The Buying and Selling of Music

Personally, I feel that the influence money has on the music industry has caused bands with original sounds to have trouble making money with their unique music. The mainstream music, in the respective genres, all sound so similar, and that is what the corporate producers are doing to the artists these days. If there is a particular sound that is selling, then the large producers are going to try and produce music that will sell, so artists will have to change their sounds, or they won't make any money. One example that is fresh in my mind, is the Avett Brothers. I would classify them as an Alt. Rock trio with a kind of strong bluegrass influence. They have guitar, banjo, and upright bass, and they use vocal harmonies similar to that of bluegrass. They used to be on a smaller label, but their last album was with Columbia records, and even produced by Rick Ruben, a large name in music production. And to me, their new album doesn't have that "raw" sound that they used to, and are overproduced. While there are some elements from their past, it just seems like this change to the large label has caused them to change to what would be more popular. As I said in my last post, a lot of music has lost its purity because of the drive for higher record sales. Also, everyone turns to those "unheard" bands who have a unique sound, or small following, but the sad thing is that as more people get into those bands, the higher chance there is for them to turn to a major label, and possibly change the sound that everyone originally loves.