Economics
In yesterday’s "New York Times" there’s a story by a Romney compatriot rationalizing the benefit to society of the super-rich. Motivated by wealth, they’re driving efficiency that benefits us all. Or so he says. But one thing’s for sure, those with opportunity, those with choice, want to get rich.
So if you went to an Ivy League school, you go into banking.
Or if you went to Stanford, you go into tech.
And the great unwashed masses go into music.
For a minute there, the highly educated went into music too. On the business side. They developed Napster and other platforms that the rights holders decimated to their detriment. Talk about winning the battle but losing the war… But the end result is no one with a brain is going to work in music. Innovation has been squeezed out. It’s all about endless turf wars, trying to protect what you already have.
As for the long odds of making it as an artist…
The elite didn’t sweat over their SATs to fight that war, that’s almost as stupid as wanting to become an actor.
So the mediocre and the dim have filled the void in music. It’s hard to make a serious buck, but with no c.v., it’s their only opportunity. And they believe in playing the game. Which is why they sell out to corporations and emit not a contrary peep. They’re just not secure enough in their status to do so.
Our only hope is with the disenfranchised, the minorities and the art kids.
You know the minorities… Gays, African-Americans. You know why innovation in the arts always comes from them? Because they’re closed out of traditional opportunities and their baseline is so low that they’ve got nothing to lose, they’ll take chances. Whereas the lower middle class denizens now dominating mainstream music won’t. They don’t want to slide down the pole even further.
And the art kids were always outcasts. They’re never going to be truly embraced by the mainstream, so they’re comfortable in being themselves.
They’re our only hope for now. The minorities and the art kids.
Forget everybody else. They didn’t have the perseverance and the smarts to play in the educational game, they jumped into the big pool of music and they’ve muddied the water and ultimately confused all of us.
The only hope of righting the wrongs of America is art. And music is the most potent art form. If you’re not challenging convention, if you’re not taking risks, you’re a sideshow, you don’t count. Whether it be Justin Bieber, Jon Bon Jovi or the ancient classic rock acts. They may generate revenue, but when it comes to ideas, they’re bankrupt.
