quoted 8 lines And regarding the ongoning MTV/sell-out/etc. debate - as the message
>And regarding the ongoning MTV/sell-out/etc. debate - as the message
>someone pulled from the '94 archives proves, this argument has been going
>on for far too long. Yeah, schmoes like The Prodigy are going to be big
>and will "bring techno to the masses", blah blah blah. So fuckin' what?
>The "underground" ain't gonna go away. Labels like Spymania and Skam and
>Chrome and all the rest of 'em will still exist in one form or another,
>givin' us the good stuff. In fact, they'll probably work *harder* to push
>the envelope as the mainstream appropriates more of the culture.
Well I'd like to think so but history kind of goes against this. There
were at various times thriving independent scenes (particularily the late
80s alternative indie rock scene) that mouthed off a lot about not
selling out and all that. When given the chance, the bands and the
indie labels signed deals and switched over and made much more radio
friendly material than they ever had in the past. New bands came into a
changed more commerical atmosphere and simply followed suit trying to get
the big label hook up and in general ignoring their audiences in favor of
playing for the business. Now the vast network of indie rock businesses
(stores, distributors, labels, merchandising) are mostly gone, all
bankrupt or signed and sucked up into corporate situations and in general
playing the corporate game despite their best intentions.
If you think the dance electronic scene is different, keep in mind that
punk/indie was far more political and vocal (naturally ;) ).
My main point here is that as various business decide to take the easy
route and work with the corporations, the economic infrastructure of the
scene disappears and the businesses collapse. The independent techno
scene (including stuff like Warp) exists because there are some big hits
going through the industry. The little labels don't support the
distributors, the big labels do. When stuff like that goes through Major
label distribution channels, the capital is no longer there to continue
doing risk free independant distribution. And it all starts to dry up.
Just to confuse matters, I would like to point out that you can't take a
fucking shit on this planet without involving the economic vitality of a
major corporation. Don't squeeze the charmin kids.
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Chris Sattinger
new records : Headspace / Synewave/ Subvoice
NEW RELEASES - DISCOGRAPHY - INFO
http://www.tc.umn.edu/nlhome/m082/satti002/ChrisSattinger.html
US Techno House Business Resource :
http://www.tc.umn.edu/nlhome/m082/satti002/DanceLabel.html
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