Mellencamp on Music Business

Shouldn't the consumers blame themselves for this state of affairs, the masses wouldn't know 'quality' music if it hit them right between the eyes.

I also don't believe consumers have evolved, rather they have devolved, popular music increasingly gets more annoying and souless as time goes on. Personalities matter more than the music today, witness the popularity of these idiot 'reality' shows.

I guess I've never understood the public's fascination with personality. Fanzines, which have always been around, are simply gossip, they are not about music. Hell, even Mellencamp's story is known by many, John Cougar, his life in Indiana, blah, blah, blah. Music is generally used as a vehicle to deliver gossip, music is only a secondary concern.

But then, do you really think music could ever be a purely artistic endeavor once big money entered the arena? I know a number of youth involved in music today who are only too willing to compromise everything in order to gain stardom. To make music today without expectations of a big payoff is too much like work for this crowd, they fail to see the intrinsic value of music. Too many of today's musicians are not really in fact musicians, rather they are purveyors of a commodity they call music.

Nope, the masses are solely to blame for this state of affairs. They buy up what the gossip purveyors serve them, they don't want or deserve more than they're getting.

Making and listening to music is really the domain of music lovers, really not a whole lot of them out there, never have, never will. Intrinsic values are simply not worth much in a material world, money is how we determine value.

Is John going to donate to charity all the money the corrupt and greedy music business made for him? If not, all the righteous indignation rings a little hollow to me.

Thanks for the link. My point of view may differ from the previous posts. I grew up with vinyl and still think it gives the best performance. CDs may have been a clever ploy to ensnare the masses but it gave us a portable medium which was better than cassette tapes. And the sound from a CD on good equipment is still damn good, just not quite as good as vinyl and without the pops, scratches and vulnerability. Also, my 16 year old son has brought music to me that he has discovered on Youtube, found the obscure recordings on CD or download, and is excited. The future will be high res downloads to music servers and distributed throughout our homes. I hope the future artists will record their own music, download it to the internet, bypass the companies ("The Man") and let us buy what we like, in high resolution downloads. To hell with the record companies, and Wal-Mart.

I think John has some interesting things to say--he recently interviewed on NPR. I was impressed by his gig last summer with Lucinda Williams and very impressed by his latest record. TBone Burnett produced and the sound quality is high. John has done a number of charity gigs and donated to support farmers and disabled veterans. I think he deserves your attention and support.

While John Mellencamp certainly has a right to his opinions,I agree with Tomcy6,unless he donates all his millions that he has made from the "music business",he really falls on a deaf ear, he talks about corporate greed, what about musicians greed etc.

I do agree with him on the "artist" owning and funding a record label, he should start one up, with all of its upfront overhead, signs some bands, make cds, and when they dont sell, and he loses millions,does he say, what the heck.

Record companies are not in this for fun,it costs alot of money to sign, record, promote, market a new act, and most go down the drain financially,doesn't mean their music isn't any good, the cd just didnt sell.

Has the music business changed, sure, the music and demographics have changed, the rock thing is over, and 50 -100yrs from now, it will go down as one of the great eras of the 20th century.

So, to John Mellencamp (and i do like his music) go ahead, fire up your own corporation, funded by you, and see what happens, I hope it works out.