Are rock stars born or made? Of course we all know that someone can go out and pay to be taught how to sing properly, but we also know that there are those special few who are born with undeniable talent. I think it would be safe to say that most of these individuals are not born ‘rock stars’, but normal people with a marketable talent. We hear all sorts of stories about how artists are told what to do and how to do everything, from what to look like to how to act, by record labels. So is this an issue in the rock and roll industry?
I referred in the above paragraph to singing being a marketable talent. By this I meant that there is a demand for entertainment, and singing and music being a form of entertainment, can be used to ones advantage to make a profit. Marketers are well known for manipulating aspects of a product in order to achieve maximum returns. This is the same thing that is done by record labels to artists that they sign. Record labels are of course money making businesses and as such use the desire of artists (especially younger ones) to become well known musicians, to manipulate them and make them into money making machines.
The idea is sort of like cars on an assembly line in the fact that record labels know what sells and molds upcoming artists into one of their ‘best selling’ categories, even if this means compromising their integrity. One of the most well known tactics is sex. Take a look at artists like, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and Jessica Simpson and compare their how they were when they first appeared on the music scene, to present day. I’m sure anyone would see a notable difference in appearance, actions and in music.So what message is being sent to consumers, especially children as they are easily influenced? They are being told that in order to be ‘somebody’ they need to act a certain way, dress a certain way, hang out at certain places etc.
Artists have mentioned this topic in songs such as Pink’s ‘Don’t Let Me Get Me’ where she sings:
LA told me, "You'll be a pop star,
All you have to change is everything you are."
Tired of being compared to damn Britney Spears
She's so pretty, that just ain't me
Pink also pokes fun at the ‘glamour girl’ image that record labels are promoting to the youth of today, in her song and music video ‘Stupid Girls’ below.
References:
Don’t Let Me Get Me Lyrics, 2009, ELyrics.com, viewed 2June 2009, http://www.elyrics.net/read/p/pink-lyrics/don_t-let-me-get-me-lyrics.html.
I agree and disagree. Whilst music companies have taken the idea of creative control in their musical acts to extremes before, such as in the case of Good Charlotte who have been accused of being taught to play their instruments, you can hardly expect a company that rises and falls with the works of its artists to simply sit back and let fortune favour who it will.
ReplyDeleteCertainly, there is a great admiration felt by music lovers towards companies which allow for the most creative control in their artists, but if artists wish to avoid the more intrusive tactics of the bigger companies, they need to make conscious decisions to sign with companies that reflect an opposite attitude. It's not so much the fault of companies, who can only be depended upon to look out for their stakeholders and the wellbeing of the company itself, as the naivety and misunderstanding of many artists through the years who expected that when they signed the companies giving them a million dollar contract that they'd get to do what they want as long as they thought it sounded good. Capitalism has a belt line of cash to maintain. Artists can argue about integrity all they want, but if they're willing to engage in music companies famous for marketing of pop music trends, they can't expect to retain credibility or control for long. Nor should they.