Segarini – About the Grammys….

Everybody calm down.
The Grammys aren’t about MUSIC. The Grammys are about MONEY. PEOPLE who are about MUSIC listen to far more than what is put on parade here.
The Grammy audience was down 21%, this year, their lowest ratings ever. They don’t even know why they are tanking… but I may know a big part of  the reason.

Anyone remember when Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, or Marvin Gaye Showed Us the Money? Me either….

As long as this formulaic sound-alike product continues to be catered to, the numbers are going to crater. All those streams that generate the bulk of the industry’s money these days, are driven by young people. Drake got over 4 million streams in one day last week, because kids will listen to the same new track over and over and over again, just like we did back in the day. Difference is, in order for MONEY to be made back in the ’50s. ’60s, and ’70s, people actually had to BUY the record. In order to get as much money as possible, the record and radio industries were on the constant lookout for new and/or different sounds, knowing their audience was always looking for the ‘next big thing’ Something new…something fresh.

Now that you can generate money just by pushing a button on your phone, YOUNG people control what is popular…because they want to hear one thing over and over again until they wear it out and the industry gives them something else familiar to click on.

The people who grew up on diverse music developed taste, and even though there was a lot of crap being made in every generation, the newest sound, and more importantly, the UNIQUE SOUNDS and artists broke through, and quality survived more often than not. This is why radio had such diverse playlists. Frank Sinatra, Marty Robbins, Vince Guaraldi, and The Beatles could all exist on the same station, exposing listeners ato ALL genres and expanding their taste in music and educating them to a world of entertainment choices they never would have known existed.

Prior to the Dumbing-Down of Radio Formats

Radio and records are currently catering to the button pushers, and kids who follow people who have become celebrities (like Paris Hilton and the Kardashians and the Real Wives of Podunk), and these kids want what the celebrities have, and want to BE like them, and it is this vast, club-like throng who are basically driving the entertainment business.

Meanwhile, more great music is being made currently, than any other time in history. Music lovers find what they love and enjoy it. The numbers, (because they don’t add up individually to the numbers of ‘popular’ product) are insufficient to draw the attention of the award shows and radio corporations. This is why people like Dirty Loops, Rival Sons, Saint Paul and the Broken Bones, Rumer, and YOUR favourite artists remain under the mainstream radar,

Don’t Think for a Minute That Bieber Isn’t Talented, But if His Own Version of His Song Had Sounded Like This, It Never Would Have Been Played on the Radio

…and These Kids are Damn Good Writers in Their Own Right

Amazing Rock from the Present. Immensely Popular Live Shows, Little or No Airplay

No Format available for Another Band Who Blow Minds Live

…and Speaking of Live…ain’t No Auto-Tune or Backing Tracks to be Found. How Many of Today’s Radio Darlings Can Bring It Live Like This? Bruno Mars Gets the Win

No Glitter, No Trapeze, No Dancers, No Props, No Bullshit

BONUS! The Woman with the Golden Voice, The Man With A Golden Voice and a Sinatra Classic. Never Gonna Give Up Artists Who Are Aware Of and Respect What Has Gone Before

…and speaking of one for my baby, and one more for the road….

The pendulum will swing back, just like it always has, but THIS time, it won’t be the traditional record companies or radio stations that will create or profit from it.

Even now you can see they no longer matter. They are becoming obsolete…and are so far down the slippery slope, that they don’t even realize their motivation has nothing to do with music…it only has to do with getting large amounts of young people to push a button.

That said, there is a lot of quality stuff in among the junk, Bruno Mars to name one, but even his talent is starting to be marginalized by the audience he has to cater to. He is getting bored.

These are interesting times…but don’t give up hope OR your love of ALL and ANY genre of music that reaches and thrills you. MUSIC is alive, vital, and everywhere. It’s just not where it used to be.

Want to help? Share YOUR favourite Under-The-Radar artists and recordings every chance you get…if radio won’t do it, WE WILL.

SPREAD THE WORD

GET MUSIC HEARD

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Segarini’s regular columns appear here whenever a child takes a tether ball to the face

Contact us at dbawis@rogers.com

Bob “The Iceman” Segarini was in the bands The Family Tree, Roxy, The Wackers, The Dudes, and The Segarini Band and nominated for a Juno for production in 1978. He also hosted “Late Great Movies” on CITY TV, was a producer of Much Music, and an on-air personality on CHUM FM, Q107, SIRIUS Sat/Rad’s Iceberg 95, (now 85), and now publishes, edits, and writes for DBAWIS, continues to write music, make music, and record.