This is my own analysis of music trend between the year 2000 and 2008. In my previous post about pop music trend, I will make this in detail now covering the most important aspects of music business.This trend may change but for the solid 8 years, I still have not detect major changes in trend.
I am listening to radio and I noticed that music today is getting more dry to hear. This trend has not changed since the start of 2000. Music hits its loudest in starting those years and most of the CD released were so loud compared to the previous years (in the 80’s and 90’s).
So if you are an aspiring singer/songwriter, get to know the current trends of music or else you are lost behind.
I can give my comment in commercial music different aspect in terms of:
a. Music (songwriting style)
b. Album production, the sound
c. Image
d. Promotion.
Music (songwriting style)
Year 2000 and beyond Songwriting became simpler, lyrics are not very long and direct to the point. Most the lyrics are about friends and love. The songwriting is creatively crafted and deviates from the normal procedure. This is very important in this time of heavy music competition. Most songwriters are not as skilled as before but I could say more creative. There a lot of music lovers who are not serious musicians but can craft song very well because of creativity and listening experience. This is also the period where “hook” of the song is extremely important. Hook of the song is the most memorable part of the song, and decision makers in the industry should able to capture and remember it in the first 1:30 of your song or else they listen to another demo CD.
Album production, the sound
Year 2000 music and beyond– this is the present time, where you can hear very loud CD’s typically in the pop and rock. Also reverb is almost not used anymore and just used to add some very little presence. This is the time where the vocalist is primarily important and solo artist is very useful compared to bands. There are several reasons for this, the music industry experiences a crises on piracy and illegal downloading. To maximize profit, music labels should cut recording cost and artist related fees. It could explain why the recording production is straight forward (no effects such as reverbs or any other studio effects present in the 80’s and 90’s) to save recording time. Also it could explain why solo artist is very important, because there are always misunderstanding with bands due to lack of funding,support and understanding of the music business.
Image
Year 2000 and beyond– Just be yourself and stick to the current dress trend. I can say because the way artist dress by now looks like an ordinary but fashionable person. Unlike the 80’s where you can easily distinguish the difference between a fan and their artist (where artist has lots of tattoo and some weird fashion). Today, it is difficult. The artist dress like a fan. The reason for this is to increase publicity and to make artist more approachable to their fans which is a current factor of merchandising and CD sales. Typical popular artist are Avril Lavige, Gwen Estefani and Kelly Clarkson.
Promotion
Year 2000 and beyond– Music hits its lowest peak in promotion since then. It is because promotion is getting harder for independent artist to make break in the music business. Commercial FM radio does not support independent artist. What is popular is self-ruthless promotion of independent artist using INTERNET. Internet became the way for indie artist to get exposure as well doing live concerts. They earn royalty income from music publishing, selling songs online, selling CD in CDbaby.com and many more.The pirated CD is very popular hurting CD sales and everything especially in Asian countries. The artist remain solid in music downloads for both sign and unsigned artist. Music download networks such as i-tunes and others became one of the best ways for songwriter to earn income. Music piracy is still not resolved which I hope should be.
So the best advice for any songwriter, get to know your trend to be more marketable in your music business.