Vintage Nature Loves Courage 1: Clever Girl, or the Predatory trap of Pop Music Marketing

“...Clever Girl...” or the Predatory Trap

of Pop Music Marketing

 

‘...Clever girl...’ the insightful but too late in the day last words of Bob peck’s Park Ranger in Jurassic Park, moments before being ambushed and inevitably munched by velociraptors.

A good lesson in how the theoretically well tooled can get pinched by some kind of violent immediate reality. I specifically refer to the violent reality of the advertising/ marketing machine, zooming in closer on that of the pop music industry.

Through personal experience and private torture I have come up with a theory about Pop Music Marketing. The use of psychology in advertising is well known. Where advertisers lack the ability to create a genuinely pleasing ad they fall back on either extreme repetition of the product name phrase or number or by simply annoying the crap out of you so you can’t forget it. With Pop music I believe there is another predator involved that clinches a trap of enduring power and precision.

 

This predator is a lack of independent interest, more specifically in this case, a lack of independent interest in music. By this I mean a will/drive/curiosity to discover new things musically and not people who like Indie music. Pop music marketing is very aggressive, it is almost impossible to ignore it on the TV, on the soundtracks to big movies, billboards, magazines, in stores, on the radio many times a day, perhaps twice an hour for a big hit. Pop music isn’t so much an interest as a compliance. In addition to these raw facts, the charts in big record stores are not what they seem. They are not as would be expected- the biggest selling records of the week. Chart positions are paid for by record labels. The higher the chart position the higher the price.  It’s a game for the big boys with the big cash. I have personally witnessed record label representatives dropping in and complaining about a record appearing at the15 position as opposed to the paid for 12. This is an established part of the music marketing process. The illusions fall down around our ears as we delve further into the folds of the music business pussy. The titillating clitoris of adverts and sound bites you have seen plenty of but its time go beyond making out and fully penetrate to find where it really gets off.

 

Velociraptor no. 1 – Lack of information

Velociraptor no. 2 – Marketing Domination

 

Our first beast comes right from the heart of democratic society. From the very beginning of democracy in England it has been necessary to restrict the flow of information, or shape it to a certain degree, through newspapers, TV, radio etc…

A small number of corporations own the major newspapers, TV and radio stations. These folk are very wealthy and powerful and have strong political influence. The people who control what we read in the papers every day also influence government, thus the state of the nation. The two are linked. What serves the interest of one very likely serves the interest of the other.

The first newspapers sprung up at the same time that parliament was introduced. Before Britain had a parliament it was run by Royalty. Kings and Queens with the power to decapitate citizens who stepped out of line or were unsatisfied with the way things were organised. The point here is that it is of benefit to the rulers of the nation if the people don’t know what’s going on. Therefore citizens have to dig for useful information as it is not freely available. The aggressive advertising discourages any effort on the part of the citizen. After years of intrusive psychological advertising and over exposure from pop artists supported by very wealthy corporations it becomes normal. This moves the goalposts and people will feel as though they have discovered artists, when in fact they have been force fed. Those not so easily convinced will usually be herded into the right pen by the need to be up-to-date and abreast of things sheepdog. So why dig for information when it so conveniently falls in your lap. Digging for information might involve internet research, comparison of major, minor and local newspapers plus TV and radio which would be an extreme effort after a long 8 ½ hour day at work. It slots nicely into place to just believe the Evening Standard, The Times, fuck, even The Sun.

You have to dig for information like you have to dig for interesting music. Independent music is necessary for many reasons, the core of this may be is because music now represents the interests of some men in suits, who probably range between music enthusiasts, financial entrepreneurs, business school graduates, ex-hippy capitalists (who saw the light in reverse when their revolution failed but saw their music gain legendary and marketable status) and mafia bosses, whereas before capitalism and the market of today music would have represented a tribe, a village, a town, a community.

Traditional music now is a resurrected revived concept played by devotees to ancient ways or a local novelty for tourists. These ways have been mostly killed off by the modern financial music industry. The most interesting and inspired music to my own subjective knowledge is that which has come out despite the lusts of the industry at large. Maybe groups of this nature, are humans seeking their tribe which has been worked out of existence.