The music market and its influence on our society.

Since the beginning of humanity, human beings have found in art a natural way to express emotions and feelings. It has been precisely music, fundamental in the entire process of social development and a form of universal communication that unites us despite our languages.

Each country or region of our planet has a unique rhythm that characterizes the people who inhabit it. In the same way, due to emigration and the clash between different cultures, music has merged and created new rhythms that further enrich its development.

Music has gone through a long and significant evolutionary process from the mid-40s to the present, where genres such as Blues, Jazz, Rock and Roll, R&B, Soul have stood out. Going through African rhythms such as Afro Beat, Dan soul, Reggae, Hip Hop, Rap and its mixture with Latin American rhythms such as Cumbia, Salsa, Merengue until the arrival of more modern rhythms such as electronic and experimental music, fusion music, Pop, Raggaeton between regional rhythms and other existing genres.

It happens that the beginnings of a product that in theory would be an attractive and consistent artistic manifestation for the public, for several decades now, has become garbage and with it popularized musical mediocrity where the message in most of the songs that today we hear is bad and lacks content.

Not all of us want the different existing spaces to be invaded with music devoid of content. There are millions of people in this society interested in the economy, politics, nightlife or even sex.

I don't understand why thousands of artists underestimate the intellectual level of the public and only talk about prostitutes, drugs or sex in their songs. We are not fools… There are hundreds of ways to express a good message and turn it into a commercial product that reaches millions of people around the world without having to resort to the negative call of attention in each song.

We have many examples in the history of music of groups that have addressed social issues of interest in their songs and have been popular worldwide:

Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Eagles, Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Deep Purple, ACDC, Rolling Stone, Bob Marley, Coolio, Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Joaquín Sabina, U2, Nas, Wu Tang Clan, Public Enemy, Portishead, Radiohead, Fatboy Slim, Gorillaz, Eminem, etc.

* Regarding Michael Jackson, I would like to add that I have full knowledge of the crimes committed by him of a sexual nature against minors. I have placed it on this list because it is impossible not to mention it when it comes to music. We all know that justice does not apply to everyone equally, it is a reality that we cannot deny or ignore.

These are some of the examples of artists who have been able to carry out this task and although many of them have written songs where sex, drugs and nightlife in general have been the main source of inspiration. They are themes addressed in 2 or 3 songs on an album, achieving a great balance and a sample of commitment to the consumer. In the same way, the musical competition of those times was more varied and the public much more demanding. The list could include thousands of bands or even soloists although it would be an endless list, impossible to share with all of you.

The influence of social networks on current music.

Unfortunately, social networks and the ignorance of many people from this new generation of the 2000s has caused a dizzying advance towards mediocrity, gossip and the destruction of music as one of the greatest cultural expressions of all time.

To this day, music has become an "artistic" manifestation without any value due to the speed in which today's society lives. An interesting society mostly in memes and controversies, thereby losing the capacity for analysis and artistic taste in general. A society that the media manipulates through the music of the artists of the moment with messages completely out of context and all this is done by default with a specific purpose. Control and manipulate the behavior of the individual in question.

There is a big difference between a follower and a fan.

The follower is a person who usually does not value the artistic manifestation as a whole, nor does he respect the privacy of the artist, that is, he does not value the artist and his work, quite the opposite of a fan, who will be willing to make the music of his favorite artist transcends throughout history making it practically immortal, impossible to forget. The artists of this new generation have followers, not fans.

Is it the fault of the "artists" of these times that the message in their songs is shameful or is it the fault of the public that they applaud any nonsense?

The reality is that each artist must be responsible for the message they spread because it can influence the lives of millions of people around the world, for better or worse. However, in the same way, the consumer is the biggest culprit by accepting and applauding all the artist's behaviors. 

It is necessary to carry out an objective criticism of the content of each song in order to distinguish a true artist from a mediocre one. Most of the awards that are given to many artists today are a farce because they only reward the sales numbers that they are capable of generating and not the content or musical ability.

If fame did not exist, neither would artists.

As a music lover, I have nothing against any musical genre. I love music in general regardless of its origin. The problem is that many artists do not quite understand that music is the voice of the people and that it can be considered a weapon capable of creating significant revolutions or conflicts of all kinds.

Many will say that if I don't like an artist I should ignore them and not listen to their music, but that would be a serious mistake. A good well-founded criticism is essential in our society or do you ignore the war just because you don't care? Nope! It can't be like that! Artists must be criticized so that they give us better content, valuable content!

I don’t believe in the numbers of artists on social networks because all this can be manipulated due to existing economic interests of the parties involved in any professional musical production. We live in times where social networks determine a person's talent, which is a serious mistake. The talent of an artist is determined by his work, not the likes or visits of a post. Do not be fooled.

What role do record companies play in all this?

Honestly, I still don't know for sure what role the record companies play in all this. I only know that artists sign distribution contracts with them and then they must deliver a certain product in a set period of time. If these artists do not deliver the material in the time established in the contract, they must create more material and so on until they have a debt that they cannot pay. The truth is that the record companies in many cases are an obstacle in the creative process of a musician where he is practically forced to do or say anything that suits the interests of the same. This is another reason why current music is lacking in content and even vague in its production. 

Sometimes I wonder how can such bad artists have the support of so many people? The truth is that I don't know, I don't have the slightest idea about it, although I am clear. The music that we listen to today exists as a product of a demand that intelligent people have known how to handle.

I'm going to end here because this topic is giving me headaches.