And the dialogue begins with Kellin Quinn

In Going Emo I mentioned that there were various musicians for whom I had some positive feelings, without having listened to their music yet. This comes from tweets and Tumblr posts by people I follow.

Kellin Quinn, the lead singer of Sleeping With Sirens, has been at the point where I could  recognize the face and name, but that was about it, until recently, where there were two issues getting a lot of re-tweets. Since both of the issues pertain to problems and opportunities in the modern music industry, we will use those as jumping off points, and this will probably bleed into next week.

The most recent issue was two tweets, from Kellin, re-tweeted by multiple users, and a reaction to the VMAs (Video Music Awards):

"I've lost faith in music after watching last nights VMA awards.. If that bulls*** is what music is today.. Then I f***ing quit"

"This! This is music, this is inspiration.. I think it's time artists look to where we started from, and begin again. pic.twitter.com/7SBFM4cVQe"

(Asterisks are mine.)

The picture shows works by several artists, including Prince, Fleetwood Mac, Foo Fighters, Marvin Gaye, Bruce Springsteen, and Aerosmith, so covering multiple decades and genres.

As you might expect, I am sympathetic to that sentiment, but my first thought was "Oh, don't be such a drama queen." I can say that, because for me, that is not what music is today. Yes, I have spent a lot of time listening to past music, but there is contemporary music in there too. Great albums have been released this year and last year. Good bands are in the studio now, working on new material. It is easy for me to feel positive because of that.

(Also, I did not watch the VMAs, and I think that helped. I highly recommend not watching.)

It is true that this music is not what is making the headlines, or the big bucks. There are ways in which that is a problem, and I hate seeing dreck rewarded, but it's important to focus on the positive, and on ways of making things more positive. For me, the band reviews are my contribution, and the other music blogging, and maybe more playlists, because I keep thinking of other ways to be more effective. Spread the good music!

That works in two directions. One goal is that we are trying to help more people find good music that suits them. Music is so important emotionally, and can bring so much joy and pleasure, that there is a real value in that.

The other part is, of course, that these artists producing good music need to be able to live, and so people need to buy their music, or concert tickets, or band merchandise. This leads to the next Kellin issue:

http://propertyofzack.com/post/57443271811/kellin-quinn-responds-to-polaroid-controversy

Long story short: Oli Sykes (of Bring Me The Horizon) tweeted about charging for pictures, which was indirect, but seemed pretty clearly pointed at a Sleeping With Sirens package.

Honestly, $80 for a Polaroid would seem like a bad deal, but as the full package includes the ticket, early admission, a question and answer session and a signing, along with a signed poster, that's probably a pretty good deal. The thought of using a Polaroid so the fan can get her own picture with Kellin signed is pretty clever as well.

So, I can't really hold this package against Sleeping With Sirens, or Kellin. I also don't hold the other tweet against Oli that much. I suspect he just saw $80 for a Polaroid, and did not investigate fully before going off. I will hold this against a professional music writer, and I would hold it against myself, but with musicians tweeting maybe the bar can be set a little lower. And of course from my point of view these guys are all just kids anyway.

That being said, there is something that I hate about the package too. Again, it is completely reasonable for them to get in on the act: Meet and Greets and VIP packages are becoming really common, with lots of bands, and something that everyone is looking at now is how to get more money. Digital streaming has a very poor cash return, actual album sales have become less and less popular, and so what used to feed the labels has largely dried up, leading to the labels wanting more out of the touring piece of the pie.

There's a lot that's ugly about it, and when you add it all together it is not just a revenue problem or a publicity problem, but a new world that requires a new way of thinking.

So, I think I want to spend some time there next week, and maybe I will explain that crack about what I would hold against a professional music writer. See, I can be indirect too, though I think I was indirected recently as well, which I think means I offended a band that I reviewed, but there were reasons for that. Anyway, it's not stopping me, so you can look forward to reviews of Kris Orlowski and Jeff Keyson, coming up.