PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic Civil Discussion Possible on Younger Artists?

Caaron,

It will take a book to address your observations. So I wrote a book.

I think two streams of thought are going on here, and I will try and separate them. There is a difference between "young artists" and "creative artists" and what I call "manufactured industry music."

These different sets of people (or songs) are getting jumbled up.

Before I start, let me say I TEACH songwriting, production and even Band-in-a-Box to young people as young as 12, from different ethnic backgrounds.

I do not think any of them would feel unwelcome here. This forum is a very welcoming place for all musical styles, I have found, even if some people go off on the "life was better back when..." speeches that all people go on from time to time.

But aside from that, this is the MOST accepting place I have ever seen. In fact, this place is PRICELESS in terms of generosity and acceptance. Among people posting songs, I see NO semblance of any good old boy network--just look at the wide range of songs and the time being taken to comment from other people with different styles from all over the world. Where else would you find that?

To suggest (not that you have) that the forum is not inclusive would be divisive and toxic, and THAT is a theme I am kind of getting tired of actually. It's just not true. This is a VERY open place if you look at other forums where some people have clearly established themselves as King. But there is no King around here that I can tell, and that is a thing to be thankful for. We have had our disagreements (and I have been a worst offender at times become I am so hot-headed) but we all seem to work it out in the end.

In order to address your theme in a specific, personalized way, I will have to include some life history, so that once I say this I will not have to come back with more. In other words, everything I would ever want to say on the topic is in here, from my own life experience as a person who has worked across age groups from the age of 15, when I was recruited to be the guitarist in a country band. Within six months I was also doing funk.

I for one admire new artists and I study them as part of a severe discipline. It takes many hours a day.

Last week I posted something I thought was cool I got from another guy--the charts to the top country songs and the "best songs of the year." I am studying these. I don't know if anyone looked at it because there are zero comments but the charts and song structures and arrangements are worth careful study and analysis. Those people clearly know what they are doing. I spend 2-3 hours a day studying the modern stuff and the Billboard 100. Charts again:

http://www.beairdmusicgroup.com/blog/

The people I play with, write with and collaborate with range from 14 years of age to 75 years of age. The music I collaborate on ranges from country to hip hop to extreme electronica to full out rock and roll. I have proudly been the token white guy in a black gospel, jazz fusion funk band. You have to pay attention in that world. There are no charts. Songs modulate at least five times every time.

Today I have EXACTLY the same mentality and am surrounded by the same eclectic melange of artists as when I was 18. And some are VERY odd. But I love them.

I study the new stuff out on Spotify EVERY DAY.

I think there are some amazing young artists out there, doing amazing things. When I go on SongTradr I am dumbfounded by the level of talent among the independent community.

Have some of the stars done amazing songs? Of course. Has Bruno Mars written some catchy as all get out songs? Heck yeah. What about top of the charts country stars. Heck yeah to that too. I am studying the chart and arrangement to Meant to Be even as we speak (Bebe Rexha/Flordia Georgia Line.) All of this stuff might come out differently at the end of my own funnel but I still study it. (My latest post Driving Out of Winslow uses a lot of tricks I learned by studying those top country charts and arrangements, especially the breakdown chorus.)

So, yes, there is some AMAZING TALENT among people of all ages, and I believe this is a great time to be alive as a musician and artist. You can do whatever you want.

HOWEVER, there is SOME music in the mass produced cookie-cutter algorithm driven market that does not appeal to me.

I understand what they are doing though--they are trying to make money and they have to produce some stuff that is risk free in order to keep the lights on. I get it.

Sometimes, when people are pointing us to lists on YouTube to get a rise out of us, so to speak, they only post the worst of the worst as examples. But again, someone's worst of the worst might be another one's favorite--I don't mind. If a businesswoman at Sony is doing what she has to do to keep the lights on great. But that does not mean I have to jump up and clap if it is not my cup of tea.

Long and rambling, yeah, I guess, but the point is, my ENTIRE LIFE I have worked with, jammed with and made music with people from 12-80, and of every race, ethnic group and background. And that has never changed. I myself am an amalgamation of bloodlines, part Portuguese, part Italian (or mixed Mediterranean of some sort), part Welsh, part English, part Native American, and I am sure there is some African American in there too because my black musician friends have told me a million times:

"Somebody in your family was black, Daveed, that's a fact."

My current list of artists I like ranges from 12 to about 80.

I think it gets confusing when you lump "those old young folks" into "mass market industry." They are not the same thing.

I have always been a fan of talented young people.

I have never really been a big fan of mass market stuff, but that is not a judgment call, it just has never been my cup of tea.

Here is something you might enjoy if you like goosebump vocals.

https://soundcloud.com/davidsfilmmusic/a-prayer-for-america


FAMILY OF SOUL

with DJ Coles, David Snyder
and the Family of Soul Band and Choir