Date Posted:20:20:00 04/28/05 Thu Author: Rett Rogers Subject: Selling Out
We discussed the idea of selling out in our group discussion today. Someone questioned "What is the big deal with selling out?" I think that this questioned is most easily explained and answered.
Music, like literature and film is a form of art. Furthermore, like literature and film, there are forms of music that are not art. There are musicians within our society that begin their career with creating a unique form of art. When artists change their intention from creating art, to selling records to the masses, it is a form of cultural genocide. The mass amount of consumers in America do not respect or purchase music because they see it as a form of art. I think there are many examples of musicians beginning their career one way and then changing in a matter that conforms to norms and sounds that are not true to their former creative expression.
i am not saying that change for artists is always a bad thing. Yet the motive for change is the key factor in justifying whether or not the change was positive.