Is pop music decided by its audience taste and the artist's talent or is it dictated by the producer who sells it?

Résumé du document

Before the 90's, the success of pop songs was because of the artist's talent and the diversity and the complexity of the music structures. Music was a way of expressing something and the aim was to be the voice of people. According to The Rolling Stone magazine and its ranking of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, only 25 songs are from the 90's or the 2000's and as a consequence 95% of the best songs were made before those years (Rollingstone.com, 2013). Nowadays, artists are less and less talented and music is becoming a business more than an art. Labels and producers are taking less and less risks to promote artists that are out of the ordinary because of financial pressure and economic context.

Music since the 90's had become easier, the music's structure is less complex, with simple beats and above all music can be made by computers; voices and sounds are modified to fit consumer's expectations. Singers do not need to have talent or a good voice anymore as everything is realized with computer's programs.

Extraits

[...] (2012) Lana Del Rey se rattrape au Letterman Show. Le Figaro, 3rd February. Leschampslibres.fr (2006) jeu de l'Ouïe : L'impact artistique des labels dans les musiques actuelles. [online] Available at: http://www.leschampslibres.fr/les-champs-libres/agenda/jeu-de-l-ouie- limpact-artistique-des-labels-dans-les-musiques-actuelles/ [Accessed: 12 Mar 2013]. Letourduweb.fr (1999) Le Tour du Web La diversité musicale est-elle en danger?. [online] Available at: http://letourduweb.fr/2010/02/10/la- diversite-musicale-est-elle-en-danger/ [Accessed: 12 Mar 2013]. Rollingstone.com (n.d.) 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: The Eagles, 'Hotel California' Rolling Stone. [online] Available at: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-500-greatest-songs-of-all-time- 20110407/the-eagles-hotel-california-20110525 [Accessed: 11 Mar 2013]. Selman, X. [...]

[...] The predominance of the marketing in the fame of actual artists can be seen in the phenomenon of boy bands that appear in the 90's. For example, the band Spice Girls was constituted after an advert in the magazine The Stage. They chose five girls who fit ethnic criteria: one blonde, one redheaded, one brunette, one black and one tomboy and as consequence let every girl be able to identify to one of those woman. They had a huge success: 100 million of albums in the world and their sells of albums and singles are ranked in the 21st position in the list of hit of the best sells in history of music. [...]

[...] (2013) 5 Things Record Labels Don't Want You to Know They Do. [online] Available at: http://www.cracked.com/article_20256_5-things-record- labels-dont-want-you-to-know-they-do.html [Accessed: 12 Mar 2013]. Sites.google.com (2011) Visualizing a Hit - InfoVis Final Project. [online] Available at: https://sites.google.com/site/visualizingahit/ [Accessed: 11 Mar 2013]. Starpulse.com (2012) The Quality Of Popular Music Has Declined . [online] Available at: http://www.starpulse.com/news/Brad_Washington/2012/02/21/the_quality_of_popu lar_music_has_decli [Accessed: 11 Mar 2013]. [...]

[...] Music need to stay an art rather than a business and that is why independent or small labels are the guarantee for the diversity of music. Moreover, the increase of promotion of artist though Internet, without any help of labels, let anyone be able to make known his music and has a chance of getting audience. References Abc.net.au (2012) No talent needed for pop music, just evolution: study - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). [online] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-19/no-talent-needed-for-pop- music/4078486 [Accessed: 11 Mar 2013]. [...]

[...] Music is now characterized by simple lyrics in the aim of being understood by the masses. With computers, artists do not need to sing well anymore as voices are modified. There are a lot of examples of artists who sing in tune and who are ruining their song in live. Lana del Rey is one example, she was criticised for singing really bad at her concerts, proving that computer's programs are doing a lot to improve the sound of their voice and as consequence reinforce the idea that you do not need talent anymore to make good sells (Cesbron, M., 2012). [...]