Napster could have saved the industry...

[Steven J. Gross]

... but was too stupid to charge each member 5 bucks a month and 5 cents a song download. That system with normal price increases- could have made more artists and companies rich- instead they helped destroy the business almost entirely!!!

 

[Mr Bill]

No kidding. Let's face it, radio in the late fifties, sixties and up till the birth of MTV is what sold music. If in the 50s the RIAA attacked radio like they do online music today (it's free and anyone can hear it) popular music would NOT have had the giant cultural impact it did through Vietnam, Watergate, the Energy crisis, the Disco era and even the dawn of new wave/punk (by then MTV was the driving force for new music and pop culture). What would soundtracks to movies like American Graffitti or Forrest Gump be without that? Heck, those movies might never have been were it not for radio....

--Mr Bill
who, if he hears an mp3 he likes, will most likely go buy the artist's CD...

 

[Rudy]

MTV didn't exactly kill CD sales either--bands that would have been too unremarkable on radio got visual exposure. Look at something like Duran Duran...one product of MTV, all looks, and the chicks ate it up. It got bad when MTV forgot what the "M" stood for, and VH1 pretty much morphed into what the original MTV used to be...sort of...

As for radio, we pretty much know that money killed it. All the original, inventive stations that played the underground music and AOR are gone now, and it's mostly programmed by consultants on a national level. And retail has gone the same way. So the music doesn't get promotion on radio unless it fits a narrowly defined format, and doesn't get into the "big box" stores unless it's a proven commodity.

Some internet radio streams are good, but there's no rhyme or reason to a lot of them. Radio Free Virgin is good for awhile, and to their credit, the majority of what they play is just a click away from ordering...you actually see the CD cover while a song is playing. Shows promise--I hope more internet streams do this! (Live365 does, but unless you give them money, you're bombarded by ads and pop-ups.) Satellite radio and even Music Choice on DirecTV (and some cable systems) offer variety, but the public doesn't accept these as mainstream yet.

That pretty much leaves us with whatever we can scrounge for on the internet to download and listen to. There's some I've downloaded that I would NEVER buy, so that's money I've saved. But others I've bought because I've liked what I've heard.

I believe BMG (?? Napster's owner) has been trying to turn it into a for-pay service, but NONE of these have a serious chance until all the other sharing services are shut down. Few of the "kiddiez" out there who download hundreds of songs a day don't care about quality or where they get it from, and it's just as much the parents' fault for teaching their kids not to steal. I'd rather have my kids download songs at 50 cents or a buck apiece, rather than steal it or buy an $18.99 CD that will probably get listened to once or twice.

 

[sbsugar]

"Look at something like Duran Duran...one product of MTV, all looks, and the chicks ate it up"

Sorry, but I disagree. Duran Duran plays their own instruments and writes their own music. And while their music may not be as musically intricate as some, it is (for the most part) very well crafted. I figure if they were "all looks", they wouldn't still be around and making cds.

 

[Rudy]

I didn't really mean Duran Duran were musically bad, but would they have had as good a chance had they not made high-dollar videos to go with the music? As it turns out, a lot of other good music that didn't have a video went unnoticed by the music-buying, MTV-absorbing masses. And does this mean more mediocre music made it to the charts just because of a video?

 

[Mr Bill]

I'm not sure there is an argumant here. You're both right. MTV made hit artists out of bands that would never have been played on radio. Duran Duran is a talented band. MTV did as much to change radio playlists as it did in ushering new artists and new sounds. And MTV proved you don't have to be "good looking" to have a hit song (look at the butt ugly guys in Tears For Fears). I only wish MTV (I call it "eMpTy V") still played videos instead of crap like real world and those stupid beach parties they do. Even VH1 sucks like a Hoover now!

--Mr Bill
who enjoys watching music videos from all over the world on the Nagham channel over in this part of the world -- where else would a Chris DeBurgh video be followed by Cheb Mami (Ark 21 artist), then some Sri Lankan siren, then Vanessa Carlton and a Morrocan funk band??? Way Cool!

 

[Rudy]

What's funny is that there is a second MTV channel (MTV2), and just over the past month or two, they're advertising on other channels, like Nickelodeon, that they actually are going back to music now. The original MTV is still in Hoover territory.

To my benefit maybe (because I bought music on *sound*, not sight), we never had MTV...my folks never did get cable. My only big regret is not having MTV for the LiveAid coverage...I taped off of broadcast, but missed all the MTV portions. If the legal rights weren't such a nightmare, it would make a great DVD set.

 

[DAN BOLTON]

What's funny is that there is a second MTV channel (MTV2), and just over the past month or two, they're advertising on other channels, like Nickelodeon, that they actually are going back to music now. The original MTV is still in Hoover territory.

To my benefit maybe (because I bought music on *sound*, not sight), we never had MTV...my folks never did get cable. My only big regret is not having MTV for the LiveAid coverage...I taped off of broadcast, but missed all the MTV portions. If the legal rights weren't such a nightmare, it would make a great DVD set.

Remember the old MOR MUSIC CHANNEL ? Whatever happenned to it?That's the place where I discovered a marvelous guitar player, Adrian Legg...never would have heard of him if MOR didn't exist...they played Herb's video of SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME a lot, too. The primary goal might have been to sell records, but it worked...the last artist I remember was a hot-panted young violinist named Vanessa Mae...who played classical music rock-style...not much substance, but nice hotpants...I also discovered Ottmar Leibert there, and was turned on to his LUNA NEGRA album with the ALBATROSS cover[worth theprice of the album]...and a Chilean harpist, Roberto Pererra...never could find his albums in a store, and didn't have a credit card when he was on MOR...also, discovered Di Blasio at MOR...


Whatever happenned to it? I get so tired of ESTEBAN and MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER on QVC...


Dan