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Are Artists More Pressured To Conform?

image from www.otherfamily.net As the age of radical transparency dawns and the conversations between artists and their audience are opened up, it made me wonder if the biggest pressure on artists is really choosing to conform to popular music trends, in hopes of gaining traction, or staying true to their art. I asked the readers for their opinions on this issue and here is some of the feedback that they gave.

Old Record Guy said, “If you want to have mainstream success, then some element of conformity is almost always required, and that just doesn't apply to music.” In his mind, it comes down to a matter of choice, whether the artist wants to be Katy Perry or Sonic Youth. In their signing to Geffen, the group “made videos that got aired on MTV and they simplified.” Sonic Youth did so, without alienating their fans or losing creditability; they made more money too.

Ethan Stanislawski argued that it’s not necessary a matter of conforming to commercial trends these days, as much as it is pandering to a new set of gatekeepers: the bloggers. If an artist has a hope in hell of getting their music out there, it doesn’t hurt if there’s a slant towards Pavement or Animal Collective.

This type of playing the game, he asserts, will get artist more praise on certain blogs and drive fans towards buying their music. Indie creditability has become its own commodity. No artist is sacrificing a song or two to sound like Train or Nickelback—that’s not a bridge capable of being made—but if they can shape their music to appeal to the snobs and hipsters, there’s reason to have faith.

Hisham Dahud thinks that with all of the media outlets to discover music that tastes have widened immensely, and that, while the commercial sphere may be focusing on several genres and trends, the web is shining a spotlight on thousands. "If an artist truly is an artist by nature, then they'll make the music that their soul intended and requires them create," he says. "And with an effective marketing strategy, real quality music will always rise to the top."

Brian at the music discovery site Fuzzedout shared the same viewpoint. He thinks that Devotchka, Gogol Bordello, and Coheed and Cambria are great examples of artists that “make good livings touring but get absolutely little to no radio support.” These acts make non-mainstream music and have “carved out niches for their sound that fans love.” Thus, depending at what point an artist is in their career, they aren’t as pressured to conform, due the sheer diversity of music communities online, more niche markets have opened up—that would’ve been previously inaccessible, not to mention unsustainable.

According to Yannick, the GeneralEclectic, “Popular music has always followed trends to some extent. If the question is to stay true to yourself or follow a trend, there is always the option to try doing both at the same time. And a lot of the really big artists have succeeded at that.”

To which he cites the Rolling Stones doing Funk and U2 doing Electronica as examples. In this instance, Yannick argues that the artists stayed true to their art and incorporated the reining popular trend into their own—a move that speaks more of innovation than of selling out. When an artist is under the pressure to produce hits is when blatant of copying occurs.

If the artist has completed their album and management doesn’t hear the single, then it’s back to the drawing board, and likely, to the moment where they decide to survey what’s catching on at the moment and give the label what they want. It may be that they don’t believe in the music, but that doesn’t matter. In the old days, Yannick contends that labels helped artists in determining whether their songs worked or not. The financial pressure often resulted in music that strayed from the artist’s plans for their album. The difference in the DIY movement, he says, is that “the artist has to make all artistic and commercial decisions by themselves and the financial requirements concern their own pocket.”

In the traditional record industry, an artist had to answer to their label. Today, they have to answer to their fans. In my opinion, the most pressure to conform these days comes from fans. Do you give fans what they want or say screw ‘em? Since you’re the artist, you know what’s best, but do you always?

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3 Comments

  1. I don’t think bands need labels to help them shape their sound. For example, an artist manager who lives in LA recently told me the LA music scene has never been worse because most bands are trying to sound like they’re from Brooklyn. After all, you’ve gotta attract the interest of the music blogs. That’s really no different than major label bands shaping their sounds for broadcast radio. Different scale, obviously, but the same in that both are an attempt to cater to the particular tastes of gatekeepers.

  2. I think this can sum it up – and it definitely holds true with music.
    “You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.”
    Steve Jobs
    When Dylan went electric his ‘true’ fans hated it, but this lead to a larger audience for him. An argument can be made that U2’s Discothèque, love or hated by long time U2 followers, opened them up to new fans, especially in Europe.
    Thanks for mentioning my quote above Kyle! Great discussion.

  3. I think it always gets down to one thing: money. I think an artist can stay true to themselves and still make a decent living especially if they are niche oriented because of the audience they can create for themselves. Depending on the artist and their niche, they can have a great amount of success or at least their definition of the word.
    For major labels though, I think there are so many different factors to whether or not the artist can stay true to themselves and still make a profit. It depends on whether the label supports your release, if you have an experienced manager who can negotiate deals for you so you retain creative freedom during the recording process, and so many other factors as well. I do think that despite the naysaying that happens when you mention the majors, some are not as corrupt and prone to pop music as a lot of people think.

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