Today's music is unoriginal, uninspired, and mass produced.. thoughts?

There's lots and lots of good independent artists that don't get played and will never get played on the radio. I would try to list some, but I don't even know where to start. The mainstream music industry in the United States has gradually been taken over by huge corporations. So music is more about marketing than anything. A song sung by a young man or woman who has lots of confidence and high self-esteem and a carefree attitude about life is apparently a lot more marketable than a talented but timid male guitarist singing about real life issues. Or so it seems from what I've seen. I'm really just guessing about all this because I'm not a professional marketer or in the mainstream music industry. Also, I think it helps mainstream music to have singers who can't sing. These means that the songs they write will be very simple and easy to sing. Thus, listeners can easily sing along or sing the song when it's not playing. Again, this is just a guess. Maybe a lot of it has to do with people liking the everyman. They don't want to see someone who's more talented than them or better than them. At this point, I'm just throwing ideas out there :) Personally, singing ability isn't even that important to me. There's lots of singers who I like who don't have phenomenal vocal abilities. I just like them because they write good music. You asked what we could do to improve today's mainstream music. The only thing we could do is get rid of the massive corporations that own the music industry or convince marketers that people actually like to listen music that doesn't meet there criteria for what makes marketable music. Eh, here's some artists I like, though some of these do get played on certain radio stations: cat power, yeah yeah yeah's, metric, arcade fire, stars, air, tori amos, azure ray, placebo, the dresden dolls, patrick wolf, the mountain goats, ratatat, a ton of british pop bands, etc.

i agree with you a 100%!I'm a music lover and I'm frustrated how the music is being abused by marketing..its all bout the money,,i cant remember when was the last time i turned on my radio for i know that i will just hear some second hand crap..if a certain genre will make some noise then you'll expect a lot of copycat that will follow..gone are the days when real talent matters most....I'm in the country where we don't have enough access to good music..but the good thing now is we have internet,, can you gave me examples of your preferred artist?

Yes I agree, most the music today is copied or using lyrics from other older better musicians of eras past. My brother said the music is really whiney and there are hardly any lyrics or they are so slaughtered you can barely hear them with all the screaming and moaning that masks as music. I know there are good singers and musicians out in the world and have heard them sing or play and many way better than the current so called stars who more and more are where they are because mom or dad has money or were themselves famous. I think talent scouts need to be more selective and go to small outback woods American or even other nations and find the true musicians who play and sing with heart and soul.

It has been like this for decades, main stream music hasn't been original, inspired, or unique in ages. There is still original music happening today, just like there was when you were a kid, and your parents were kids, etc. Really with the internet, there is more variety in music at your finger tips then ever. You can go to iTunes and get most anything, YouTube likely has any song you can think of, sites like Pandora offer personalized radio stations for people, and this discounts all the other sites out there. Ignore the mainstream and what businesses say you should like and find your own music. Just like you probably did when you were younger and found all that "good" music.

i totally agree... i'm old school... and nothing beats the music that i liked from the music that i'm hearing now. I think you are right when you said that they are just after the dollar signs... Today's music doesn't... seem to... not really reach me. I can't explain why I said that... The lyrical content is just... nonsense... and when you listen to the song you'll have this feeling that... i think i've heard this tune somewhere... (sigh)

Main stream music in general is quite saddening. It is very very true that there is no originality what so ever within the songs they play. BUT what I really can't stand is auto tone...auto tone takes the joy out of hearing a real human voice. i mean it's so fake..well that's how all artists are nowadays. Although I prefer not calling them artists. Main stream music is all about the face, so true they don't need talent, creativity, or anything. Just probably hook ups and know how to deceive youngsters. While they reap in the cash. oh yeah... I'd rather let the true musicians stay underground, because a company will probably try to change what they stand for. have a good day

Yes, that is what the uneducated masses of the United States are exposing the public to, even in places where radios and other music playing devices are not allowed. And of course many damage their ears so badly they have to play the trash at full blast. But as one already stated they are not the only ones making music. They are probably the ones making the most money, and that is really a pity. Maybe once our education system is fixed there won't be a problem anymore. Maybe it's karma with the way we treated our parents with our adolescent tastes.

I can say that I do agree with you partly on this one. There are artists/singers indeed that sing songs that aren't theirs but just a revised of an old version of this and that. I have heard so many of those. But there are also singers that really has great talents even if they are just copy cats. One singer I have listened to was Eva Cassidy. I haven't heard any original composition of hers but she can sing like an angel. Her versions of other revised songs were even better than the original ones. Anyways, technology is helping theses singers make their voice more marketable I guess. But without real talents, they will not go far. I am not that too old to listen to the new gen music but I prefer listening to the oldies . Sigh... most of them (singers) had passed away already...

While there are plenty of good artists out there performing, I do agree that there is a general trend of music becoming more and more bland. This is especially true with pop music I believe. They will just play any old crap on the radio these days. I sometimes wonder if we are past the musical greats and think today's artists rely to much on studio sounds instead of creating their own sounds. Music tends to go in cycles though, so hopefully we won't have to wait too long to have a musical Renaissance to take place!

I guess there is too much commercialism in the world that it is also affecting the music industry. They just want to earn money instead of making a mark in the music world. But still, there are some true artists out there doing great music.

i totaly agree with you that musoc of today has lost their magic. that's what i told to anybody. it's not comfort to listening those r n b, those rock, those pop song that are easy to forget. no emotion that flows with the songs. i choose old songs for western songs. love abba, beatles, n beegees than western music nowaday i dont think there are really talented singer in western music nowaday.

you are totaly right that's why i dont listen to pop, rap and hip hop. i listen to the music that is good even the new music of it, like skillet 3days grace papa roach, sum41 and much more other bands just rock punk and metal :P

LOL. This post really aroused passions. Music is like politics. Can get people excited. My thoughts regards your question are : - Unoriginal? Sort of seems that way. But it's called “sampling”. - Uninspired? Actually think the inspiration comes from music of my generation (Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Beatles, Stevie Wonder, etc.). - Mass produced? Oh yeah! Canned, processed and ready-made. My final thoughts? Good thing there's YouTube and other video services. Might have to search harder for really good original and inspiring artists who don't have a record label to produce them work for the masses. But they're out there!!