The "business" of music

[deftech]

I dont want to sound like an old fogie but 95% of the new music coming out is crap!!! It seems as though the formula is "make it appeal to 12 year olds."
I rarely find a new release to get excited about. I like mellowdrone and vast among a few other new artists. PLEASE giant mega record companies, sign some artists that dont ask me to "slap my ***** up."

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

I dont want to sound like an old fogie but 95% of the new music coming out is crap!!!

So stop listening to music played on MTv. While pop certain makes 95% of all CDs manufactured, it only accounts for maybe 5% of all new albums written a year (regardless of manf. numbers).

It seems as though the formula is "make it appeal to 12 year olds."

Thats because it is.

I rarely find a new release to get excited about.

Sadly finding reviewers for non-pop is a bit of a challenge (almost every print magazine is nothing but). Pitchforkmedia, and a few audio forums (Head-Fi) come to mind for good places to look.

 

[skizzerflake]

There's always lots of good music but it's not easy to find it. Check specialized genre publications and when you find somebody you like, check allmusic.com's "Similar Artist" suggestions and the samples you can listen to. I agree that almost all hyped Pop music is crap. Fortunately, having a broad concept of what is good music helps. Some days I'm in a jazz mood, or a bluegrass mood or a punk mood...just stay away from whatever is beng hyped, ask friends, listen to alternative radio stations, espeically from colleges, whatever spreads your musical taste. I'am always amazed that whenever I get bored, I find something intersting. In this age of self published cds, there are some excellent people making good stuff without the aide of the big companies. You just have to find them.

 

[no. 5]

good advice skizzerflake, manestreem pop gets so annoying, you have to look around just so you don't go nuts.
personaly, I like to look in the nonenglish markets (like french), because there are a lot of very good musicans who have never relesed any music in the US (and I don't meen stuff like ABBA).
also I have found that CD's not made in the US are often recored far better, then those that are.

 

[nibhaz]

Some of the best music is produced by small labels, which sometimes require effort to find, but with the advent of the internet is easier than ever.

Using people whose musical taste you respect as a reference is also a useful method to expand one's horizons.

Recording isn't ever thing; sometimes low-fi makes some pieces better than they would be if they were flawless.