The formula for mega success in the music biz

[progben]

1 hour ago, AndyTravis said:

How eloquent ?

Hopefully that was on the money 

[musicbassman]

It's all here.............

[Barking Spiders]

17 hours ago, pbasspecial said:

Talent x Hardwork = Success

Style x Attitude = Star 

not I'd say. There are thousands of bands and performers with talent x hard work = relative obscurity. I could reel off the names of 100s of virtuosos in the jazz, folk and other acoustic genres who gig hard, put out lots of albums and a unknown outside their niches

[Barking Spiders]

I could've also rephrased the question' there's been lots of hyped up next big things who've had the right ingredients -the tunes, looks, image, record company backing, media interest -  so how come they bombed  so early.? There must be a common reason why they slipped through the net

[cheddatom]

26 minutes ago, Barking Spiders said:

not I'd say. There are thousands of bands and performers with talent x hard work = relative obscurity. I could reel off the names of 100s of virtuosos in the jazz, folk and other acoustic genres who gig hard, put out lots of albums and a unknown outside their niches

niches is the key word here. If the audience is only a niche, no matter how popular you are in that niche, there will always be a limit

 

I've been making an effort to listen to more modern pop music. It seems pretty original to me, at least a stinky poo load more original that the stuff on Radio 1 when I was growing up - Boyzone, The Spice Girls etc. That was real dross. The playlist on Radio 1 now seems much more varied. If there is a formula, I'd guess it's not a lot to do with the music, and more to do with what you do with the music - how you market it - but in the end no-one really knows what's going to be a hit

Edited December 8, 2017 by cheddatom

[ivansc]

The average punter doesnt care how much of a virtuoso you are.  Its all down to right music right place right time AND a slice of luck plus a lot of promotional push from somewhere.

The fun part is that now the emphasis on music is so reduced, people find their new favourites in strange places compared to earlier times.

Video games, films and TV shows, adverts...  Hard to know where to pitch yourself, isnt it?

[progben]

22 minutes ago, cheddatom said:

niches is the key word here. If the audience is only a niche, no matter how popular you are in that niche, there will always be a limit

 

I've been making an effort to listen to more modern pop music. It seems pretty original to me, at least a stinky poo load more original that the stuff on Radio 1 when I was growing up - Boyzone, The Spice Girls etc. That was real dross. The playlist on Radio 1 now seems much more varied. If there is a formula, I'd guess it's not a lot to do with the music, and more to do with what you do with the music - how you market it - but in the end no-one really knows what's going to be a hit

I think what you're seeing nowadays in terms of Radio 1's variety is a representation of how we digest music in 2017.

There's less record label and media control over what we should like, and the industry is now trying to react to us in an organic way.

It seems as though lately, the industry has gone oh, you're interested in 80's culture at the moment? and has responded with a wave of 80's inspired records and an emphasis on 80's style sounds in modern pop production, as well as TV shows like Stranger Things and films like IT.

 

 

 

[BigRedX]

6 minutes ago, progben said:

I think what you're seeing nowadays in terms of Radio 1's variety is a representation of how we digest music in 2017.

There's less record label and media control over what we should like, and the industry is now trying to react to us in an organic way.

If you listen to any national radio broadcast (as opposed to internet) radio for any length of time it is still very obviously playlisted, so someone somewhere is still having a big say in what you get to hear. 

The big difference now is that for anyone with a real interest in finding different types of music radio and printed media no longer have a monopoly on popular taste. 

[Phil Starr]

There's something in common with a lot of bands and I think U2 and Dire Straights are as good an example as any. These bands/musicians work bloody hard for years building up a following and a back catalogue of songs that they've been trialling with audiences for years. I saw Mark Knopfler half a dozen times playing with an earlier band Brewers Droop who seemed to be constantly touring, and giving people a really good nights entertainment. U2 were hardly an overnight success. It's not hard to think of other 'overnight successes' who were plugging away for years. Then when bands break they have all sorts of skills to keep the momentum going for a while. I wonder if this is one of the reasons so many bands never repeat their initial success, they run out of ready made material. Established bands play to audiences who want to hear their old hits and don't have the chance to try out new stuff, or if they do are playing to fans who will love anything however ordinary.

Of course there's a lot of luck too, there are lots of good songs out there but sometimes it just takes a little magic in the vocal or hook line to make a song a classic. Even then it has to be noticed or picked up by someone and given some air play. I wonder how many songs are lost because no-one gets to the magic hook line.

I'm gonna stick up for U2, there's a dozen or more songs of theirs I love, most of you too probably. I reckon any musician who comes up with even one classic song that gives millions of people happiness or pleasure, or maybe sees them through tough times has paid their way on this planet. Sod it, even someone who plays for peanuts in a pub band entertaining people has paid for their salt.

I'm off to listen to U2's greatest hit's, I'll probably play the bass along with them

 

[discreet]

Business success is down to how much someone is prepared to spend on advertising. The actual songs/music/band/artist/styling and everything else can be outsourced by picking up the phone and getting out a credit card.

 

[BassTractor]

4 hours ago, cheddatom said:

The Spice Girls etc. That was real dross.

Nice post, and I agree  - except with the quoted part: I think they had several great songs in the beginning (as in: on their first album).

[4000]

20 hours ago, gjones said:

Hype.

I used to go see KT Tunstall when she lived in Edinburgh. I could see she had great talent but I was watching her playing in coffee bars, with her looper peda,l for 50 quid a gig.

Then one day there's a cancellation on Jools Holland's show and she suddenly gets exposure to a UK wide audience. The next thing you know her album is a No 3 in the UK charts and it goes multi platinum around the world.

Talent is not enough, it needs exposure. There's plenty of people out there who are as talented as KT Tunstall but they'll never make it big without a bit of hype.

Just to jog your memories.....

 

 

 

 

 

My celebrity crush. Meeting her 3 times hasn't made it any easier; she's just lovely. 

On U2, I remember the first time I heard 'I Will Follow', back when it came out, the hairs on the back of my neck went up. Which is surely what most people want from music, for it to connect with them, for it to make them feel something. Whether it makes them want to dance, jump about like a loon, laugh, cry, bang their head against a wall, whatever. Exposure is of course hugely important as without it nobody will ever hear them, but an artist still has to connect with an audience.

 

[fretmeister]

https://youtu.be/5pidokakU4I

 

solved.

[gjones]

2 hours ago, 4000 said:

My celebrity crush. Meeting her 3 times hasn't made it any easier; she's just lovely. 

Yes she's great. She was on the dole when I knew her and was busking on the streets of Edinburgh. She played with her band Redlight stylus. This is them doing their thing back in 2001.

 

 

[4000]

1 hour ago, gjones said:

Yes she's great. She was on the dole when I knew her and was busking on the streets of Edinburgh. She played with her band Redlight stylus. This is them doing their thing back in 2001.

 

 

Wow, I’ve never seen that before. Thanks for sharing, that’s awesome!