As Singapore’s indie, or independent, music scene grows, a prominent problem surfaces: Singaporean indie bands and musicians are underrated and not given enough opportunities in their homeland. This paper explains why there is a need for more opportunities to be accorded to indie musicians.
Indie music is “music [that is] produced and funded by any band or label not affiliated with … major corporate labels like Sony or Epic”. (Andrews, 2006, para. 4). A few factors have resulted in indie music gaining popularity worldwide over the years. The usage of social media as a marketing tool is one factor. Websites like YouTube, MySpace and Facebook have made it easier for indie bands to distribute their songs, reach a wider audience and increase their fan base. Podcasting is another important publicity method. George Smyth, host of the Eclectic Mix podcast, asserts that people are able to discover the music of talented indie bands through podcasting (as cited in Scott, 2010, p. 81). The success and recognition of indie music at the Grammy Awards in recent years is another reason for indie musicians’ popularity. Lewis (2011) states that at the 53rd Grammy Awards, more than half of the total nominations went to indie musicians. Indie musicians won 45 of 108 awards, a significant increase from “195 nominations and 36 wins four years earlier” (para. 7). Furthermore, indie musicians Arcade Fire and Esperanza Spalding won top awards of “Album of the Year” and “Best New Artist” respectively (para. 1-2). These show why indie music has become more popular and recognised worldwide.
Unlike indie musicians overseas, the talents of Singapore’s indie musicians lack recognition from locals. Most Singaporeans only know of the pop singers who have made...
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I now know that there is not a secret handshake that gets a person into the indie rock scene. Nor is there a panel of ultra-cool guardians hiding out in rock clubs deciding who's in and who's out. There is merely a certain type of literacy that one eventually picks up if one observes and listens and lets oneself become part of the scene. Just like any other kind of literacy, nobody is born with it, it needs to be learned.
... Popular Music Studies 23, no. 1 (2011): 19-39. Accessed April 28, 2014. Academic Search Complete.
The music industry can trace its roots to the 18th century when classical composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart sought commissions from the church or aristocracies by touring to promote their music (Boerner). By the early 20th century, recorded collections of songs were available for purchase for home listening. Towards the middle of the century, record album production had become the norm for getting new music to the masses and album sales had replaced sheet-music sales as a measure of popularity, with the first gold-recor...
Mixing cultures and influences from reggae to pop, hip hop, and even punk, Island has shaken up ideas and introduced new genres to mainstream music, bringing cultures into the musical spotlight halfway across the world. Still alive and thriving today, Island has produced some of the music industry’s biggest names and groups including Jimmy Buffet, The B-52s, U2, and Bob Marley. But like all companies, Island too started out as a hobby before it was even a small business; and the story is incredible.
The nineties were an exceptional decade for music which, unfortunately, has not been reprised to this day. The formerly mentioned decade witnessed the emergence of alternative rock music as an outlet for those who were saturated by the excesses that characterized the eighties and the lack of substance of some of its music. Accordingly, during the nineties, music audiences began to value talent over appearance, catchy rhythms, meaningless lyrics, and flashy choreographies. Moreover, throughout this time, music was conceived as a means to inspire and move listeners, rather than a mere tool for product placement. Thus, the nineties gave birth to a phenomenal musical genre that has yet to be surpassed since it created a deep connection with the afflicted souls of a generation, valued music’s inspirational quality over intricate musical arrangements, and introduced the world to a plethora of invaluable artists for whom music was their utmost priority.
Music in every country has a history going back hundreds of years. It is an excellent type of entertainment that any person can enjoy. America being such a diverse country, any person regardless of race or gender needs to be given a fair shot in an opportunity to showcase his or her talent. However, there is a lack of Asians Americans represented in America. Asian Americans must go above and beyond on what is expected in the industry, compared to white and black Americans who seem to have it much easier. “Always, it is the Asian who assimilates, who must explain his or her prese...
Quite a huge number of American pop singers has already visited Singapore to have multiple concerts held here. Different people who enjoy American pop music or particular artist, came together as one to again experience and consume the Americanization through music. However, even though these concert activities contribute to the spread of American popular culture through music, technology plays even a bigger part as people grow attention and interest for the artists through listening to their music or watching their music videos through internet or television which will be discussed further towards the end of this
I have been asked to identify and evaluate two important current developments in the music industry. I will be discussing the rise of electronic dance music and also the growing number of musicians gaining success via YouTube.
Young, D. (2004). The Promotional State and Canada's Juno Awards. Popular Music , 23, 271.
Popular music’s worth tend to be determined according to values of authenticity, truthfulness, and no concern for commercial success. Thus, artists who perform their own songs are critically acclaimed and recognized as better than performers whose material is written by others. However, there is a grey area of sampling and covering. Many artists who do a lot of sampling, in particular DJ Danger Mouse and Kaye West, are not only critically acclaimed, but also can be credited to changing musical history. Sampling greatly complicates the black and white rules of authenticity, and rightly so.
The music business entered a dramatic change in the 21st century. These changes appear in the way of how people access and consume music. According to Hull, Hutchison and Strasser (2011) the music business has developed throughout three stages. While moving from the agricultural age, where the music business made its revenues through live performances, troubadours and patronage, the industrial age introduced new innovations that were assumed to be associated with long-term economic growth. Commencing the year 1950 sound recordings experienced a drastic raise in sales by an average of 20% a year (Krasilovsky and Shemel, 2007). While the music industry was dominated by six major record lables (Time Warner, Disney, Vivendi Universal, Viacom, Bertelsmann, and News Corp.) (Hull, Hutchison and Strasser, 2011), further growth in the industry has been recorded in the 1970’s, where record sales “rose from less than $2 billion at the beginning of the decade to over $4 billion in 1978”, which took a sharp turn entering the Depression around the middle of the 20th century (Krasilovsky and Shemel, 2007:5).
· Use of social media for promotion- word of mouth and social media help to get the message across and promote the product efficiently
This SWOT analysis will look at K-pop at four sides to discuss how it become an international hit.