"Why the hell are they signed and I'm not? They su

RO Admin Joined: Mar 20, 2000 Posts: 4352 Location: Canada

Let's face it, all of us at one time or another have heard a new artist on the radio or a video and wondered "Why the hell are they signed and I'm not? They suck!"

What's your take on this controversial and subjective subject?

Respected Past Moderator Joined: Mar 13, 2001 Posts: 1256

Quote:

Originally posted by bigtree:
Let's face it, all of us at one time or another have heard a new artist on the radio or a video and wondered "Why the hell are they signed and I'm not? They suck!"

What's your take on this controversial and subjective subject?

Stamina and Luck. They were a the right place at the right time AND they're there....meanig there were probably many-many-many-many(you get the idea,,,many) day's and night that they did not stop pushing and working to be heard...hoe ever much they "suck"...whereas you and I decided to go home earlier all theos many days.....

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2002 6:16 pm

Pretty much all of them have better abs than me . . .

Bear

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2002 10:21 pm

Even though they suck, they also swallow. Me. I refuse to even come close to one of them things, unless it's mine.

I mean, have you ever met some of the people that get signed. Alot of them really are complete cocksuckers. And since most A&R people are guys, well. Everyone needs a good cocksucker now and then.

Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2002 10:58 pm

I honestly believe that equal to the problems already mentioned (not so subtly) here is the current state of music as a whole, wherein in the past 5-7 years we have seen the proliferation of DAW's and thus loop based, perfectly tuned music. The necessity in having the ability to play (or sing) a beautiful track on any instrument has been absolutely, positively, completely eliminated with today's technology. All this great stuff we use everyday (which don't get me wrong, when used correctly and in the right environments is indispensable) has directly contributed to the dumbing down of musicianship. That last snare hit was a little late? No problem, I'll just move it. A little soft? No problem, I'll just replace it with another. That long note you ran out of breath on? No problem, I'll just grab a good spot, stretch it out with some crossfades, and Auto-tune it. While these things get us out of a jam in the studio, we need to serioualy think about the role that we directly play (as engineers/producers) in the current direction of music. Is it easier to fix the problem ourselves with our tools than to coax just one more take out of someone in an effort to get it right?

And I have rambled.

All I'm saying is that technology has made it incredibly easier for anyone to sound marginally talented, not talented, but marginally talented. In some ways, engineers are now able to wield incredible power over arrangements and performances without ever saying a word or playing a note, but simply by using our tools. With those capabilities in place, A&R can now focus on image and attitude in their search, not musicianship.

RO Admin Joined: Mar 20, 2000 Posts: 4352 Location: Canada

Well said guys, soooooo I can't resist this:

Talent/Skills: talent is ten percent, the rest is hard work and...........

2.) Luck: Go where the action is and create the opportunity for Luck.
3.) Presentation: make sure you can do five foot jumps and play a flute at the same time lol, Image is Everything!
4.) Timing/Trends: If you're still doing a genre that's considered old and non trendy and doesn't sell a lot of records these days by industry standards, then you can bet that A&R rep won't listen past the first 10 seconds of your demo tape.
5. Buzz : How large is your following?
6.) Representation: A good manager and music attorney is worth his or hers weight in gold.
7.) Drive/Commitment: Don't take no for an answer. Keep on knocking, polishing your craft and doing what Henchman says? Surprised

8.) Location: If you live in Tim Buck Two you better consider moving to a larger city (metropolitan areas have people).

Geez Surprised

, I thought I was doing all this too? Oh right... I never sucked dick! must have been that. :c:

Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2002 8:16 am

Cycle 60, you have it nailed on the head except you forgot to mention the most important thing. You gots to look good on the tee vee, and oh yeah, suck and swallow , yeah that's it.....Fats

Respected Past Moderator Joined: Mar 13, 2001 Posts: 1256

Quote:

Originally posted by Cycle 60:
A&R can now focus on image and attitude in their search, not musicianship.

Absolutly...even songs aren't enough...it's all about "the package" to get a deal today.

What's the MOST ironic to me, is that in the "old" days the that people were in charge of record companies didn't come from marketing backgrounds , they were "inneficient" they night say today...but they're indusrty grew. Today all the lawyers, MBA's and marketing hacks have there way...and where's the buisness now?

Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2002 10:22 pm

No soul....

Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2002 4:00 pm

A band that I've been working with for years put it perfectly, "we're only popular because we are too stupid to quit."

Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2002 5:02 pm

Eric,
Where did you get the cool Avatar???Fats

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2002 1:30 am

Fats- Yeah, his is cool, but so is yours... I mean Henry the Fucking 8th? Doc.

Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2002 6:19 am

Fats,
I coach diving at Michigan State, and the previous coach's daughter did that for his web page, so I stole it Very Happy

Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2002 5:27 am

never in my life have i seen every gendre of music suck as bad as it does now.

pop: perfect autotuned crap that has no lyrical content anymore.

country: gone are the glory days of the late 70's outlaw movement. now its a bunch of prettyboys in white cowboy hats that sing the songs that the same handfull of nashville writers churn out daily(maybe thats whay it all sounds the same) Surprised

at least you used to could count on country music to deliver great lyrics. now country is basically pop (see above "pop" description.)

rock: 7 string guitars with scooped mids played by guys who can't even play 6 string guitars... wearing clown makeup no less (IDEA!!..get ahold of bozo the clown and ronald mcdonald, get ibanez to make some 8 string guitars and cut a record... it would be huge!..the time is right!)

R&B: this genre used to be called "soul"..i can see why they changed it. who in the hell came up with this new style of voice quivering that all the R&B has now? whoever it was should be hung by the neck until dead...or...make him listen to that shit for a few hours and he will hang himself.

Rap: dosen't most of this sound the same..or is it just me. all the filty language and extream subject matter had shock value back in the 80's but now its been done to death and then some. Also, does every song in almost every genre HAVE to have the obligatory rap passage?

blues: mostly new artists doing old classics and old artists doing old classics. does anybody write new blues songs besides me? I have been hearing blues tunes with "the obligatory rap passage" on the radio lately. that REALLY gives me the blues.

damn its time for something new to hit big...but...how can it when the powers to be want everything to sound the same.

im thru ranting now

Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2002 10:22 am

Hear! Hear! and Harrumph! Can I get a Harrumph/ (That guy over there didn't give me a Harrumph!) Well said, and I couldn't agree more..... What gets me is I hear a song on the teevee and it sounds ok, then I go get the ceedee and put it on my stereo and it sounds like a dog drop! ("No Doubt" comes to mind) I think we should burn Tchad Blake in effigy! What he did to Bonnie Raitt is a sin!………. ........Fats

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