Is it me or.....

[New England]

Actually in that sense, you are wrong and it's completely the opposite. In the old days, artists had no chance in owning their masters and having complete artistic control of their music. You often hired a big named producer and they worked your album for you.

Now artists can go to smaller labels or produce themselves. The problem is that the market is over saturated, everyone has a record nowadays. You can get famous on youtube and/or put your stuff on itunes.

My nephew has a record label and he has sold most of his stuff to Japan where they really appreciate real hip hop.

sorry, cuaht, but that's just not the case. you're talking about commercially viable productions, right?


those are invariably more thuroughly produced than they used to be, and it's well documented.


many of the top pop stars on the planet today don't even write their own songs...

the beetles (outside of ringo ,) for example, were all classically trained musicians.

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

sorry, cuaht, but that's just not the case. you're talking about commercially viable productions, right?


those are invariably more thuroughly produced than they used to be, and it's well documented.


many of the top pop stars on the planet today don't even write their own songs...

the beetles (outside of ringo ,) for example, were all classically trained musicians.

I don't mean production value, I mean the control the studios have over the artist themselves. Artist now can go through other avenues for what they want and don't need to necessarily sign with a major label to get success. That wasn't the case 30 years ago.

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

lol Prince has always done whatever he wanted to.

He was in a serious battle with Warner Bro because they wouldn't release a song he made. He lost control of his artistic license and had to get out of the contract to start releasing the stuff he wanted.

[Derranged]

No. You're just an old fart.



What I will say about singers and rappers is that image seems to be more important considering what can be done in recording studios these days. They can make you sound like Madonna.

[New England]

I don't mean production value, I mean the control the studios have over the artist themselves. Artist now can go through other avenues for what they want and don't need to necessarily sign with a major label to get success. That wasn't the case 30 years ago.

again, man, pop stars today don't write their own music. they're much more thoroughly produced, and have infinitely less control than artists of past generations. the great levels of control in the hands of the producers has come about to generate more money.

"production value," i can only assume, refers to it's cost?
that's not at all what i'm talking about.

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

again, man, pop stars today don't write their own music. they're much more thoroughly produced, and have infinitely less control than artists of past generations. the great levels of control in the hands of the producers has come about to generate more money.

"production value," i can only assume, refers to it's cost?
that's not at all what i'm talking about.

Actually that depends on what you are talking about. Most pop stars back in the day didn't write their own music. Prince was one of the few and even Michael Jackson had a ton of input into his music.

Pop stars like Lady Gaga though, write, and arrange most if not all the music she does. She's really talented even though I can't stand her music.

We deviated from the point though, I'm just asking if the talent is still there in today's music. To me it seems as though it's not as it once was.

[New England]

Actually that depends on what you are talking about. Most pop stars back in the day didn't write their own music. Prince was one of the few and even Michael Jackson had a ton of input into his music.

Pop stars like Lady Gaga though, write, and arrange most if not all the music she does. She's really talented even though I can't stand her music.

We deviated from the point though, I'm just asking if the talent is still there in today's music. To me it seems as though it's not as it once was.

lady gaga went to julliard, and is very much an exception to the rule.


think what you like. i'm probably not the only person in the thread who thinks the idea that pop music is produced less today sounds completely absurd.





on the talent:
i don't think there's less talent. there are still big time bands and musicians out there. i just don't think you care for most of the music, and i agree with you that a lot of it sucks.

i don't watch new movies. i've maybe seen ten movies made in the last year. maybe.

those are undisputedly more produced, and less dependent on the talent of their actors to drive the story.


however, we've digressed. i don't want to derail your thread.

[Shabba Rank$]

It's irrefutable as far as Hip Hop is concerned. That genre peaked in the late 80's through the mid 90's, and then it was down hill.

Agreed, now it's a rarity to give a good hip hop artist nowadays, Kendrick Lamar is alright. But that's about it for me.

[New England]

Agreed, now it's a rarity to give a good hip hop artist nowadays, Kendrick Lamar is alright. But that's about it for me.

rap peaked in the 90's, when it became a more commercially driven product.

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

lady gaga went to julliard, and is very much an exception to the rule.


think what you like. i'm probably not the only person in the thread who thinks the idea that pop music is produced less today sounds completely absurd.





on the talent:
i don't think there's less talent. there are still big time bands and musicians out there. i just don't think you care for most of the music, and i agree with you that a lot of it sucks.

i don't watch new movies. i've maybe seen ten movies made in the last year. maybe.

those are undisputedly more produced, and less dependent on the talent of their actors to drive the story.


however, we've digressed. i don't want to derail your thread.

I'm not saying music of today is produced less, I think my idea got messed up in this thread going in another direction.

I was just saying that in today's music business, that you don't have to go through the big studios to get heard. You have tons of other avenues for which to do that, that was all.

That was a detour we took though, and had nothing to do with the main point of this thread.