by Gary Schwind

Created on: March 15, 2009

The question of how commercialism has hurt the music industry is more than a little bit misguided. The music industry is commercialism. Maybe that's somewhat cynical. That does not mean it is an untrue statement. The music industry is run by people that truly do not care about music. Executives of record labels, program directors of radio stations, and anyone else who is "in charge" of the music industry care less about music than they do about selling advertising and merchandise.

But I will be fair and address the question at hand. How has commercialism hurt the music business? You need look no further than commercial radio stations. Whenever I tune in a commercial radio station, I find what is really missing from commercial radio is soul. The bands that fill the airwaves are carbon copies of each other and they play music that has had all the feeling washed out of it by producers who want to make it commercially viable. Just think about it this way. Do you hear the most talented artists on commercial radio? No. What you hear are the bands that sell the most units, T-shirts, stickers, etc. It is the same with the Grammys. Artists that win Grammys are not the best, or most innovative, or most talented. They are the most commercially appealing. To think otherwise is pure foolishness.

And yes, that exalted karaoke contest American Idol is as big a culprit of commercialism as anything else. The judges of the show will, in the same breath, praise a contestant's singing ability while saying that the singer just doesn't look the part. However, we should not give too much credit (or disdain) to American Idol. This sort of philosophy has been around a long time. Don't just take my word for it. In an interview with John Cohen, Bob Dylan said, "Rock and roll is hard to visualize unless you're actually doing it. Actually, too, we're talking about something which is for the most part just a commercial item; it's like hardware, people sell it."

It is indeed something that people sell. Why do you think that The Beatles became more popular than the artists from whom they borrowed? It's because The Beatles looked nice in their suits and they were easy to sell.

So, I would have to say that commercialism has hurt the music industry. However, if you try to separate commercialism from music, the music business as we know it would cease to exist. Music industry executives may be a lot of things, but they are not senseless enough to make themselves obsolete.

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