The Consumer And The Gimmick

The Consumer and the Gimmick

Today there are many factors that hurt the music industry. One factor involves the way we push musicians into allowing the industry to popularize one good song thus forgetting the rest of the album. We the consumers have somehow been satisfied with just one good song from one mediocre band. Perhaps there is a simple formula for disaster. First the song is played on the radio and then the video is constantly on MTV, thus causing us to get tired of the music. It's as easy as that!

We sit and whine about not hearing enough from our favorite band, but once they come out with new music we smother ourselves in it. We then get sick of it and are left looking for something new to fulfill our cravings. This is when we, the monster consumers of music, decide to take our interest to the next hit song. It's not all our fault. You have to put at least some blame on the bands themselves. They feel that it is part of their job to indulge our wants.

We as lovers of what these songwriters do are appalled and disgusted by hearing anything but the best from our favorite bands. Once we have what we want it's not long before we want more. This is because we consume the musicians' talents like a fast food happy meal. We open the box, take out the toy, throw away the contents, and then bitch about being hungry. When we do this we always say,

"It's a cool song, but they are a one hit wonder." We the hungry consumer do not give the bands a chance to show their true musical talents. One example involves the group Verve Pipe and their hit song "The Freshman." This songs LP was out in December. No one noticed it until halfway through the month of

March. "The Freshman" was played every thirty minutes on the radio and fifteen times a day on MTV. This in my opinion results in the complete overplay of one bands hit song. Now we consider them a "One hit wonder." The Verve Pipe has more good music, but who is to say that anyone will ever hear it?

Another thing that hurts the industry is the reliance on gimmicks.

Finding talent in a band that relies on gimmicks is as easy as lifting a three-hundred pound man above you head. Sure for some it is easy, but for others it's damn near impossible. A few bands that rely on gimmicks are Marilyn

Manson and basically any rapper you can think of off the top of your head.