Beat the mainstream!
Posted by Louise Neill on 01 Apr 2009 | Tagged as: Between the Beats, Music, Uncategorized
The UK music industry has seen massive change over the last decade, which has been widely covered in the mainstream media. The Big 4 music labels stand accused of being stuck in a time warp as they blame falling music revenues on piracy, rather than waking up to the inevitable long-term impact of the digital age on their dying business models. Consequently they have continued to lose the control over distribution channels they once had. The explosion of different media that allows ‘ordinary people’ to showcase their musical prowess online through MySpace, You Tube and Twitter, for example, has empowered new artists, enabling them to move away from the old arrangements they needed to have with record companies and promoters to gain exposure. In some cases it has been possible for these artists to cut out the record companies entirely and go it alone.
It is not only the digital age that is affecting the way the music business is developing. Recently it feels like most of the big successes of mainstream music have been created by immense marketing budgets invested in artists who ‘look the part’, singing ‘cookie-cutter’ material dictated by their financial backers who are looking for huge mega-hit payouts. In too many live performances, choreography has become more important than the music, giving the artist little room for the spontaneity in their performances that was evident in the glory days of the development of the music industry. We think that this will start to change as consumers are generally moving towards a different frame of mind, impacted by such global dynamics as the current financial crisis and massively increased environmental awareness. Some of the ‘manufactured excess’ we have seen within the music industry in the recent past feels completely out of sync with current times and more listeners are looking away from the mainstream music they hear each time they switch on their radios.
We think that listeners want to re-engage with music that is developed by artists who have invested all of their creative thoughts into developing albums of true artistry, resulting in creative music that can surprise the listener. The Between-the-Beats brand is focused on finding and supporting this ‘real music’. As of yet, there are few quality filters separating the half baked from the truly great. Between-the-Beats will provide such a filter by becoming a home of ‘handpicked’ music, creating a forum for showcasing musical gems and an online community that is working together to ‘beat the mainstream’.
1 Comment »
on 16 Apr 2009 at 9:54 am 1.Anna said …
Dear Louise,
I’m totally fascinated by your article. It spoke to me personally because right now I’m learning for my diploma and the subject is new media along with its changes in society.
Not only the music industry exposes rarely with the new digital age and let valuable possibilities of marketing slip away. Even alot of other social arrays miss many chances that the technology of information and communication gives us day by day. For example the school system, that still doesn’t understand that media and its networking are an important factor for the present and future participation in social life. But alot of arrays could profit from the quick developing technologies for their own advantage and could speak to a larger group of people, no matter if it’s new customers in the music industry or brighter interest of students and pupils.
Furthermore I really like your critical statements referring to mainstream consumption. This statement really suits from the beginning to the end and reflects the public development towards individuality and away from the mainstream. I’m really glad about this and that a new movement starts to grow, that activly turns its back to mainstream and tries to support that kind of musicians who are unique and real, who have alot of creativity and who are worth being seen on stage performing to a live audience and really fascinate them.
Thank you a lot for this interesting article! Keep on!
Regards
Anna