One of the contributors of AbsolutePunk wrote the blog in the above link about how the music scene is dead. I want the readers of this website to know my personal opinion on this subject, so here was my reply.
Maybe I have gotten too old and I am in denial about the evolution of music.
You hit the nail on the head with this comment. You are fighting the natural evolution of music. You’re starting to sound like that old man that says ” In my generation blah blah blah everything was better.”
Somewhere in America everyday there is a teen introduced to new music that was written from the heart that changes the landscape of the music they listen to. It might be a teen in North Georgia that turns on the radio and hears “Feel Good Drag” for the first time because a deserving band such as Anberlin found their way on to mainstream rock radio. It might be a teenage girl watching MTV and see Paramore singing “Born For This.” It might be a 12 year old boy watching Elf and falling in love with Zooey Deschanel and finding their way to She and Him. For me one of these bands was Something Corporate, but their songs weren’t any different than the pop that is coming out today. Leaving Through the Window was fun. It was a coming of age album that we all related to because thats how old we were. It’s not like Punk Rock Princess and If U C Jordan and Woke Up in a Car and I Kissed a Drunk Girl were epic songs. They were the same themes of songs that have been written for years and years now. But they were my songs and defined my teenage years. Andrew has obviously matured as a songwriter as I have matured as a listener and I appreciate everything he does even more.
You(anamericangod) obviously have a passion for music and care a lot about what people listen to, but I question your intentions on how you are going to change the music scene for the better. Your negativity is a sad, sad thing.
To everyone that reads this. Get involved in your local music scene. Go to shows, promote bands that deserve it. Good bands that work hard are out there and need your help. Bands that write from the heart and have the best of intentions. They exist, they aren’t dead and they are waiting on you to listen to them.
I go to 3 to 4 shows a week video taping bands and writing show reviews and all the time I see bands making personal connections with fans and living on 5 dollars playing the music that means so much to them.
As a fan just do your part in your local music scene. Write blogs, take pictures, word of mouth is not dead, tell all of your friends about that great band you saw last friday night that poured their hearts out on stage. We are all part of the scene and if it is dead it is our faults.
Love David Stringer
Scene SC
True that David.
You and all of the people here do a pretty good job of promoting some of the better aspects of the local scene here and around the area.
In my opinion people who think the scene is dead arn’t looking hard enough. And if the scene truely is dead, you’ve gotta do your best to frankenstein that bitch back together.
The “music scene” is never truly dead. I can understand someone getting upset about the crappy bands that labels make big for a season and then just disappear later. I think there’s a little bit more of that because the bigger labels have not reacted to the changes in the industry very well. I guess they make a quick buck that way. But time and time again, good music has always risen to the top. History has always shown that to be true.
The part that takes work though is showing the powers that be how they can make money off of your music. I like what you said in your Denton Texas article(I think it was that one) about bands needing to put in more work than just doing the whole myspace routine. The bands that take on that sort of attitude I think will be surprised to find how effective their efforts will be over time. It’s tough, but if you truly love what you’re doing, then you will find a way.
I’m not familiar with what sort of music AbsolutePunk promotes, but from a quick glance at the site, it looks something like third-wave pop-punk or mainstream/bourgeois-hardcore. Namely, “scenes” that maybe we shouldn’t be too worried about dying out.