Got your attention, didn't it? So we have two contemporary models for success in the music industry, both widely reviled by the get off my lawn crew. Genius: The Nickelback Story (it's just fun to write) Kesha is the last great rock star (thanks Meserach) This is probably where I add that I enjoy some of their music unironically, and while I definitely turn it down when stuck in traffic next to other human beings for fear of being judged through brief eye contact, I'm still getting a kick out of asking this: so, if we can set aside the personal questions of taste, what does this have to offer in terms of broader marketing strategies? Are these things that are compatible with other genres of music? Is it necessary to argue in terms of either marketing or artistic integrity, or can there be a form-follows-function or "doing what I must to do what I like" aspect to it?
I do too! Ke$ha is disposable but easy to listen to modern pop, which I happen to like overall because I like upbeat stuff with house-mixey music. I can't say I dislike ALL Nickelback songs, either. I don't like most of them and I am kind of annoyed I like any of them for whatever reason. I hate that I like Photograph or whatever it's called because the lyrics themselves barely even qualify as ballad-esque, so it reeks of a producer shoehorning the lyrics into a ballad because the album needed a ballad or whatever. He did a duet with Amy Lee for The Punisher soundtrack, Broken, which is also generic pop rock but I sorta liked it too. However, I can't listen to I Wanna Be a Rockstar because when Chad Kroeger sings about how he's "gonna dress [his] ass in the latest fashion," I picture his hairy, pasty, sweaty ass and I throw up in my mouth a little. Ugh, I just did it now.
Lizard_King - I take it by "success in the music industry" you mean widespread popular acclaim ("household name" status) in mainstream genres like rock and dance music, correct? I'll read the articles and check back - I think this is a potentially interesting topic, and if my assumption is correct, that gives us a benchmark for discussion.
Well, actually it's helpful if people just say what they think it means if they speak to that part of the post, and if in fact that's a good measure. I meant it both in terms of the household name thing and the appearance that the artists themselves seem to be getting what they want out of the deal, but obviously there's also the moving target of having produced something of artistic value to you.
Nickleback's "The State" is still a damn good album with some really fine tracks; it's a shame they became a self-parody with their later work.
LK, I don't know if this is the sort of reaction you're looking for, but I think that Nickelback's strategy is a viable one only AFTER a point. That is to say, you can maintain your fame and fortune that way, but first you've got to get famous -- have a big-selling record and successful tour. And how you accomplish THAT is a bit of a mystery. You've got to produce the type of music that a large number of people are interested in at the time that they are interested in it and have someone willing to promote you. AND you've got to be savvy enough to sign contracts that let you get control of yourself back. That "music that a large number of people are interested in" is the key. Nickelback's approach wouldn't work for a jazz or classical artist or folkies, for example. It's ideal for bombastic arena rock and dance pop. I'm more curious about "indie rockers". Someone who hits big once like Fleet Foxes or Mumford & Sons -- could they get to Nickelback levels if they tried the same approach? Death Cab for Cutie, after years of modestly-selling indie records, got a big time contract and hit No.1 -- for a week. Same for the Decemberists. Neither of those bands has the inclination to behave like Chad Kroger, but I also think, trying very hard to put taste considerations aside, that the Nickelback and Keisha -- and Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift -- model is only viable for genres that appeal to a particular group -- the 12- to 20-somethings who combine disposable income with a youthful tendency to fanatical devotion. Any of that make sense?
I'm going to attempt to answer the OP's questions without injecting my own musical taste, and then move on to personal opinion later. Other genres besides mainstream rock and dance? Maybe popular country, and maybe rap, but beyond that, no, I don't think so. I think this kind if calibrated business model is only feasible in genres that cater to a younger demographic, because that's where music is generally the most profitable. Like OZ 4.0 says, I don't think this can happen in jazz or classical, for instance. That's not to say that a jazz artist couldn't imitate Kroeger's approach in some fashion - there's a possible comparison to Kenny G here - but I don't think the payout is anywhere near the millions that Nickleback is raking in with their formula. I don't think strong marketing and artistic integrity are mutually exclusive, no. There's room for a variety of approaches here that don't hew too closely to either end of a spectrum that has 'mega-profitable sellout' at one end and 'heartbreakingly genuine starving artist' at the other. In my estimation, Stevie Wonder is a good example of a talented pop musician who, despite veering into some pretty saccharine territory in the 80s, always seemed to release genuine music with that was created with integrity, but had a broad appeal that enjoyed popular reception. RE: "Doing what I must to do what I like," I don't know that you can apply that in Nickleback's particular case (as they seem to be doing what they like all along), but I'm not very familiar with the evolution of their music. But that phrase brings another popular and trendy-to-hate musician to mind, and that's John Mayer. Many of us probably associate John Mayer with cute pop tunes like "Your Body is a Wonderland" off his first album, and a couple other popular tracks off his subsequent two pop-rock albums. But since the initial success of those records, he's gone on to form a blues trio and release an album with that group, record another album in a more bluesy/funk vein, and go in still another new direction with his latest record, which owes more to the California rock of the Eagles and CSNY than to romantic, cutesy pop. I don't know that Mayer did this intentionally - paving the way for later artistic growth by deliberately releasing mass-appeal pop music early on - but I suspect that he outgrew his own sound fairly quickly, and I don't think it's a stretch to say that his freedom to explore new directions on several albums is in large part due to having the major-label clout that he established early on as a pop musician.
Yeah, it's weird to me that everyone, including critics, seems to love Kesha now. Few will go as far to admit that she's making good music, but the critics have become surprisingly positive about her anyway. The line "stripping down to dirty socks" in Die Young always makes me a little nauseous. Imagining someone naked except for socks is bad enough, but dirty socks? Eww. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/a...xnnlx=1354303913-zsTENkI5fkzaQL1eoQz3Eg&_r=1& http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8694610/praising-kesha-warrior-princess-dirty-pop-star I think the critics still hate Nickelback, but I could be wrong on that one,
The first time I really noticed her work beyond it being an anonymous radio presence was when the Simpsons (which I don't watch) triggered a mini internet shitstorm by using one of her songs, and I was left with the impression that the Simpsons are still mostly mediocre but that was a pretty good song. But I made my peace with weapons-grade pop music back in the era of Britney, so I just wasn't paying attention beyond that until Meserach and now you brought these articles to my attention.
I don't enjoy snobbery - it makes me feel like an asshole, and I'm super conscious of the defining-one's-self-through-one's-derision-of-the-popular dynamic in cultural consumption. But there is this tier of super-lowbrow contemporary pop culture products - Nickelback as a multi-album phenomenon, Chuck Lorre sitcoms as a force for evil, Jersey Shore-level reality tv - that grosses me out and makes me bemoan the state of civilization in spite of myself. Which objectively is stupid, given the amount of good TV, music, film and writing that I'm enjoying at the same time, but the stupid is coming via traditional "pop media channels," whereas the good comes via internet/social channels. I feel like this explains some of why acts that cool people can't stand are surviving so well within places like a shrinking music industry; the cool people have moved on to the 2012 cool-culture-consumption-ecosystem, leaving the old music/tv infrastructure to service the needs of Nickelback fans.
The Dr. Luke/Katy Perry 'Teenage Dream' album sound leaked over into a UK act called 'Jessie J' so much, particularly in the song Domino, that in our house we now jokingly confuse the two acts. Well half jokingly, sometimes I do forget which is which when the first line of a song comes on the radio with no introduction. Luckily for Ke$ha she has a very distinctive, though obviously auto-tuned, vocal which is either able to inspire a sufficiently different audio production from Dr Luke or it just dominates whatever vestiges of that sound remain. Reading the detailed wikipedia page Dr Luke claims it is something like the former reason but basically because she banned him from using guitars in his production of her stuff. Reading on further apparently this edict has been retired along with the autotuned vocal for much of the new album (promising erotic experiences with ghosts and the now mandatory dubstep elements) so I guess we'll see what crops up after 'Die Young'. Anyway, I quite like her songs and stupid videos when they come up in the gym, high energy filth is just what I usually need to persuade me to move my legs a bit faster. On a similar note this thread should probably also cover Nicki Minaj who is also deeply involved in whatever is going on in this revival of the new-again-youth-pop-upsetting-the-elders-oh-god-the-ladies-with-the-rude-words-and-the-gyrating-movement along with Ke$ha.
