The problem all starts because we have made musicians such icons. When a musician hits a certain amount of record sales, they are skyrocketed to a spot that is reserved for movie stars and a few athletes. People see that and want a part of it. It seems so easy to learn how to write music and lyrics so everyone seems to think they have what it takes to do it. Which leads me to my next point…
It’s become so ridiculously easy to make music with all the beat machines, auto-tuners and music software that is out now. All the new technology can be a great tool for musicians to use but problems arise when people who don’t know much about music get ahold of these tools. They tinker until they get something that sounds good to them and… viola! They become “musicians”. Music can be made that way but it’s rare for it to turn out pleasing to most people’s ears.
Then comes the REAL problem behind us, the consumers, having to hear the crappy music. Most big music labels are to blame for that. They get one of those tinkering kids who don’t know enough about music and give them a shot at fame because they have a certain look and think they have what it takes to be famous. The label pumps so much money into the production of building up this “artist’s” name and putting a record together. By the time the label realizes that the “artist” sucks, they’ve spent $5 million getting them out there. Well, NO ONE can take a $5M hit so the label continues to pump money into them so that the music and the “artist” will be in front of the consumers face until the learn to like it. Eventually, the label sees a return in their investment, the “artist” has become an icon and we, the consumers, are left with, as @uberbatman put it, the circle of shit.
Some people think that the problem can be fixed by toppling the big labels. I don’t see that happening anytime soon. The arts (painting, drawing, music, sculpting, ect…) are a poor field. As an artist, you have to create something that moves people in a way that they will want to pay you more for something than what it cost you to make it. With music, it gets expensive and time consuming when you buy all the instruments, learn to play them and buy the recording equipment or pay someone to record you. Then the real hard part starts where you get yourself out there and hope people enjoy it. With the internet, it’s becoming easier but it’s still a chore. The record company makes it 100x easier to make a name but that sometimes comes at a cost. They have the money to throw around and they aren’t going anywhere.
As far as fixing the problem, the only thing we can do is boycott the shit. Easier said than done because people are blindly believing that everyone likes the shit so they themselves start to like it to blend in. Shit music is here to stay until the music industry collapses and artists aren’t viewed as heroes anymore.