The Music Industry: It’s over.
Im gonna break from the Favorite Albums of the 2000’s series to talk abt a few topics…
First up. The music industry as we know it is a wrap.
Let’s take a moment to be honest about what is happening here.
if you are doing music in any professional capacity right now, make sure that you are doing it because you love the craft.
If you are doing music because you dream of fame and riches, do yourself a favor and stop.
If you’re a great singer and you’re gearing up for American Idol tryouts–save your energy and talent. That shit a TV show. Period. It IS NOT a singing competition.
The music industry has done itself in. The cold, hard facts of it all is that good music and musical talent count for jack shit these days. While there have ALWAYS been successful acts who are mostly style over substance in popular music, we are now in an era where marketability is the MAIN factor in getting over in the industry.
and 9 times out of 10, even THAT wont blow you up.
It doesnt matter anymore whether your music is good or if you have any talent. Even if you have the marketability, that will only get you so far.
Tastemakers run the music industry these days, both mainstream and underground. So no matter how good you are or are not, it will be for naught unless a person of influence of some sort co-signs you or takes you under their wing. Which is nothing new, but the bad part is that most of the current tastemakers are douchebags with awful taste in music and culture. More on that later.
Even if THAT happens, the public still has to buy into your hype and that, my friends, is a variable that NO ONE can control.
Now, let’s be square here. This is not coming from a place of bitterness or frustration. In no way am I tryna piss on your dreams, kids. Check out Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, he’s a mutli platinum artist and producer, he will tell you the somewhat the same thing here.
This is just the pure, hard reality of the industry climate right now. Me personally, I’m satisfied with the way my music career is progressing. I make the music I want and it stands or falls on its own merit. Whatever mistakes are made, I take responsibility and learn from the experience. I knew what I was getting into going in. I dont harbor dreams of limos, industry parties, and pretending to be annoyed by the paparazzi. I’m not that kind of person and I dont need that kind of validation.
But there are many cats out there who do need that, and DON’T know what they’re getting into. The dreamers are still out there, and they still believe in the Cinderella fairytale.
Now what DOES concern me is how the music industry will rebuild itself. While the old industry business model had huge flaws, it still had legitimate purpose.
While the underground cats were whooping it up a cpl years ago celebrating the fall of the major label system, they were missing the big picture. When one system fails, another system must take its place. As of yet, no one has presented a BETTER business model than the one we had before. Is there one? Of course. Has it been implemented or even proposed? Shit, no. Not even close.
The internet changed the game completely. Before that, a personal computer was mostly just a trinket only useful for business, science, and educational purposes. With the advent of the internet, social networking, and inexpensive professional audio/visual technology, making a studio quality record and package has become feasible for the everyman. The personal computer quickly became a staple of everyday life and it empowered and connected the unheard masses. Independent music used to have the stigma of inferior quality and presentation because the musicians involved did not have access to the tools that the pros had.
Now you can record your album on your laptop and have it sound pristine. You dont have to worry about rushing because you dont have money for blocks of studio time. You or your graphic artist friend can put up a website and design the packaging. With a few clicks, your album can be available for sale or free download all over the world for anyone who wants it. Fuck the major labels. Sweet, right?
Wrong.
With any professional craft, there is a bar of entry. A set of requirements or skill level you must meet in order to practice said craft on a professional level. If you play sports, you must prove yourself in smaller capacities before being allowed to play professionally. The major label standard used to be that bar of entry for musicians. With the new DIY ethic in music, that bar has been far lowered if not completely obliterated. Now almost ANYONE can have a record in the marketplace.
The problem here is that we now have a glut of highly visible, commercially available, independent music of wildly varying quality. So there’s alot of wack ass music to sort through. How do you find the good stuff? The die hards say, “GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASS AND SEARCH!…”
Well, you could do that. But the thing that theyre missing is that the average person isnt that passionate about music. Sure, people LIKE music, they may even LOVE it, but its not a driving factor in their everyday lives. Teenagers may consume music voraciously, but they need music to be presented to them. The majors have that market sewed up. Adults have lives. Jobs, children, spouses, finances, career, homes, etc. Those lives cut down on the disposable income one has to go out and take a chance on buying a terrible record, or to splurge on music in general. Those lives also cut down on the time one has to devote to looking for the perfect beat.
This is why the major label system worked for so long. They have money. Lots of it. They have power and influence. The service that the major label system provided for the average music fan was this:
-Discover talented person
-Supply talented person with the best of what they needed to present their talent(studios, producers, songwriters, musicians, instruments, etc…)
-develop talented person to be presentable and understandable to the masses
-introduce talented person to the masses
-generate interest in talented person through promotion (concerts, television appearances, press, radio)
In short, the majors delivered the good shit to your doorstep…you didnt have to search for the new hot shit cuz it was on the radio, on TV, in magazines, at the local concert hall opening for your favorite artist…the poster is in the record store, the artist themselves are even in the record store…
All of that takes money and influence–which the majors have in abundance.
out of the millions of aspiring musicians, the major picked the best and brightest and said to you, “HEY! This cat is DOPE! Youre gonna love their music!…”. if you wanted a taste, all you had to do was turn on the radio or check out Ed Sullivan, or American Bandstand or Soul Train.
Now, let’s keep it one hunnid. There are many flaws and loopholes (too many to go into detail here) in that system that would allow a truly talented artist to get passed by or slip through the cracks or to allow some half-talent to blow up. But for the most part, that was a solid business model. Pick a talent, groom them, then tell the world about them.
It just so happened that the industry got extremely arrogant at the same time that the internet was coming to power. Music sales were at an all time high in the 90’s. The money was rolling in hand over fist. The majors decided to follow the money. They got rid of the record/music/creative people and hired a bunch of suits to mind the bottom line. The majors believed that they could sell water (wack ass artists) to a well (an easily manipulated herd mentality public). Two things shattered that dream. George W. Bush and Napster. With Dubya came an America that was vulnerable enough to allow 9/11 to happen, effectively ending the peace and prosperity of the Clinton era. Napster allowed listeners to not have to pay for the amazingly shitty records that the industry was pumping out. You could get the 2 or 3 jams off the albums and be done with it, saving yourself a bundle. it doesn’t help that the industry thought it was smart to eliminate singles a short time prior to the sea change in American lifestyle.
Even worse, now we face the mentality that “music is free”. Many people have become cynical to the point that they believe it is their RIGHT to get music without paying for it. They feel no shame in stealing music and do not attempt to fill the artist’s coffers in other ways. They ignore the fact that any artistic endeavors must be patronized in order to survive.
Fact: Manufacturing ANYTHING requires an investment.
Even if an artist is completely DIY, they must pay for:
-equipment/instruments
-musicians/featured guest artist appearances
-computer
-internet access
-software
-electricity
-distribution fees/expenses
-pressing CD’s and promotional materials
-living expenses (food, clothes, bills)
Snidely, these people say, “WELL, TOUR TO MAKE YOUR MONEY!”
L-O-fuckingL.
How do you tour when you cant afford to make a record? Who will book you if no one knows who you are? Who will pay for hotels, transportation, and food? Who will come to the shows???
Music is NOT free. The experience of ENJOYING MUSIC is free. The rest of it has a bill attached to it. Even going to a club to dance has a price tag.
Shit, it takes money to even LISTEN to music. You gotta get that mp3/CD player/computer from somewhere.
So. It’s over.
The majors are sitting still while everything burns down around them. Independent artists are just faces in a crowd. A really big fucking crowd.
So let’s say that you overcome these obstacles. You got records out. You play shows. You got buzz (read: co-signage from a tastemaker).
We still got that one variable. The public.
Easy, right? Give em good music and youre all set, right?
Wrong again.
Today’s 20 yr old was born in 1990. Which means that they’ve been raised listening to the rapidly devolving crud that passes for popular music all of their lives. The last musical movement of any real significance was grunge. Grunge was dead by 1995. After that, manufactured pop has dominated since then. After grunge, we got stuff like Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Britney Spears, and the like. That same manufactured vibe permeated all other genres of popular music. Hip-Hop relinquished its underground status, sold out, and became the pop music of the early millennium. R&B went pop. Country went pop. Jazz continued it downward spiral. No one cared about art anymore. Artists and execs only cared about numbers–and because of the internet, numbers became important to listeners, too.
So back to that 20 yr old. He dictates the direction the people with the money will go in because he consumes the most music, whether he paid for it or not. The problem is he has been raised listening to garbage (and I dont mean the band of the same name). His musical tastes are horrid because they are not based on musical quality. His musical tastes are shaped by conformity, sensationalism, spectacle, tabloid culture, branding, and cult of personality. This kind of kid is the one who ends up being the aforementioned tastemaker in the industry.
You want to win over the public with your original, skilled, and heartfelt music? Good luck, my friend.
And the underground doesn’t really exist anymore. The underground value system and aesthetics are basically the same as the mainstream now. The only difference between being underground and mainstream these days is number of records sold.
As far as numbers go, right now, even your big mainstream acts are only selling a few hundred thousand, AT BEST. There are only a handful or artists seeing platinum.
here are some figures from a recent Soundscan chart:
1 BOYLE*SUSAN I DREAMED A DREAM 136,566 -73 510,166 3,103,828
2 LADY GAGA FAME 82,148 -51 168,568 2,387,666
3 KEYS*ALICIA ELEMENT OF FREEDOM 79,801 -71 279,584 779,093
4 BLIGE*MARY J. STRONGER 62,181 -81 330,354 394,005
5 SWIFT*TAYLOR FEARLESS 59,701 -73 224,270 5,329,167
6 BIEBER*JUSTIN MY WORLD 51,837 -67 156,789 727,914
8 BLACK EYED PEAS E.N.D. (ENERGY NEVER DIES) 47,190 -55 104,050 1,786,825
9 LADY GAGA FAME MONSTER (8 TRK) 44,212 -62 115,482 570,475
11 GLEE CAST GLEE: THE MUSIC, V2 43,791 -57 101,920 429,206
12 YOUNG MONEY WE ARE YOUNG MONEY 43,195 -70 142,118 185,696
13 EMINEM RELAPSE 40,862 -68 127,625 1,735,358
14 RIHANNA RATED R 39,571 -56 90,727 498,595
15 BUBLE*MICHAEL CRAZY LOVE 35,021 -74 136,628 1,222,070
16 VARIOUS NOW 32 34,547 -63 93,133 674,654
17 UNDERWOOD*CARRIE PLAY ON 33,501 -78 152,873 1,183,086
18 GLEE CAST GLEE: THE MUSIC V1 32,105 -64 88,865 641,933
19 MAYER*JOHN BATTLE STUDIES 31,826 -65 90,342 698,068
20 LADY ANTEBELLUM LADY ANTEBELLUM 26,810 -68 83,874 1,351,745
21 THICKE*ROBIN SEX THERAPY: THE EXPERIENCE 25,820 -58 60,828 209,824
22 JACKSON*MICHAEL MICHAEL JACKSON’S THIS IS IT 25,254 -77 108,776 1,287,045
23 JAY-Z BLUEPRINT 3 24,830 -58 58,730 1,514,758
24 KINGS OF LEON ONLY BY THE NIGHT 22,794 -47 43,164 1,708,713
25 BROWN*ZAC BAND FOUNDATION 20,953 -66 62,264 1,456,148
27 NEW MOON (TWILIGHT) SOUNDTRACK 20,393 -76 83,491 964,575
30 JONES*NORAH FALL 19,525 -77 86,260 629,450
33 JACKSON*MICHAEL NUMBER ONES 17,958 -70 58,923 4,063,578
34 BOCELLI*ANDREA MY CHRISTMAS 17,768 -94 283,683 2,207,202
35 GUCCI MANE STATE VS. RADRIC DAVIS 17,704 -58 42,176 191,076
36 LAMBERT*ADAM FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT 17,236 -72 61,683 433,834
37 BROWN*CHRIS GRAFFITI 16,903 -72 60,364 232,908
40 SWIFT*TAYLOR TAYLOR SWIFT 15,858 -65 45,935 4,622,024
41 BEYONCE I AM…SASHA FIERCE 15,321 -56 35,184 2,658,822
42 50 CENT BEFORE I SELF-DESTRUCT 15,266 -47 28,950 349,153
43 SONGZ*TREY READY 15,130 -45 27,333 438,434
44 RUCKER*DARIUS LEARN TO LIVE 14,785 -70 49,586 1,240,902
45 CYRUS*MILEY TIME OF OUR LIVES EP 14,690 -78 67,653 1,212,336
46 NICKELBACK DARK HORSE 14,685 -59 35,456 2,533,617
So yeah, man. Its over. At least the way that we know it.
However, there is SOME hope. That hope lies in the ability of someone, whomever that may be, to promote GOOD music (there’s TONS of good music out there going completely unnoticed) again and creating a new retail model to make that good music attractive again. Promoting bad music is how we got here in the first place. That is how we lost the listener’s trust and good faith. Retail and industry would have to come together to make that good music affordable, interactive, and widely available.
The prices have to come down, point blank. CDs should be $5 dollars instead of $10 (it can happen…rmbr in the 90’s when CDs were $15?) and even LESS for digital copies (I’d say $3).
Digital copies need to have downloadable artwork, liner notes, and interactive content. Like what we did with Sinister Beauty, even though we may not have been the first to do that (*pops collar*, and I see some folks have followed suit).
People like vinyl for various reasons. So the industry is smart in bringing it back, but the prices need to come down on that, too. I’d say $10–$12 max.
Record stores are gone, but they need to come back. I suggest the mainstream/corporate stores carry ONLY the Soundscan top 200 and the top 20 in other genres(jazz, latin, dance, country, etc.). That way, they can have better control of inventory and returns. These mainstream stores should offer to special order ANYTHING that is commercially available. They should also sell any digital music that is available. There should be a checkout station for digital music where a customer can tell a cashier what they want, pay for it, then have the cashier upload the purchase to a reusable download card or USB that will allow the consumer to put the music and content(liners, pictures, etc.) on their computer OR have the content uploaded to their listening device right then and there if they choose. Even better, buy a digital album in the store and send it to any email address you choose.
There should be small specialty stores for mainstream and underground records in specific genres/niches. A store that does only metal, a store for only country, a store for only jazz, hip-hop, dance, etc…These store should carry the vinyl for the top selling releases and of course, do special orders. Diggin spots (aka used record stores) should handle mostly catalogue stuff, thus driving up traffic for them because the Top 200 stores wont have that inventory. This saves consumers the headache not knowing where to go for what they want and saves store owners from deciding what to stock. Again, both the mainstream and specialty stores need to be JUST big enough to fit shoppers and inventory comfortably. The only stores with size should be the diggin/catalogue stores. No more mega stores–too much overhead.
People will never tire of the hands on shopping experience. Its in the human nature to look and touch. So bringing record stores back in a SMART way can only help.
We need record people (aka A&R) again (see my next blog) on both a mainstream and underground level. Those label people who will seek out the good shit at shows, parties, online, and through submissions to sign, DEVELOP, and thoroughly promote artists that have the potential to build a long lasting career.
Its going to take people with vision, loot, and courage to make it happen…and I think it will happen.
I dont have all the answers, but I do believe these are starts to a new and successful industry model. Don’t completely destroy the old model, just modify it and eliminate the parts that don’t work.
Until then, people, all we can do is stop living by the old ways, stop believing in fairy tales, keep grinding, and continue to make, BUY, and spread the word about the best music we can.
I look forward to your comments.
Peace,
Scorp
This was great. I look forward to reading more of your blog entries
very excellent read. a lot of fact and thought provoking solutions to the problems the music industry is faced with. i do music because i love it. point blank. if something comes of it.. great. if not, that’s cool too. i’ll still turn on my equipment and create.
Im subscribing to your blog, bruh. Good stuff. Thanks for reading.
I tell people all the time. Stop waiting for the Fairy Godexec. You got music? Put it out. It’s easy these days. But yeah, you got it right. Do what you do and let the chips fall where they may.
Wonderful to see people thinking on the solution rather than just the problem! I truly appreciated ur point of view and the HONEST FACTOR! We need more of that! Thank u for sharing..I will continue to plug in to be fed!!More Power!!
Thank you for reading. I think its crucial for musicians to think of ways to capatalize on the fall of the majors. We might not get this chance again.
I like what you’re sayin’ for the most part. BUT, there’s a few things I disagree with, and i’ll address it from two different perspectives.
As your bandmate, and the other half of the WinMoMusic enterprise, dropping the price of vinyl is a Herculean feat, son. For ONE thing, people who buy wax are mostly DJ’s. Vinyl isn’t really a listeners medium like it used to be, so there’s not a lot of demand for it. AND turntable manufacturers are scaling back ( you’ve heard all the “Technics is ceasing production on the 1210’s” rumors, I’m sure), so pressing vinyl is pretty much a losing effort from jump, so you’re asking labels to lose even MORE money to appeal to a niche crowd. Now, to be fair, i ALWAYS look for shit on vinyl first, but I realize that if something DOES get pressed on vinyl, I got lucky if I got a hold to it. Don’t believe all the “vinyl is back” hype. It’s just hipsterism, and the fad will die out just like all this 80’s fetishism. Real heads still buy wax, but there aren’t a lot of us out here. And let’s be real. Would a Trey Songz fan *really* spend the afternoon sitting in front of a turntable playing that record? The art of LISTENING to music has been eradicated by portability. So to ask that aforementioned 20 year old to go from an iPod ( with instant skippability and song access, not to mention the mobility ) to a turntable, (where you’re more or less stationary, and are obligated to listen to a recording in it’s entirety) is pretty much out of the question. Personally, I think anybody who can’t sit still and listen to a phonograph record for an hour is an idiot, but that’s neither here nor there…
and here’s the other perspective:
Now, as a Consumer, it would REALLY piss me off if I had to go from shop to shop to buy different genres of music. I like the IDEA of a store being dedicated to a specific genre, but I would HATE to spend the day bouncing from shop to shop ( which would become a reality to those of us who like different styles of music).Perhaps a better solution would be to actually label shit correctly and hire clerks who know what the hell they’re talking about.
but yeah…you’re onto something. Good read, Bro-ham.
-Disco of the WinMo
Very nice article. I’ll be sure to bookmark this blog.
The only way music will be saved is if there is a next megastar or revolutionary artist that comes out a changes the whole game. MJ was the last person to do that. The music industry is filled with knockoff. These artist (the popular ones particularly beyonce) simply copy those from the past and add no originality to their music. Sampling is rampant. Autotune has taken over and has successfully masked mediocre vocal ability. Unless someone come out as takes control of the present technolohy and changes the potentials for music to be heard, music will stay on it’s current path. With all these knock off like JT, Chris Brown, Usher, Beyonce and Rihanna music will go nowhere at this rate.
Well, when I came up with those figures, I was thinking about what it actually costs to manufacture CDs and vinyl. According to this NYT article, manufacturing one CD costs in the range of .75 to $1.40 depending of various factors. So the markup is sizeable, meaning that major label can afford to lower prices. They’ve done it before. For a hot minute not too long ago, the majors were offering new artist CDs for $6-7 dollars.
Vinyl cost about .70 to manufacture. Also, major labels are easing up on the price of digital albums. iTunes has offerd albums by acts like Common for $1 for a limited time. Last week I saw an ad for Selena Gomez’ (Disney artist) on iTunes for $2.99.
Will the labels lose money? Sort of. Lowering prices will mean reducing their profit margin, but they wont take a loss. In other words, they can afford it.
As far as the resurgence of vinyl, is some of it due to nostalgia? Sure. However, there is a reason that vinyl have never ceased production like 8-Tracks, cassettes, LaserDiscs, VHS, and LaserDiscs. That reason is simple. People still buy it.
Best believe if there was NO money in vinyl, production would stop COLD. Don’t believe the hype that manufacturing vinyl is more trouble than its worth.
Let’s also not sell vinyl short. Vinyl has it perks. It is the best medium for DJing. The sound quality is still superior to any other sound medium. Also, if you dont outright abuse them, vinyl records last for a long time.
One of the ways that record companies can entice the buyer in these hard economic times is to drop prices. Most business people wont consider the strategy because they want to keep the profit margin high no matter what. But if one looks at the big picture, it can be a great way to increase sales, thereby offsetting the profit loss.
Look at Subway. They said, “fuck it. times is hard and people need to eat as cheaply as possible…” They dropped the price on a footlong to $5 and people flocked. Their competitors had to scramble to keep up. Same with McDonald’s and their Dollar Menu.
Lie I said before, even the music industry has done it. Best Buy killed the Mom and Pops by offering CDs for $9.99. The Mom and Pops had to much overhead to compete. there’s more to it than that, but you get th picture.
The industry doesnt really have a choice and theyre recognizing it now. Those prices are coming down. It has happened and it will continue to happen.
Look at us independent artists, we’ve been forced to GIVE our shit away. We cant even sell it. The market dictates. The merchant has to adapt or die. that’s how its always been.
As far as the record store thing. Sure it would be lovely to go to a well stocked with EVERYTHING from mainstream to underground with a knowledgeable staff to boot.
But let’s face it, that is simply a wet dream for music nerds like you and I. Those types of places are few and far between and struggling if theyre still in business. The sad ass truth is that Trey Songz keeps the lights on.
The further reality is that music consumers like you and I are in the serious minority. Furthermore, cats like us dont really purchase THAT much mainstream music at all. Nor do radioheads buy underground or independent music. No real music head has only ONE spot that covers all the bases. So why not divvy it up by consumer the way clothing stores do? There are cats that buy button up and khakis and there are cats that buy tshirts and jeans. They both have stores that cater to their tastes.
We dont complain about going to The Silver Room to get a Coltrane t-shirt and then going to Macy’s to buy button downs. If were already going to different stores to buy music, why not make it convenient? I’d rather go to a specialty store that I know for sure is going to have Keziah Jones record that I want rather than ramming my head against the wall with the blue shirts. Same thing if I want to buy my mom the new Najee record and having the folks at my favorite underground spot laugh in my face.
You bring up good points and this is the type of discussion I want to have. This type of dialogue is NEEDED for a new music business model to be hashed out and put into place. We definitely need to explore the pros and cons of any idea, because there will be pro, cons, and holes in any idea brought to the table. Thanks for pointing out the holes in the ideas I came up with.
Your Soul Brother and bandmate,
Scorp
Sister, that special talent IS out there, but theyre not even being considered by the major labels. And THAT is a huge part of the problem. A cat like like Prince wouldn’t get looked at twice these days, much less nurtured and pampered the way he did.
Look at Van Hunt, Bilal, etc. Mega talented and cut off at the knees in the major label system. Dilla died broke.
The majors have to stop playing it safe and find and AGGRESSIVELY promote artists who make truly satisfying music. the public plays along but in their hearts they know that the music is of inferior quality. That’s why they feel no guilt in stealing it.
A change gonna come.
The majors don’t have to do a damn thing. What I’ve noticed is that my favorite artists of yore tend to have this point of becoming absurdly obnoxious in personality, but much more tame musically; a point that just so happens to coincide with being signed. I’m pretty firmly against the notion that an artist sucks after blowing up because of blowing up, but I noticed this change before I had any idea that these people were newly signed. That, in and of itself, proves the current industry to be ill-equipped to handle gracious change.
Spending a bit of time watching the cats at Universal operate I learned something though. Its not music nerds that necessarily thrive in business environments. A passion for music is a must, yes, but the reality is that business people need to organize to make it happen. I’ve been thinking that new music commerce should work more like a branding agency– offering artists as brands, using music to promote the brand and generating revenue off add-on products. Its a just a thought for now because I know that kind of system only works with major backing. Money,yes, but more importantly support from the community. It’d be hot to see a solid organization of artists and professionals that worked together to find the best solutions and then provided them though…
“No more mega stores–too much overhead.”
While I understand the idea of the Top-10 or Pop 40 mainstream store and some specialty shops, that’s not going to happen. Walmart will be damned if some one is going to cut them out of a dollar.
Record stores coming back? What huhh? They’re not coming back to primarily sell records. That’s hustling backward. Maybe something similar to Starbucks where something else is your main source of income but you incorporate music into your business.
Overall cool article.
Wow M. Scorpeze – You have said a mouthful. Bittersweet. Thank you for your thoughtful insights. *consider yourself bookmarked for those who want some honesty within their musical aspiration* IMHO It is the money element ALL the way around … If I had it ($) I would share it with you in this dream for the future of music. I SO AGREE on the missing A&R element of music. The machination of the clones is heartbreaking. Grooming WAS key. I OFTEN think about what an awesome job Motown did with this, for their artists.
I truly miss the mid 80’s – mid 90’s music scene. The future looks bright if someone takes you up on this mission. It is not impossible …
Feeling out of place, due to my taste(s) ; )
A new fan,
Lisa
~BTW, so glad a friend shared this on Facebook and will be subscribing to your blog. ~
Good to have you back Scorp. Very good analysis on the record industry, I’m turning twenty this year and a lot of the acts I notice are good but some just don’t have that “umphh!!” factor. So I’ll usually go underground and stick to a few mainstream acts instead of the other way around and plenty of old school. Hopefully it will fix itself with help and get better.