by Darique Warren

Created on: September 11, 2009   Last Updated: September 12, 2009

Record companies across all genres of music have one thing in common. They are companies. Their responsibility is to make at least enough money to keep their payroll afloat. With that said you may say to yourself that their actions can be overlooked because after all money doesn't have friends. since the beginning of record company history there has always been the amazing artist who is a great entertainer and the savvy business man that makes money by earning the artist money. When it comes down to specific genres you realize quickly that the greats are not a dime a dozen. In fact, there are a minuscule number of actually great musical entertainers, and if talent was all that mattered we'd be hearing the same 10 artists ad nauseam.

This business is based on what people would pay to be a part of. Will they buy the single, the album, the concert tickets? Once you realize that people can be razzled and dazzled and persuaded to buy almost anything, you quickly dismiss artistic ability as being a relevant factor into making an artist into a profitable business. Now that you've totally forgotten about the relevance of artistic ability, you develop this formula for making an artist into a profitable business. A + B + C = dollar dollar bills y'all. Now that you have this formula You put it against an artist thats good but not great. another profitable business. This is great news but, now you realize you can't expect an artist to be profitable for a very long time so you find people that can fit into the formula, make money real quick, and leave the music industry before people realize that they spent money on technically sub-standard music.

From this point of view there is nothing wrong and seems to be a victimless crime. I mean, consumers still decide what to buy and what to ignore. True, but consumers don't decide what they see and hear on the popular mediums for music such as, radio, television, and Internet. In fact, business people decide that. And they decide that based on what they think you will pay attention to and spend money for. This is the part where the consumer suffers because now you're paying more and more money for stuff you don't realize is of sub-standard quality. The worst part is that it becomes that much more difficult to seek out the best because you now don't have much to compare it to especially since the laws of nurtured development tell you that you have no choice as to what you are around as you are growing up. essentially, your parents

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