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Instead of thinking only of themselves, everyone should focus on the growth of the scene and the evolution of Metal in the market and in society.”
Instead of thinking only of themselves, everyone should focus on the growth of the scene and the evolution of Metal in the market and in society.”
By Bruno Melo
Listening to music on smartphones, tablets, and other digital platforms; downloading from various websites and getting firsthand news about album releases and concerts through social media. This has become routine for every fan of any musical style in this new generation known as "Y". However, in this individualism, we don't realize how much work goes into creating the material we consume daily, giving no financial return and not even any feedback to those responsible for our daily satisfaction.
This happens because of the volatility of consumption of cultural productions, within a true "production anarchy," caused by the logic of commodification in our globalized economy. In other words, the current level of consumption is ever increasing, as is the demand from consumers, to keep up with the "monstrous" growth of the recording industry in its digital format. Therefore, significant changes are necessary in the economic structure that provides our moments of ecstasy through headphones, and also in the circulation of capital for those who decide to venture into this area, which we can say includes countless musicians, producers, entrepreneurs, etc.
Heavy Metal and Rock'n Roll are currently undergoing changes that worry and discredit many of their fans, especially the older ones. Bands like Black Sabbath and AC/DC are expected to end their activities as soon as their respective tours are over, and Motörhead has already ended after the tragic death of Ian Fraser Kilmister. Now the question remains: who will occupy the thrones of these legends? Which songs produced today can be considered world anthems? In recent years we have seen that there are bands capable of occupying these spaces, bands that possess the talent and competence to take on the leading role of the avant-garde of the new generation.
I suggest something simple: a change in attitude from everyone involved with the industry, whether passively or actively
I suggest something simple: a change in attitude from everyone involved with the industry, whether passively or actively
But then we return to the economic aspect; nowadays, a song doesn't stay at the top of the charts (popularity) as long as it used to. This is due to the increasingly rapid flow of consumption and the promotion of a huge number of artists. This causes bands and songs to "come and go" on the most popular lists very frequently, and there's no focus on who will consolidate and maintain production in the industry. It is in the face of this problem that I suggest something simple, yet laborious, to be put into practice: a change in attitude from everyone involved with the industry, whether passively or actively.
We must discuss the behavior that most bands are exhibiting in their songwriting and the intensity with which they are producing new material. We've noticed that many of the bands acclaimed as "the new generation that will keep heavy metal alive" are actually producing their material solely to satisfy the commitment of the musicians involved. In other words, as if they were doing it only for themselves. This is a recurring problem in our scene, where the distrust of bands and musicians towards success becomes so great that they no longer care about production to the point of not caring about criticism and fan opinions on their latest releases.
The right way to compose new material that wins over the audience and keeps the band true to its musical vision is something that has long been demonstrated by the great names of Heavy Metal, and to illustrate this I will quote a passage from a Manowar song:
We are fighting alone for the true metal.
We hold the right to live the fight, we are here for all of you.
Now swear that the blood in your steel will never dry.
Rise and fight together under the sky of battle.
We hold the right to live the fight, we are here for all of you.
Now swear that the blood in your steel will never dry.
Rise and fight together under the sky of battle.
The song is the classic " Warriors of the World ," and if we consider it carefully, there lies the central point of the critique that should be made of modern Metal: working for the growth of Metal in general, and not only in the individual aspect. If we take the first verse of the excerpt and combine it with the last, we see a direct message that every band that joins the scene should keep in mind. The most important thing is not the success to be achieved, but how the band will work towards it. And instead of thinking only of themselves, everyone should focus on the growth of the scene and the evolution of Metal in the market and in society. Besides the bands, other sectors need to adopt this posture to better fulfill their role in music.
Business owners and those responsible for the financial side must also have this commitment. Of course, "business is business," but that doesn't mean a band should abandon its commitment to its fans, who have always encouraged and supported it, in order to "sell out" to the demands of an industry thirsty for a commercial audience. I think it's appropriate to cite the trajectory of Metallica, which, despite being a successful band and having conquered a large space in the industry, still basically lives off the successes it had in the 80s, even with the release of several other albums in the 90s and the highly acclaimed "Black Album." In other words, all financial and entrepreneurial planning must be based on loyalty to the scene, and not to a handful of investors who have never "had the luxury" of listening to Metal in their lives.
The current generation is content with simply downloading and listening to thirty seconds of a song to "evaluate" whether what they are hearing is good or not
The current generation is content with simply downloading and listening to thirty seconds of a song to "evaluate" whether what they are hearing is good or not
There's another important part of the Metal scene that often goes unnoticed because it's always behind the scenes: the music producers. Always hidden and behind the great works in the world of Rock. Their role is often to assist and help in the production of bands, but they must also be knowledgeable about the music itself, since being just a general music expert, especially in Heavy Metal, doesn't mean much. They must also be aware of: what the fans who dedicate their lives to it want to hear, what the band has in its inspirations to show the world, the trends within this market, putting it all together and arriving at the right point of how to help musicians compose their repertoires.
And finally, the audience, one of the most questionable pillars and with great deficiencies in interpreting the globalization process we are experiencing, even though it is one of the main agents of this process. Currently, digital tools allow us to discover a range of bands that wouldn't even fit in the internal memory of our computers. However, the way the audience has participated in the scene and supported those responsible for their satisfaction has been far below what they are capable of and could be doing. Instead of attending live shows, buying merchandise, interacting on social media, and even participating and contributing professionally to the growth of music, we see quite the opposite.
The current generation is content to only download, listen to thirty seconds of a song to "evaluate" whether what they are hearing is good or not, and follow their idols only through digital means without leaving home.
To summarize the difficulties and solutions to this potential crisis in the metal world, we will use the key word: attitude. This "norm of procedure that leads to a certain behavior" (significados.com) is what keeps Heavy Metal alive today and is what is needed for it to establish itself stably for the current generation. This is the dilemma of change that headbangers worldwide are currently experiencing, which will only be changed by those who still have enough energy to persevere in the coming years, because those who no longer have this ability have already done their part.
*This text was written by a Wikimate and does not necessarily represent the opinions of the site's authors.
