Janet's Interview w/ SOHH

[wannabestartinsomthin21]

Excellent post Irish Flower. You are completely right. Another point about buying CD's over downloads is, the sound quality is simply better on an audio CD as opposed to an MP3. Plus the entire experience of buying a quality piece of artwork, which is what a real artists CD is, and adding it to your collection.

Downloads are paritially so popular because people know that when they buy albums now, 99% of the it is going to be trash with MAYBE one or two decent songs on the entire thing, and people don't want to spend $18.00 of something that's not even worth $1.00. Artists like Michael create albums where every song is a piece of art and it essentially makes the album priceless, so spending $18.00 is nothing for what you get in return.

 

[arXter]

i assume by "real music" you mean more acoustic instrumentation?

and if you think people want more acoustic instrumentation, then why are all the big sales going directly to electronic dance music like hip-hop, pop and such?

otherwise if by "real music" you mean better overall composition, genres and talent, then tell me why such talents (old and new) are being drowned by the likes of Rihanna and Soulja Boy. people buy this ****..

but it's virtually all about marketing in today's music. and it's still thriving, digitally. a number of tracks on Discipline are quality tunes that i would never write off as anything but "real music" whatever you mean by that - it's Pop tunes that i will go back and listen to in the future.

 

[wannabestartinsomthin21]

12 year old's are buying it. That's who the industry is mainly catering to now. Record sales are down big time. That can't be denyed. Music today largely lacks any kind of real melody, it lacks genuinely good vocalists, a lot of hit songs sound like nothing more then a 4 minute hook with repetitive and boring beats. Music just sucks now. I haven't heard Janet's new CD, so I can't comment on that, but in general, main stream music today is horrible.

 

[arXter]

having just come back from a first year uni halls of residence, i can tell you at first hand experience that it's most def not just 12 year olds who are listening to this **** lol

marketing doesn't have to mean that people either buy it or not - it means that what we see and hear on TV, in clubs, on the radio etc. will cause most to just get the tracks through free download methods. you can now just google in an album name followed by "rapidshare" and you'd get 30 options to download from, it's that easy.

so declining sales doesn't mean people aren't interested, because commercialism is still working on them, no doubt about it.

 

[wannabestartinsomthin21]

Yes, to an extent. Illegal downloading is contributing. But it's also down because people don't want to buy entire albums if 9 out of 10 songs are total trash. Some people just don't know good music from bad, that's true. But a lot of it has to do with the production of quantity over quality these days. The industry is producing paper stars who can do a lot of things sort of okay, but can't do any one thing masterfully. And I think a lot of people are noticing that. Adults are noticing it, mature adults.

 

[arXter]

Yes, to an extent. Illegal downloading is contributing. But it's also down because people don't want to buy entire albums if 9 out of 10 songs are total trash.

well to a person like you who is enlightened and has taste, that is true lol but

Some people just don't know good music from bad, that's true.

, unfortunately!

And I think a lot of people are noticing that. Adults are noticing it, mature adults.

having come from a better musical age, i'm sure many would (any Pop period is better than this one right now imo). of course there are still **** loads of younger fans who explore the past and the underground without any care for the mainstream but unfortunately most don't have that effort and just want to blend in.

and marketing is ridin' this particular social department.

 

[wannabestartinsomthin21]

Yeah, very true. It's such a mess, lol. I hope people can at some point get their head's outta their assess and realize that they're listening to basically noise.

 

[TillitsGone]

Excellent post Irish Flower. You are completely right. Another point about buying CD's over downloads is, the sound quality is simply better on an audio CD as opposed to an MP3. Plus the entire experience of buying a quality piece of artwork, which is what a real artists CD is, and adding it to your collection.

Downloads are paritially so popular because people know that when they buy albums now, 99% of the it is going to be trash with MAYBE one or two decent songs on the entire thing, and people don't want to spend $18.00 of something that's not even worth $1.00. Artists like Michael create albums where every song is a piece of art and it essentially makes the album priceless, so spending $18.00 is nothing for what you get in return.

Which is why we have Mike in the studio at this moment bringing back what music is truly all about in the first place :yes:

And speaking from a 15 year old, I know what good music is, but with what is in the music in general now... I just can't handle it. I don't even watched music channels or listen to the radio as much as I used to, cuz there's always gonna be those songs that just make my ear bleed (Soulja boi :tickingtimebomb: )

People wanna buy something that was worth it, and the reason why records sales aren't as good as they used to be; sucky a** music by sucky a** artists! BRING THE MUSIC BACK!

And, just to say, I love Janet alot, and I believe she can sing and can make good music too. Though lately I just haven't been feeling her like I used to. I've been listening to Got Till Its gone, and its kinda sad knowing how things have turned out with music NOW. Nobody is wishing Janet bad luck or nothing like that, and we all love Janet, its just that at the end of the day, people want music worth listening too.

 

[noa2]

I like to think it's really about the songs and quite frankly she's not delivered any top songs in ages.


Good point irish, I didn't read your post before I posted mine. So we think the same.

 

[LovelyOne]

I didn't say she was talentless. Her strongest talent is her charisma. But that will only take you so far if you don't know how to continue to apply it, with her being weak in all other areas. She needs to drop the whole sex image thing because with people running around half her age, offering the same thing, who's gonna take her? It's not fair, but that's how it is.

Janet is too old to be singing about sex and posing half naked in videos and magazines. Janet's music is no longer believable. I liked her older music from "Control" and "Rhythm Nation" because I could relate to it. Back then, she sang about a variety of subjects and had a "sweet" image. Although she was not the greatest singer, people still bought her albums. Also, you could actually hear what she was singing. Today, however, her music is only about one thing...the s word. The pictures that she takes and the videos that she makes portray her as a whispering, middle aged, nympho. It is repulsive. Younger people would rather listen to the younger artists if they wanted to hear that kind of stuff. I would suggest that she tone down her image, get vocal lessons so that she can expand her range, and stop singing about sex.

The point is this album will not at the end of the year be platinum, so it will have been deemed a failure by the record company.

The sex-laiden songs and image is not working for Janet anymore, and that can't all there is to her as a person and an artist.

Luckily for her, she still does well touring, so I wish her luck on that.

So, it is OK for the 50 year old Madonna? With her "4 minutes"? Did you SEE what she was wearing in that video? Her song seems to be doing pretty good. It's working for HER, isnt' it?

I just don't understand why 40-something is considered as "old" to people, but whatever. I mean I'm nowhere near that age, and I don't even see it as old.

The problem with Janet is that it is not working for her. When Madonna came on the scene, everybody knew what she represented. She has not deviated from that.
Unfortunately, Janet came on the scene as someone who talk about issues. She was pristine. She changed. She is asking her audience to change with her and they are telling her no. She needs now to draw new fans but she is drawing from a pool of fans of other artist, but they are not coming. She was a total failure here in britain. Her music didn't even reach the top 40. Young people are not interested in what she is offering.
She may have to go back to where she started in order to win back her fans. She is just not selling records.

Um, I don't know about that. "Ms. Jackson if you're nasty?"

That sh*t put her on the map!

It is different when the person is your brother and a famous one at that. MJ changed the title of a song because it was the same as Elvis's iconic song. It does matter in the music industry when 2 superstars go up against each other. Imagine if Janet had named her album Thrilla. It would have looked stupid. When that artist named his album thrilla, he said it was in honour of MJ. Janet should have said the same thing and people might have taken her more seriously, but to name the song the same as her brothers epic song, and not even want to talk about it, seems abit funny to me. She should have said she was paying respect to him with the song. Janet sounds very depressed to me.

HAHAHAHA! God you are too funny.

 

[LovelyOne]

This might be way off topic now but just for the record Janet Jackson is sexier than most women half her age. If people are bringing up the sex appeal and her being too old for that... give me a bloody break. A woman does not cease to be sexy at 40 just because she is 40.
She might not be what the teenage boys lust after but there are plenty enough people out there who would strongly disagree with anyone saying she is less sexy now as a 40 year old woman than when she was a 20 year old woman. I think she is more so. Mariah is (just looked this up) 2 years younger and is still sexy.. people get far too caught up on age.

The rest of the topic I don't know enough about to comment on. I don't know the politics behind why one song will get more airplay than another when they have equal or similar appeal. I do know that I enjoy the album as much as others of hers.

Well, actually Janet is 42 you guys lol.

 

[wannabestartinsomthin21]

I don't think she's old, I'm just talking about general perceptions. I don't think it SHOULD be a factor, but it is. Madonna was having quite a bit of trouble with her last few albums before "COADF". But Madonna is one of the most savvy people in the industry. She know's how to take trends and apply them and she know's how to adapt. That's the only reason I can think of for why she's lasted the way she has. Plus she's just bigger then Janet ever was anyway.

 

[arXter]

edit - wrong thread!