I warmly recommend this article:
Anna Eriksson oli iskelmätaivaan supertähti, mutta kärsi joka hetkestä
Even if I don't necessarily agree with everything she still has very solid, well thought out points. Would recommend it to non-Finns as well, but you probably have no clue who she is, no cultural context to put this into, and probably don't understand Finnish well enough to understand what she talks about. And no, I sure as hell ain't gonna translate it, as it is pretty long :)
Can you do a short synopsis of it (in English)?
ReplyDeleteJust the main stuff?
Tried to bypass the whole thing (damn it's long!!) into Google translator, from Suomi to English. Most part of it still doesn't make any sense (according to Google, seems like in Finnish you don't use articles and change the gender of words randomly XD). What I managed to sort out is something about being a popstar and being exploited inhumanly by music business and then thrown away. Is that correct?
ReplyDeleteNope. The message is that music industry is full of shit and all the singers are like little puppets who do the exact thing the "bosses" say they should do. All the music is already written and done and the singer does nothing except use their voice. And now Anna is creating her music from the scratch, melodies, lyrics, everything, because she's had enough of this bullshit (also known as music industry) and she's so much happier now. And that is the path the music industry should take, but no, all that matters is that you create something that sells(a lot). I hope this helped you even a bit to understand what the main message was at the article!
DeleteIt helped a lot indeed! Thanks! :)
DeleteSo what can I say.. This Anna is totally right. She's taken the right way, absolutely. I think it's a problem of every music business, all around the world. Here in Italy it's EXACTLY the same. For me, the only idea of being famous for playing/singing something I didn't write at all (nor music nor lyrics) it's simply silly and nonsense. Maybe someone would tell me "You speak like this cause you are nobody, but if you were in her shoes you'd sold yourself as well" I could say yes, I'm nobody, I can't imagine how could it be to feel like a famous rockstar, but I'm totally sure I'd never do such things cause I care enough for honesty and mental-sanity.
I failed to see the point. She comes across as pretentious and whiny. A misunderstood artist who sneers at everything commercial? Wow so original, as if people were too dumb to understand her art. Um, no. Either the "art" sucks or it's poorly marketed... or both.
ReplyDeleteIMO she's the one who's underestimating the public by claiming they're daft sheep with no taste. Nobody manipulates the audience to buying into shit like Vain Elämää. People simply liked it: for some reason it resonated with them. The record company milked it, people got what they wanted, the artists got paid. What's wrong with that and what makes her shit any different or better? It's so easy to feel special by dissing something wildly popular :)
It's confusing how she complains about getting paid too little and then whines about record companies only putting out shit that sells. Now, does she want money or doesn't she? A record company is not a charity but a business. By definition a business puts out shit that SELLS, so that everyone, including the artist, gets MONEY. If she wasn't paid enough for performing when she was da hot shit, it sounds like she (or her manager) lacked negotiation skills. Being an artist is a choice, much like being an entrepreneur. Want an easy profession? Go work in a fucking office :)
And the talk about record companies squeezing artists into a mold... well ok it's a bad marketing approach, can't see why they'd do it. The audience is not that dumb, they'll sense unauthenticity. On the contrary the focus should be on uniqueness: 1) understanding the unique essence of the artist, 2) finding the specific audience with whom the artist will strike a chord, 3) reaching out to that audience and communicating the artist's essence in a consistent & customized manner.
Btw it's frustrating for a marketing/PR person when you only want the artist to succeed, but the artist has the "you businesspeople are evil greedy pieces of shit who understand nothing about art" attitude :) LOL but whatever :)
That's what you got from that? Did we read the same article? Well, whatever, it's too early in the morning for me start combing through the article and your response to make a coherent comment about it.
DeleteIs it news to you that there might be different perspectives to the same story? :) Opinions are like arseholes etc., and that was only the POV of someone with a business background. It wasn't meant to piss you off but to present an alternative view. I could've put it far less bluntly, but you tend to put things very bluntly yourself so why bother :)
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