Via maura

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2007/10/22/071022crmu_music_frerejones

- I would imagine there'll be lots of blogtalk about this one. It feels to me like he's fighting old battles, or maybe telling old war stories that aren't quite as tightly relevant to now as they should be. But the point about the shift from imitator to fan seems an interesting one.

Meanwhile there's still a couple of hours to vote in the Pop Open.

Comments

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

my point was just that if ALL 100 skinny white boys want to be either death cab for cutie, mcr, or pavement, by definition those three bands will get signed and those three bands will chart. sort of law of averages. whereas if you start from dcc, mcr, and pavement being signed, then it's entirely possible that the 97 other bands that aren't signed are different and better. and sfj's argument (=generalizing=) is that they're all the same, not that we're only getting to hear the crap ones.

i think your questions makes more sense in the context of radio, though: given the accessibility of recording technology nowadays, there shouldn't be any lack of high-"quality" music of all kinds. we can understand why major labels don't want to sign something that won't sell, and why stores don't want a huge inventory of stuff that doesn't sell. but why isn't there a market for more diverse radio. it doesn't cost these stations anything since they essentially get their "inventory" free.

(yes, i know we've discussed these issues before, too, but anyway...)

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

For US radio, definitely - UK radio barely seems to play any music at all :( But that's for another thread.