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Hype
May 2010ZANI – The Next Big Thing ?
Having just read Paul's article on organics and mind control it got me thinking about how our minds are controlled by the music industry and the hype of the "next big thing"In the same way your local friendly supermarkets will want to sell you cheap crap in the food aisles, the corporate arm of the music industry will be only too happy to do the same.
Music to the major labels is just the same; another commodity. The fact is they too don't care what is inside your shopping bag,but how many profitable units are in there- it's all about margins. At the top of the pile do you really think they are interested in either the welfare of the artist or the quality of the music produced? I don't think so.These so called "next big things" are just like the battery hens you pick up as ready cooked chickens ready to be fed and hyped up in a media frenzy to you the hungry public. Sure there are always some good guy's out there.Take Mute for example who are prepared to give new artists like Polly Scattergood the time to develop and mature-this is an organic process.I ask myself why do so many people fall for this bullshit and manipulation? Step back and think-how most people access music either via mainstream radio or the likes of MTV? The big labels more or less control these mediums via the pluggers and A & R machine,therefore you get to hear what they want you to hear.
Let's face it when you hear a song on the radio five or six times a day it gets under your skin. This is why you will hear singles three months before release date on the mainstream, gearing you up for that 'must have' album release date. You might think this is nothing new and to some degree this has always happened. The big difference today is that years ago you would go to the record store to listen to tunes, not the internet.
When I was a teenager maybe I too bought a few top 10 singles but all around me was a world of music, different music stuff that I could pick up and wonder at, and even take to the counter and listen to in a booth. I mean they knew that i was not going to buy most of the albums I listened to but maybe I would save and come back for that hidden gem.
This is what I am driving at where does your average man in the street buy his music now? Isn't it the same shelves he buys his pumped up chicken from? Imagine taking a pile of CD's to the Tesco counter and asking to listen to them before you buy.
What is worse than that there is nothing beyond the top 50 albums available and a few label compilations that are gathering dust. Where are the shows like John Peel who flew in the face of convention and had no playlist? Even BBC6 Music has a rotating playlist, and as good as some of the content is, it is still controlled by the industry, so unless we buck the trend new music will die on it's feet. Where are the new Alan McGee's and Tony Wilson's out there who are prepared to go out on a limb and believe in an artist and let them blossom? The music is all out there waiting to be discovered and nurtured, but the trouble is by the time a major label has finished polishing the rough edges that made an artist endearing in the first place all that is left is another supermarket chicken.
That is why I feel so much passion about the work of ZANI and the underground online independent music press in general. For myself it is like a crusade that people need to hear these great bands and get out to live shows to buy the merchandise. Many bands now are breaking free and releasing their own material and distributing it via the small independent shops. Just about making enough to finance the next e.p free of the label constraints, the only way the monopoly can be broken is by people supporting these artists.The initial idea behind myspace.com was a good one-but sadly there were more bands promoting their music than buying it, which was why it met its demise. The lessons here are clear,in order to nurture this raw talent we should be making the effort to see them live, and go and support them.
So next time you buy your cut price CD in the supermarket stop and think about that independent record shop, those new talented bands in the making and put it back on the shelf along with that rather dubious chicken...
© Words – Mark Thorpe / ZANI
