In My Opinion


 

 

I am a regular searcher for new and interesting music. I get my inspiration from suggestions offered by the various streaming services I use but also from media (a little bit) and friends and colleagues (a lot), and even my two daughters (sometimes).

However, I am currently in a bit of a rut. It took me ages to find something interesting to listen to today. I thought I was bound to find something interesting amongst this week's new releases, and although plenty of new stuff was floating around, it all seemed to fail in the "interesting" department. I discussed this with my youngest daughter (age 17), who blames Tik Tok. 
She feels that Tik Tok is the main driving force behind a pop act's success or failure. Furthermore, she blames this for lazy songwriting. To be successful on Tik Tok, you need to produce a video segment of a new song which lasts 15 seconds at most. Listening to such clips gives the impression that a strong song is being promoted. However, listen to the music in its entirety, and invariably, you will find that it contains 15 seconds of catchy hook, and the rest is filler. This is not a practice simply for promoting brand new acts but also mainstream acts such as Lizzo, Harry Styles, and Ed Sheeran, amongst others. 

There are many artists out there who create extremely interesting music; however, as they do not "belong" to a major music label, they are often under-promoted, leaving them to fight amongst themselves and use their social media channels, Band Camp and live gigs for which they are paid a pittance. Discuss and let us know your thoughts!

In the meantime, be careful on the roads and use music to reduce stress while driving!

Carl
Editor