Manufactured Musicians

When we look at the history of music we can see a major difference in what we hear now and what was heard in the past. Music has the power to change people and the way they see things, and the power to bring a group of people together. Many years ago, music was perceived as more of an art form. Sadly, it is slowly losing its characteristic as an art form. Music has always been seen similar to any other art form; a creative expression of the person creating it and solely created by themselves unless collaborated on. When we compare that to what we hear today, it is almost completely the opposite. Very rarely do we hear songs on the radio that are created solely and originally by that artist, and very rarely are the sounds and voices we hear completely that artist alone. Many of these artists heard on the radio are what I refer to as “manufactured musicians.” Looking back to the early days of music, there were few people aspiring to be musicians and to write songs just for the money they could earn. Professional entertainers were not common, and they were not there to solely make money. Now, it seems like that is all they want to do. Performers back then were not focused on the money they could make from entertaining. They were focused on expressing themselves as artists and showing what they believe in through their artistry. Nowadays, we can plainly see that these modern pop artists are solely focused on the money they can earn. They are not wanting to express themselves, but instead they are willing to do anything it takes to sell more albums and move higher on the charts. Granted, there are still some artists on the radio and in the spotlight that are in it to express themselves and show their artistry. But it is a dying concept. Another dying concept of music is a pure sound. Many, if not all of the music we hear has been