Brian Feener

Joss Stone is on The Tonight Show singing her latest single. I’m glad to hear that she’s realizing that trying for the pop hit isn’t helping her career.

It’s not her fault that she can sing circles around Fergie.
But it is her fault that she didn’t recognize on her last effort that playing Fergie’s game wasn’t going to win her any fans or credibility.

But in trying to sing to a crowd outside of her market, she lost herself and her voice.

It’s not a bad thing to have a small audience anymore. Th industry has changed. There’s too many channels, too many web sites, too many chances to change the station. It’s not the same industry. You can’t assume that the backstreet boys and Britney model works anymore. Ke$ha may have the public’s attention now but where is she in 5 years? Heck - 5 months??

Joss has talent, just like Dave Matthews has talent. Just like U2 and Phish. What does Joss lack? It’s the thing that separates the Daves and Bonos from the rest - it’s the story.

Joss is legit. She can sing. When she came out she was the prodigy who was going to save blues music. Now? Is this even the same lady? Same voice and a better performer but where is the spice that drew us in and could sustain a career.

Joss looks like a model, but her career probably should follow closer to Harry Connick Jr. than it does Fergie. Which is, funny enough, the career that will generate the most money over the long term.

Talent trumps. But it’s only one part of the equation. Playing your game and not someone else’s is the other.

This is really a microcosm for what’s happening in the whole music industry.  Editing and studio production are becoming more and more obvious as the image of a pop star is more important than the talent of the artist.  But it’s not the Jay Sean’s that have the long careers - it’s the ladies and gentlemen who have the abilities.  It’s the Elvis Costellos.

I know nothing is going to change but it’s important to know why sometimes, even the best of us can’t win at certain games.

Update: Fixed some misspellings, added a conclusion.

Just a quick note on Ke$ha and her #1 song “Tik Tok” from NPR –

“The lyrics mean nothing, and the song is about nothing, and the song is not a very good song… but it sounds enough like a good song so that you can’t tell the difference.

Perfect description.  The song isn’t just empty, but empty in an extremely purposeful and radio-friendly way.  It is as designed as an iPhone and as sweet as a pack of sugar.

“… When you channel and put together so many pop and hip hop cultural memes, but you don’t have a real story to tell, you kinda got: nothing.

Is there any real difference between the three photos of pop stars here?

Which one is Ke$ha?  Which is Gaga?  Who’s the third one? [Answer]

“What you hope for in a movie like Avatar or a song like Tik Tok is that … some genius producer has put together this montage of tropes next to each other like a bunch of movie scripts in a blender to make a larger point.  … But if you’re employing a bunch of tired old tropes and you don’t have a smart point to make, then you’re just tired.”

This song is being heard by EVERYONE.  You can’t escape it if you want to listen to terrestrial radio.  It’s making lots of money through iTunes and through licensing to commercials.  If we accept paintings, sculptures, movies and dance as legitimate art forms, why can’t pop music be art too?  Isn’t it just as legitmate of a medium as any of the previous listed?

I’m not even arguing that cultural pastiche is a bad thing.  It’s just that when you have the opportunity to transcend, there’s no obligation to do so, but it’s a wasted opportunity when you don’t.

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Listen to and read the full story at NPR.com: “‘Avatar’ And Ke$ha: A Denominator In Common?“

On Rhapsody, there was an amazing collection of producers and and songwriters who answered some very good questions about the future of the music industry.

I want to share one piece with you.

Technology and the Collaborative Process
Tricky Stewart: If you’re working with people that know what they’re doing, the more established artists, they know exactly what to do. It’s bad because [with modern communication] you don’t get to meet everybody all the time, but at the same time you can do more work. Sometimes, you could be doing a guest spot over here on this record, and doing one actually in the studio with someone here, and mixing next door. Technology has definitely made it more convenient to make records. The other day, me, Dream, and Ne-Yo did a record together and we weren’t even in the same place.
…
DJ Toomp: It takes away from what we really worked hard to get to. Tip, Jay-Z, and cats who been in the game for at least five years or more understand being in a room and vibing. But this new generation came in just [emailing] tracks. Some new rapper who never heard of a MPC, never has really been in a true studio, and has never seen a record being mixed, that’s how they think it comes together. But they about to fly me [to England] to work on Jay-Z’s new album. So, it depends on the artist. (Full Post)

There’s two interesting points here:

1. With technology, you can get more work done.  There’s no question that when a there are affordable laptops that can do the same thing that $20,000 of recording equipment 10 years ago, there’s a level of accessibility that there has never been.  This is pretty much true of all media nowadays.  Even here - you’re reading an editorial that wouldn’t be in existence anywhere 10 years ago.  With blogging software, open source recording software like Audacity, Garage Band on the Mac, GIMP (Photoshop competitor), and million other programs I’ve forgotten,content can be created, uploaded, and put in the appropriate distribution channels quickly.
2. Toomp is caught in between an old guard style of record making and a new technological revolution.  Jay-Z and T.I. started their hip-hop careers before the age of Napster and iTunes, when text messaging was done on two-way pagers and the only way you could get an email was through a dial-up connection.  Toomp mentions that the new generation doesn’t understand the work that goes into a fully mixed record.  There is a condescending tone in his observation.  While I think there is no magic formula for creating great music, you have to consider the studio habits of biggest rappers in the industry right now: Lil Wayne.

Lil Wayne’s latest album The Carter III was certified 2x Platinum on 7/14/2008, making it one of the best selling hip hop album of the year.  It has been critically acclaimed and well-received by the hip hop community.

By all accounts though, this CD was made according to the same email-based process that Toomp does not prefer.  According to the Play-N-Skillz who made the beat for the third single from the album, “Got Money”

Then, one day, I got it on my iPhone with Wayne and T-Pain’s vocals on the actual track. Then we couldn’t come to the mixing or the mastering, which we were upset about. Wayne doesn’t let you come unless he has personal relationship with you, which we didn’t. Skillz is such a music guy that he doesn’t care about the money, he cares about the situation. So he was like, “F*ck it, they can’t have it.” But I’m more of the business head, like, “Nah, it’s Carter III and we’re going to get this single.” [Wayne’s engineer] Fabian Marasciullo, did a great job on the record. (Full post)

So if your looking to take sides in the debate, do you look at the best results like Lil Wayne’s “Got Money”, or the worst?

There is a certain production [used here as a general term] dynamic being created here that if you’re always making content and practicing your craft, you will eventually be able to stumble upon a hit; however, there is going to be a large volume of misses.  If your business model can sustain the misses, I think the argument can be made that this is a valid strategy for media and content creation, so long as you avoid the status of “commodity.”  This would be a Lil Wayne strategy.

The other argument is that if you only make one or two intricate pieces of work a month (or a week, or a year, or decade) in an environment that normally have a deluge of content, that you can focus on making only hits.  This is a Dr. Dre strategy, who’s made only 2 albums in the past 20 years.

Both strategies work.  Both strategies are hard.  Neither is a guarantee.

For the comments, do you think technology is making your material better or just making it easier to make?