Why Madonna not selling
I'm not much into Madonna, but since I write about cultural issues, I will explain this one.
Supposedly, she is not getting much top-40 radio play. Why? According to a recent article "More than 3,300 fans have signed an appeal at http://www.petitiononline.com". That is a very loyal fan base.
But lets think a few things through.
First, 3300 fans have signed a petition. For the so-called "Queen of Pop." That really isn't a lot for an international phenemon.
There are some other factors, too. First, Madonna the 1980's sex goddess is, well, pushing 50. She isn't going to be a sex goddess at that age any more. Now, she can certainly shock by acting like one at 50. And she is good at doing that. And I can see her doing that. But she ain't going to get her former audience back by doing that. And, if you've seen her photos lately, she certainly looks terrible. She got the Sharon Stone symptom.
But there's more. Remember the "King of Pop". His name was Jacko. Madonna, who is Jacko's age, is certainly trying to morph herself into Ms. Jacko. Although it takes quite a bit of eccentricity to reach that stage, so I don't know if that's possible to get as wierd as him. After all, Jacko was the biggest eccentric of the 20th century. But one can certainly try.
And, the old-musician's symptom is coming thru, too. Those who care about current singles are a. teenagers, and b. Adults without children. And even adults get tired of new stuff. Thus, artists always need to cater to the former. And once one reaches a certain age - grandma's age - they are not interested in buying music from that musician, who is often the age of a teenager's mother.
Like Jacko, Madonna never really developed a her own style. Instead, she kept abreast of trends in clubs. However, her albums are somewhat consistent in a genre, unlike those of Jacko. Nonetheless, that does not work to address the biggest audience, teenagers, who are not only requesting radio play, but often, are buying (or "sharing") their music in downloadable format. In any case, I predict that Top 40 radio will soon die and go by the wayside, because there are too many other entertainment diversions out there.
Old musicians cannot keep up with current trends. Instead, they out grow up and get a contract with Bellagio, or New York New York, or the Venetian, or Tropicana, or one of those places. One of my favorite bands, which certainly has the gravitas to perform at a strip hotel, KISS, has failed to do so. Instead they keep touring, embarrasingly, to smaller and smaller audiences.
Around her age, Frank Sinatra announced his retirement. So did Ozzie. But both came back and found a way to re-market themselves. In Ozzie's case, he started Ozzfest, where yes, he is the central act, but there are several young metal bands performing with him - any many youngsters, who go to see two or three of those acts, go to see everything else, too. In neither case did these artists keep writing albums, and produce essentially the same old music.
Especially since kids are going after hip-hop. While I do not like the stuff, this fits within a general theory I have of music. Hip-hop will not become the dominant music form, but there will be a successor to hip hop which will. That is how rock started in the 1950's, and Jazz in the 1910's.
Somewhere in the Bible it talks about how we all eventually need to grow up. And that includes artists. Old artists getting less and less airplay is not at all a new story, but it has been a theme of mass-produced music shortly after recorded music was mass-marketed.
Supposedly, she is not getting much top-40 radio play. Why? According to a recent article "More than 3,300 fans have signed an appeal at http://www.petitiononline.com". That is a very loyal fan base.
But lets think a few things through.
First, 3300 fans have signed a petition. For the so-called "Queen of Pop." That really isn't a lot for an international phenemon.
There are some other factors, too. First, Madonna the 1980's sex goddess is, well, pushing 50. She isn't going to be a sex goddess at that age any more. Now, she can certainly shock by acting like one at 50. And she is good at doing that. And I can see her doing that. But she ain't going to get her former audience back by doing that. And, if you've seen her photos lately, she certainly looks terrible. She got the Sharon Stone symptom.
But there's more. Remember the "King of Pop". His name was Jacko. Madonna, who is Jacko's age, is certainly trying to morph herself into Ms. Jacko. Although it takes quite a bit of eccentricity to reach that stage, so I don't know if that's possible to get as wierd as him. After all, Jacko was the biggest eccentric of the 20th century. But one can certainly try.
And, the old-musician's symptom is coming thru, too. Those who care about current singles are a. teenagers, and b. Adults without children. And even adults get tired of new stuff. Thus, artists always need to cater to the former. And once one reaches a certain age - grandma's age - they are not interested in buying music from that musician, who is often the age of a teenager's mother.
Like Jacko, Madonna never really developed a her own style. Instead, she kept abreast of trends in clubs. However, her albums are somewhat consistent in a genre, unlike those of Jacko. Nonetheless, that does not work to address the biggest audience, teenagers, who are not only requesting radio play, but often, are buying (or "sharing") their music in downloadable format. In any case, I predict that Top 40 radio will soon die and go by the wayside, because there are too many other entertainment diversions out there.
Old musicians cannot keep up with current trends. Instead, they out grow up and get a contract with Bellagio, or New York New York, or the Venetian, or Tropicana, or one of those places. One of my favorite bands, which certainly has the gravitas to perform at a strip hotel, KISS, has failed to do so. Instead they keep touring, embarrasingly, to smaller and smaller audiences.
Around her age, Frank Sinatra announced his retirement. So did Ozzie. But both came back and found a way to re-market themselves. In Ozzie's case, he started Ozzfest, where yes, he is the central act, but there are several young metal bands performing with him - any many youngsters, who go to see two or three of those acts, go to see everything else, too. In neither case did these artists keep writing albums, and produce essentially the same old music.
Especially since kids are going after hip-hop. While I do not like the stuff, this fits within a general theory I have of music. Hip-hop will not become the dominant music form, but there will be a successor to hip hop which will. That is how rock started in the 1950's, and Jazz in the 1910's.
Somewhere in the Bible it talks about how we all eventually need to grow up. And that includes artists. Old artists getting less and less airplay is not at all a new story, but it has been a theme of mass-produced music shortly after recorded music was mass-marketed.
posted by EricMatthew at 11:05 PM
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