A New World

This is a topic that was discussed on the TrueFAN radio show in it's first season but I feel it should be had again.

The music industry today is horrible and most can agree. If you grew up in that 1992 to 2003 era you remember some of the great timeless music that came out of there. You would remember when Toni Braxton used to rule the radio stations along with Whitney, Mariah, R Kelly, Mary J Blige, Boyz II Men, EnVogue, Brownstone, Dru Hill, Tony Toni Tone, Jodeci, Blackstreet, Monica, Brandy, Xscape, Jagged Edge and so many others.
This was an era when you had soul music. You had great lyrical content with a melody, not a bass filled song that anybody can sing with only the talent you would have in the shower. You could be clothed and still be sexy. You could get on stage and hold a microphone and belt out your entire catalog and that would sell out shows. Your personal life did not dictate if your music sold, or how high on the charts you would climb.


Now yes there are alot of reasons why this is no longer acceptable. I blame the industry as a whole who gave up on talent and just decided to go with today's gossip. There was a time when record labels had what they called "Artist Development". When you were signed to a contract you did not begin working on an album right off the bat. You learned your craft, you learned the business, you learned how to properly market yourself an find your niche. And if by chance you did put out an album and it didn't sell well...you were not automatically dropped. You got a second chance to regroup and rebuild. If we used today's practices Destiny's Child never would've really happened. Rihanna would've been shipped back to the Islands because her first album sold all of nothing.


Today's music world is based on how many songs can you saturate the market with and how many catchy hooks can you throw out. How naked can you be without really being naked. It's a shame now that today's music world gives more clout to an artist like Rihanna but strays away from fantastic vocal talents such as Jennifer Hudson, Monica, Brandy, Fantasia. It's a shame that in order for a male to be viable in today's music he has to sing over house/club music and explain himself by saying "It's the new R&B"...no it's trash. And when you put all these songs back to back on the radio you don't know when one song ends and the other begins.

Let's start the conversation and see what we as consumers can do to bring soulful music back to the forefront.

Part 2 coming soon.