mr dave

How do you define a 'true' artist? Shouldn't they be the kind of person that creates simply for the sake of creating rather than expecting commercial success and material wealth?

Avalon's stance kind of reminds me of something that my father recently said in regards to music and fame. Back in his day there was only one star and it was Elvis, then the Beatles / Rolling Stones came along, but now everyone seems to be a big star, there are too many of them to keep up with. While I don't agree entirely I can definitely see where he's coming from. The exposure to artists was significantly more limited prior to cable TV and definitely more limited prior to the internet, minimizing the exposure made it a lot easier to control the stars and how the mainstream perceived those individuals.

At this point the quantity has expanded to the point where the value of the individual 'stars' is less but that doesn't mean that music in itself has lost value, only that society and the masses of mainstream listeners don't funnel all their disposable money into a small handful of options anymore.

Quite frankly hearing any sort of exec complaining that music is going down or that it's failing is simply a reflection of some douche-y suit getting old and not noticing how long ago the 90s really were.

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i am the universe

Trollheart

And of course, these seminars and lectures are all free. Come one, come all... what? They're not? He charges??? The mist begins to clear...

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Screen13

To get some of the more interesting stuff outside of the cities in The US, you had to be lucky to be in an area where there was a decent record store, a TV station that had a good late night line-up (Usually UHF - That's Channels above 13 in The US to those asking), or a halfway good radio station - usually the lower Nielsen rated the better.

In the small dot on the maps, it was usually finding a Cut Out - records would get dumped into the Sale Bins at the Woolworths, K Mart, and Rinks WAY back in the day. The original meaning of Devalue if there ever was one, although the Music itself would still be worth more than the price usually.

Actually for the artist how knows that they will not be part of the "fraternity," it's certainly better today. Usually, if one such artist gets picked up by a label, it was usually the same old story - resistance from DJs and PDs, no acceptance in the Midwest apart from a few people, the "sorry we can't have you around" notice, usually a heavy debt to pay off. Sometimes in The 70's, it would lead down to what's known as a Taxloss (or "Tax Scam") label, where the albums would be released unannounced and just plopped in a few places buried under a lot of other albums. Although it's just as hard now, at least the price to pay if one decides to go beyond the free route is at least better known, and the exposure is far better.

The Mainstream is not the end all be all, and times always change.