Intergalactic Church of the Almighty Rod
|
3/31/2006 11:37:58 AM
On Competition...
Now Playing:1. The Herbaliser "8pt. Agenda"
2. Mr Scruff "Ug"
3. DJ Vadim "Your Revolution"
4. The Irresistable Force "Nepalese Bliss"
5. Kid Koala "Emperor's Main Course"
6. Coldcut "Give it Up"
Someone I like once asked why indie artists are so cutthroat, why they would tear someone down who is poised for "greatness" (even though greatness is a relative term).
The answer became clear to me the other day while reading the comments of a fellow blogger in the IAC forums. It came close to triggering one of my not so famous passive rants right then, but I decided to give it a couple of days and see if anything changed. Suffice to say that "letting go" thing can be a real bitch at times, but I digress...
The answer is competition. There are many definitions of "indie" ranging from "not good enough to be signed to a major label." to "the vangards of a new aesthetic," Regardless of definition one thing holds true, the current environment for independent artists is dangerous. Damn near every artist has to fight tooth and nail for every iota of recognition that they recieve. In a lot of cases promoting oneself takes up a vast majority of their time. It is much like war, everyone is in an advesarial role because they are all competing for the same thing, some much needed exposure. Sometimes an alliance forms between like minded artists, sometimes another artist can put aside their own wants for a time and give props to someone else whose work they like or people that they have grown to respect. Even a small show of unity in a hostile environment is a commendable thing. Problem is not enough follow the example or no one is actually listening anyway.
For years Indies have done battle in the "real world" to little success. The commercial system is too well entrenched. The development of the internet and subsequently the OMD led to a host of artists fleeing to the frontier of cyberspace in order to grasp that brass ring of recognition and acceptance. There are multitudes of ways to get one's music out there, but there is no real way to grab listeners. The OMD's face this problem themselves so they in turn seek to attract recognizable names and ways to feature artists. This leads to an even more adversarial climate in the minds of some. Not only do the little known artists have to compete against each other but now they have to compete against marquee artists that rarely, if ever communicate with the unknown hordes. The artists features are reminescent of the commercial system. It may not be the intent of the people that run OMD's but it lends to the appearance that "We are experts, this is what we think you should listen to." Human beings, particularly Americans are sheepish and allow themselves to be herded into thinking a certain way if an authority figure tells them such way is the best. Because of this, great artists are pushed even further into the muck of obscurity and in some cases are forced to beg people for listens in various ways. it is up to the people who are the so-called leaders of the revolution to do something to limit the amount of competition inherent in the current system. To level the playing field so that artists don't have to spend so much time fighting for survial against odds that are clearly stacked against them, often by the very forces that claim to be allies. Only with the fighting reduced can artists truly rally behind the "Support Indie Music" flag.
.
|
|