When asked what is “good” music, songs that deserve praise - more than a once-through listen on YouTube, humming in the background of five other BuzzFeed tabs - there is no greater differences in opinion than the ongoing buzz over this year’s Grammy winners.
Facebook arguments have erupted over Iggy Azalea’s legitimacy as a hip hop artist - and even how Queen B could possibly have not won every single category she was in. (At least Kanye thinks so).
Twitter is abuzz with chirps of: Who is this Beck anyway? Is “Ain’t it Fun” even a rock song? How is Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga “a thing”?
The real question I’d to explore though is: why are only a handful of artists in contention for what are the most prestigious recognitions by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences?
Surely, in our golden age of technologically saturated tendencies to overself-publish and self-release via venues such as Bandcamp and SoundCloud, more artists would be in the running without the record producers holding all the gatekeeping powers?
Not to mention, the multimedia blogs and podcasting platforms are multiplying like rabbits in the social media warrens of the Inter Webs has certainly overthrown traditional notions of quality music.
The first retort to this phenomenon might be cynical, which states that major labels still have the most power and influence over which artists become “mainstream,” featured on MTV, commercials and other nationally syndicated features.
An open, peer-reviewed article published on “PLOS ONE”journal recently published a study that confirmed the myth that “all pop songs sound the same” in which the journal expressed how the same “simplicity” can be so readily marketable. If we are always listening to what is essentially “the same song” then, does it really matter who wins Grammies? What kind of music, which artists, matter then?
Artists who might have more creative renditions in the same genre, more genuine philanthropic causes, more something and anything you can name- go unnoticed, perhaps undeservedly so. How might this gross social injustice in creativity, as a result of capitalistic natural selection, be remedied?
A look at a very different ranking might provide the answer. The College Media Journal’s (CMJ) weekly ranking of the top 20 songs played by 200 college radio stations, offered a very different list of “good music.” Sleater Kinney, Panda Bear, Viet Cong, Decemberists, Belle and Sebastian topped the chart for the week of Feb. 3 – which was not even mentioned once on any Facebook newsfeeds or even my own Twitter feed.
This ranking though, constitutes acts that are played the most frequently by college radio - surpassing all the mainstream performers I’ve already mentioned. Not a single Grammy winner charted this past week.
In other words, “good” music, while not necessarily that of indie artists with hipster names, is hardly just another byproduct of capitalistic promotions. Music matters most when they are requested and played by venues that we, the public, are tuned in to.
So how might we keep “good” music alive?
Make a request from your local radio station - your campus radio station even, if I could so boldly suggest.
Be courageous, explore and demand music that you love - give every artist you love the real VIP airplay.
