PaidContent.com’s Jimmy Guterman on the GrammyCast: “the record industry is still run by people still trying to sell older music to older people.”
He rightly points out how sales charts in other countries reflect online sales, which is one reason why bands like Snow Patrol are under the radar in the U.S.
And while the media would love to paint the Dixie Chicks’ five Grammy wins as a triumph over Red State politics, the reality is this: The Dixie Chicks have alienated what was once their core audience, while the core group of listeners that might be inclined to agree with their ideology just isn’t into their music. Doesn’t mean they still can’t do well, but they’re still going to have to deal with lowered expectations.
Technorati Tags: music business, dixie chicks, grammys
2 responses
Respectfully disagree with some of this. First of all, nothing is wrong with “selling older music to older people.” Older people are an audience too…but of course, that wasn’t really the point, which was the lack of inclusivity in the Grammies. But that is nothing new, just the same old same old. About the Dixie Chicks, they did have a successful if not smash tour with warm audiences and did in the end wind up with a lot of Grammies. I don’t think the relative level vis a vis the original country music audience is important at all. Point is, they kept it real, and thereby found their best audience. Same lesson as for us all: better a small, true audience than a fake, fragile, artifically marketing-inflated one.
[…] I caught a little heat for using the phrase, “selling older music to older people.” I was actually quoting Jimmy Guterman from PaidContent, who was commenting on the aging hipster element at the Grammy Awards. While there really is […]