from Mentos to Furtado
So peach Mentos have a bad aftertaste. A tutorial was cancelled again so I have been killing time at school since 3:30pm. I have a class at 7:00pm. I have bugged Ruthie at UM, ate a bagel and too-spicy soup, bumped into Selena, and for a second time, Rolled up the Rim to win a coffee. I have actually succumbed to the iPod - Adam's iPod - because my Creative Zen died on me after a pathetic week. Needless to say, Interpol sounds better from these white headphones.
Frick, that was boring. Honestly, I log on and click "post an entry" with the intention to write something different, but I tend to resort to the predictable topics. I think I'm going to make a new account and start fresh, again. I just can't think of a good name.
I'm always encountering interesting topics and developing new found opinions on things, thanks to school and Adam, but they barely make their way over here. I've no time to remember and I'm in no place to ponder and scratch and chug coffee and type to my fingers' content, so here's something I wrote for my Qualitative Research journal. It's not a particularly great piece of writing, but I just wanted to share my general discontentedness with the media and society.
I don't know much about the music industry,
but I know that I'm getting sick of Nelly Furtado.
If I were able to be a “fly on the wall” in order to observe a scene related to media in a usually inaccessible location, I would choose a meeting or private discussion about the best ways to market a mainstream musician. I would like to unearth the deceptive and capital driven techniques that are being used.
This interests me the most at the moment because I have in mind Nelly Furtado, who has skyrocketed in the music charts - not because of her talent, but because of the enormous cross-promotion wheel that her label has set in motion. Apparently, this Portuguese-Canadian is extremely marketable - but only when you remove the folk and add in the Timbaland! I was a fan of hers before she showed off her gyrating hips and when her voice was strange and unique, but unfortunately, it seems that she has crossed over to the side where money and fame are more important than artistry. Yet, I have to admit that I have danced along to some of her recent tunes.
The practices of cross-promotion and synergy are apparent: with the release of her much more marketable album Loose, Furtado went on Canadian Idol as a guest vocal coach and performer; then it was announced that she will be hosting the 2007 Juno Awards; then she receives the role of a professional shoplifter in the show CSI: New York (where two of her songs are played in the background and a commercial for the Junos are shown at least twice). The episode was like a long music video with bad acting.
I wonder how her production company discusses their next move… who will they contact for favours? What can they do to attract more publicity? It seems absurd to wonder if their goal is capital or to distribute this “great artistic masterpiece that is Loose,” because it is so mind-numbingly obvious that it is capital. I cannot even say that this could be about showing the world what Canada has to offer because Furtado is with an American Major (she actually bypassed the Canadian labels and went straight to DreamWorks; her financial success did not filter its way to the Canadian Indies to support fellow Canadian artists) and she’s clinging onto Timbaland*. So in essence, I would be really interested to know their intentions (do they really want to block exposure to alternative artists?) and what are the connections (i.e. synergy) we are not aware about? Could all of this even be discussed in the one scene where I am a fly? Oh, well.
*I heard Timbaland may be collaborating/producing with K-Os?! Come on, K-Os is fine the way he is. I don't think he needs Timbaland's help in creating a calculated, super catchy beat (uh, Crabbuckit!). And do we, the consumers, really need a homogenized music chart - imagine, 50% produced by Timbaland. I've nothing against the man, but please, dear Music Industry, stop with the brainwashing and give us selection!
Frick, that was boring. Honestly, I log on and click "post an entry" with the intention to write something different, but I tend to resort to the predictable topics. I think I'm going to make a new account and start fresh, again. I just can't think of a good name.
I'm always encountering interesting topics and developing new found opinions on things, thanks to school and Adam, but they barely make their way over here. I've no time to remember and I'm in no place to ponder and scratch and chug coffee and type to my fingers' content, so here's something I wrote for my Qualitative Research journal. It's not a particularly great piece of writing, but I just wanted to share my general discontentedness with the media and society.
I don't know much about the music industry,
but I know that I'm getting sick of Nelly Furtado.
If I were able to be a “fly on the wall” in order to observe a scene related to media in a usually inaccessible location, I would choose a meeting or private discussion about the best ways to market a mainstream musician. I would like to unearth the deceptive and capital driven techniques that are being used.
This interests me the most at the moment because I have in mind Nelly Furtado, who has skyrocketed in the music charts - not because of her talent, but because of the enormous cross-promotion wheel that her label has set in motion. Apparently, this Portuguese-Canadian is extremely marketable - but only when you remove the folk and add in the Timbaland! I was a fan of hers before she showed off her gyrating hips and when her voice was strange and unique, but unfortunately, it seems that she has crossed over to the side where money and fame are more important than artistry. Yet, I have to admit that I have danced along to some of her recent tunes.
The practices of cross-promotion and synergy are apparent: with the release of her much more marketable album Loose, Furtado went on Canadian Idol as a guest vocal coach and performer; then it was announced that she will be hosting the 2007 Juno Awards; then she receives the role of a professional shoplifter in the show CSI: New York (where two of her songs are played in the background and a commercial for the Junos are shown at least twice). The episode was like a long music video with bad acting.
I wonder how her production company discusses their next move… who will they contact for favours? What can they do to attract more publicity? It seems absurd to wonder if their goal is capital or to distribute this “great artistic masterpiece that is Loose,” because it is so mind-numbingly obvious that it is capital. I cannot even say that this could be about showing the world what Canada has to offer because Furtado is with an American Major (she actually bypassed the Canadian labels and went straight to DreamWorks; her financial success did not filter its way to the Canadian Indies to support fellow Canadian artists) and she’s clinging onto Timbaland*. So in essence, I would be really interested to know their intentions (do they really want to block exposure to alternative artists?) and what are the connections (i.e. synergy) we are not aware about? Could all of this even be discussed in the one scene where I am a fly? Oh, well.
*I heard Timbaland may be collaborating/producing with K-Os?! Come on, K-Os is fine the way he is. I don't think he needs Timbaland's help in creating a calculated, super catchy beat (uh, Crabbuckit!). And do we, the consumers, really need a homogenized music chart - imagine, 50% produced by Timbaland. I've nothing against the man, but please, dear Music Industry, stop with the brainwashing and give us selection!