For people who have been living in an affluent box need i remind you that we are in a recession, it's been a really tough couple of years this decade and whilst there are so many theories on how the economy got this bad one sector that has faced the brunt of this recession headlong is the Music Industry, Let's be clear so that we know what i am talking about, i am referring to the American and European music market because on the contrary the Nigerian Music market has experienced an unprecedented boom.It all started in 2002, then it picked up in 2003 and record label moguls sighed with relief, the Beyonce and Usher effect were on full blast with their respective albums doing so well in 2004 then it came again a massive dip, nobody could escape it the best selling album of that year was the incredible comeback that was Diva Mariah Carey's Emancipation of Mimi album..that Album was just bread butter and everything rolled into the one, I suspect at this point Record companies decided to change their formulas out of desperation,
We had several Beyonce wannabe's ( i wont mention names), and the rush to sign reality stars into music artistes, we had Paris Hilton rubbing herself against some hot cutie in a bikini and singing stars are blind, to Lindsday Lohan singing Lawd only knows what thankfully my brain has erased that memory to Britney's then husband Keven federline coming out with a rap album..insert pause here, the Record Labels tried everything and they actually did not achieve much in my opinion, a lot of good artistes who actually gave us quality music had Label problems, Brandy, Ashanti, Amerie, Jill Scott, Angie Stone even Mariah and Janet were rumored to be having problems with their labels due to poor album sales, the Labels response to this were to bring out the most ridiculous and watered down music just to sell and re coup their investments in these artists, female artistes were pushed to giving us soft porn in their music videos, Male artists did everything from duet with the next hot thing to emulate the success of that hot property on their records , we had the Akon effect, we had the T.pain effect and i detest that Auto tune period as a matter of fact that ish got so horrible Jay Z had to come out and drop a track death of the auto tune, we had Britney Spears being forced to trot around semi-naked even though it was clear that woman needed rehabilitation, we had Rihanna emerge from the shadows after Teairra mari the hot favorite on Roc a fella records could not live up to the hype, i mean do i need to go on, from 2005 to 2009 most of the music we got apart from a few good ones were just a load of crap, people could not even be bothered to buy CD's anymore with the whole digital era and all sorts of applications nobody was ready to spend their hard earned cash buying second rate albums, not me and i am very sure not you...
Suddenly in 2009 something unexpected came in the form of Susan Boyle, a frumpy looking Scottish woman from Scotland who came to international limelight in the Popular British reality show British got Talent, suddenly people's interest were piqued they suddenly were enthralled with this plain looking woman in a world hitherto filled with sexy curvaceous vixens whose voice was beautiful, her debut album I dreamed a dream broke records as the largest ever female selling debut album and went on to sell a total of 9 million records to date , people suddenly sat up and asked "what recession?" people were ready to buy an album that was worth it (To be honest she is a bit dull for me shhh) moving on , Taylor Swift a young country singer signed to a small record label without all the glitz and glamour that some young singers threw in our face had the best selling album in the last five years in the US it sold 8,681,753 copies as at March 2011..i suspect Record Label executives began to understand that the consumers wanted more than a few computer generated hits again, we wanted real music and suddenly the Talent began to flow out, since the 2008 -2009 era to now we have had Fantastic new artistes like Jazzmine Sullivan, the Atlantic records trio of B.O.B, the eclectic and amazing Janelle Monae and Bruno Mars were my most exciting discovery of 2010, they were the artistes to watch, they were song writers, performers, producers they gave us music we could finally feel in our soul and they were several others, Marsha Ambrosius, Melanie Fiona, Leela James , Record Labels began to adapt to new ways to market their artists they decided i suspect to have them all on their Labels, the Katy Perry,s for the pop stans , Faith Evans for the urban stans etc each record label including Warner music group decided to diversify their artist base which was fine by me at least that way every one would have a chance at success so finally we had Lady Gaga seep into our consciences and the amazing ,soulful Adele...Lady Gaga might have sold 1.200,000 records in her first week but Adele's sophomore album 21 has spent 14 weeks a top the UK and US charts, her debut album which didn't do so well initially when it was released in 2008 is now suddenly back at the top 5 album charts in the UK, her single Rolling in the deep has knocked out everybody from Rihanna, to Lady Gaga to Katy Perry to remain at No 1, Lady Gaga might be the most influential artiste in the world right now but remember she had to wear a meat dress to achieve that feat, Adele on the other hand all she needs to do is sing...
Music is back and i tell you i am loving it...find some memorable video picks i decided to share with you guys do you love it?
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