In the times of great record labels like Motown, Columbia, and Arista records, Berry Gordy and Clive Davis looked for talent first and developed the rest once the artist was signed. Record labels of today are so worried about the business side of things they find artist (or the lack there of) who’s image will produce sales.
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| Young Stevie Wonder ratw.com |
The main focus of pioneer record labels was to create an all around artist. They started with the talent because it’s about the music above everything else. These labels also cared about developing an artist that was a musician, performer, and a business professional. Motown would even go as far as giving their artist etiquette training. By creating a well-rounded artist the image would come naturally and they didn’t have to build a fan base around an un-natural image or “gimmick.” Clive Davis of Columbia records and Arista records was nick-named “Golden Ears” because of his talent to hear talent and make that person a super star like Whitney Houston in her prime. Showing talent is more important then Image Berry Gordy signed a young man with a handicap to his label, whose talent still wows audiences of today. Stevie Wonder is a blind man whom posses musical talent that trumps most artist of today with twenty-twenty vision. By signing artist with talent these labels have been able to obtain long gevity and produce acts with that same wonderful fate.
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| Young Whitney Houston wsj.com |
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| Lady Gaga smh.com |
Record labels of today are more concerned with image and gimmicks that will make money and not the talent of the artist they are producing. Artists today are more like puppets doing whatever to make a dollar for their puppet master. Now don’t get me wrong there are artist today that are still musically talented but they don’t get as much television or radio play as Lady Gaga or Nicki Manaj. The music business is strictly about business now and has little to do with music anymore. For instance Lady Gaga has mediocre vocal skills but because of her eccentric, eye popping gimmicky image she is always on the radio and television screen. Nicki Minaj is actually a talented writer and has a nice flow but you must peel back the layers of gimmicks and Barbie image to find the real artist.
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| Nicki Minaj mypinkfriday.com |
The question of image or talent is answered by what is played on the radio and the videos in rotation on television. Image is more important for sales but real music fans dearly miss the talent.
Sources:
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/01/26/whitney-houston-a-previously-unreleased-early-performance/
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