Recent Comments

1. about 10 hours ago on Pearls Before Swine

   “I never heard a song by female singer insulting other woman.”

   “You Belong With Me” by Taylor Swift

   “So What” by Pink

   “Hot and Cold” by Katy Perry

   “Rumor Has It” by Adele

   “Bang Bang” by Arianna Grande et al

   “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood

2. about 18 hours ago on Pearls Before Swine

   Ah, yes, nothing is better for scoring cheap points in an Internet comment section than waiting till the figures being mentioned are out of date and nit-picking someone who invoked them before. Bonus points if you cited the out of date figures yourself and selectively call attention only to the other party’s having done so.

3. about 18 hours ago on Pearls Before Swine

   It is true that the major record labels seem to have been signing more artists than ever before in the last decade or so, and this isn’t really seeing a corresponding increase in sales. But the downward spiral began much earlier, in the 90s and even the late 80s. The major culprits are often cited as labels getting greedy and finding a whole host of shameless ways to fleece artists, producers, and customers alike, which provided a high incentive to collect bootleg copies of music just as technology was making that easier; and the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which cleared the way for a small number of corporations to buy up huge numbers of independent radio stations, consolidate them under a smaller number of station managers, and micromanage DJs, thus greatly reducing diversity among the gatekeepers who could get new songs the kind of heavy exposure they needed in order to become hits.

   As for “ads, streaming, music videos, and social media promotions….etc,” the revenue generated by all of them combined is a pittance compared with the money artists used to make from robust physical album sales. The biggest superstars are able to carve out special deals with the streaming services because their music is so in demand, and even they are only pocketing 10-15% of what they would have prior to 2001. I remember that Adele went on a very bitter rant about this shortly after 25 came out. Artists who aren’t at their level are lucky to break even on their studio albums, and can really only justify the expense of recording and releasing them as a means of promoting upcoming tours. In the 1960s The Beatles revolutionized the industry by focusing their efforts on studio albums rather than live performances, and now that’s essentially being reversed.

   Touring is more profitable than it used to be, it’s true, but it’s also much harder work.

4. about 19 hours ago on Pearls Before Swine

   Fair point about the two likes, but only up to a point. I don’t think it entitles you to speak on their behalf. It also looks like one of them liked your original comment but not any of the others.

   As for random YouTube channels with axes to grind—my, yes, that certainly sounds very prestigious.

5. about 19 hours ago on Pearls Before Swine

   While that is interesting, transplanting grammatical rules from one language to another only serves to obscure meaning.

6. about 19 hours ago on Pearls Before Swine

   Unlikely. The age of streaming and social media has coincided with music sales and profit margins sinking like a stone. Commercial success is much harder to come by now. For instance, of the 22 artists who have multiple diamond certified albums, only one, Adele, released all of them after the iPod first became available.

   That’s not to say the top-selling artists haven’t done very well for themselves, but they would have done even better if the music industry were still as it was in the 20th century. And the giants of the 20th century would have done relatively worse.

7. about 19 hours ago on Pearls Before Swine

   When I speak for myself I use singular first person pronouns. You should do the same because, again, not a single commenter in this thread has endorsed your sentiment.

8. about 20 hours ago on Pearls Before Swine

   I think you meant to say " . . . or annoy me with feminism in their music." I’m not annoyed by whatever you’re imagining to be feminism in female pop stars’ music, and no one else who’s commented on this thread has expressed annoyance either, so you’re just speaking for yourself here.

9. about 23 hours ago on Pearls Before Swine

   He’s one up on me, I had to flog my brain to remember that there is such a song. Now that I’ve been reminded of it, I want to listen to it. It’s a good one if you’re in the right frame of mind.

10. about 23 hours ago on Pearls Before Swine

    I would think not. It’s a pretty dark and intense song, you definitely need to be in a certain frame of mind to appreciate it.