglers.
Be the first to comment on this article!