06.24.06

This won’t be good

Posted in mimi hates on pop country - June 24th, 2006 at 12:03 pm by Mimi

Oh, Hallelujah, just what the industry needs!

This is one of those stories that creates extreme conflict for us. On the one hand, labels merging just makes the Beast that much worse and will lead to a juggernaut, creating a stalemate between two Big Players that is really about profit rather than making music (wait, check, that’s already happened). On the other hand, this means that, maybe, hopefully, artists will shift their focus from getting a deal with the purveyors of pap and crack and cast their eyes towards minor and independent labels who will let them retain artistic control and make decent music that means something. [Maybe this is when the country bands and not just the punk and 'indie' bands will start taking Hank III's advice: You don't have to go spend $200,000 on a studio and be in debt for the next four or five years. It's a $500 machine. Being in a studio isn’t going to make people like your stuff better. Do it yourself. It ain't that hard. It's just songwriters and a jam room. It's the ultimate songwriting tool. (from here).—Cricket]

It’s especially excellent that all the PR and A&R people are keeping their jobs, because they’re doing a freakin’ bang up job! [Surely this means they'll be working extra hard to find real talent and original music? Oh man, I laughed so hard just typing that that I nearly choked on my coffee. Apparently mainstream country really will be the death of me.—Cricket]

Jace Everett and Jamey Johnson are already cut. Great. We’re not at all happy about how this bodes for some of the great songwriters we’ve met in Nashville who have written songs for these guys. [It's like the honeymoon is over now. We're gonna have to step up and not just love the music but hate on the giant machine that churns it out. Damn you, bloated, leviathan music industry, why must steal the joy from everything?—Cricket]

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