The Marketing of Music

I just finished reading a great article sent to me by a friend about the whole Taylor Swift sucks as a live artist thing from the Grammys and then the brouhaha continued when her manager foolishly tried to come to her defense by saying she is an artist and one who connects with her audience and has millions of record sales to prove it. One of the problems I "generally" have with that statement is that something being popular doesn't mean it's good.

While Taylor Swift caterwauled her way through her song, other, less popular acts (like the underrated P!nk) delivered performances that were worthy of being on the Grammys. And while it's OK to, as a singer, get better with time (Even someone like Jennifer Hudson, would probably agree if you told her that some of her earlier live performances left something to be desired) that's still no excuse for crap performances. After all, Taylor Swift, like it or not, is still considered a professional musician.

In music, I don't think people are always expected to be great singers (see Sheryl Crow, PJ Harvey and even Beyonce) but they are expected, to borrow a term from the British TV show of the same name, to have that X factor. In fact, lesser singers, who may also be talented songwriters and musicians, tend to have more (monetarily) successful careers than "artists." Take the case of Alice Smith, who I believe can sing Beyonce under the table any day, but she has such a minuscule following even though her voice is fantastic (in my opinion). Or even, going a little closer to Beyonce's home, her sister Solange has an equally good voice as her big sister, but her career has largely stalled while Beyonce's has flourished.

What it boils down to is that music is not really about the voice, it's about how it's marketed to the masses. And as humans, we tend to have a group think mentality. If the almighty Oprah tells us that something "changed her life" we'll go out and buy it en masse. (See Leona Lewis' first week sales for her first CD vs. first week sales for her follow-up; also see sales for Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway vs. its follow-up My December). Taylor Swift isn't a great live singer, and that's OK. That won't diminish her success among those who already worship at the Church of Taylor Swift, but it's disingenuous to defend her crappy live singing by saying she had an off night or there were issues with her earpiece. Many artists have issues with earpieces in live performances (see Jennifer Hudson at the Grammys in 2009) but if they have the talent to sing, the can sing regardless of earpiece issues.