dagblog - Comments for "Lite Beer and the Segmentation of America"

I think you are the "under

rmrd0000 — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:20:02 +0000

In reply to I only listen to radio in the

I think you are the "under the radar" listener that I envision. People are searching out their own group of personal entertainers. I don't think that the new listening pattern is homogenized.

I only listen to radio in the

Donal — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:31:35 +0000

In reply to Snoop Dogg performs with the

I only listen to radio in the car (and on Wednesdays at 11:05 AM) and that is either WTMD an Album Alternative station, NPR or whatever I can pull in when I'm on the highway. I get a lot of music from people's links to youtube. I found Baltimore band Wye Oak through a guy who blogs from LA.

Perhaps the music

rmrd0000 — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:51:19 +0000

In reply to Snoop Dogg performs with the

Perhaps the music homogenization is the music industry figuring out what a large group of their dedicated customers want and delivering that product. Taking on an artist who doesn't fit the mold is high risk. They don't keep track of the people who have abandoned the typical formats.

Newspapers and television news face a consumer collapse. The decline may not have been as much about corporate entities dividing the market as consumers tiring of a packaged news product.

Everyone watching the same news may have felt like we were sharing the same information, but it caused us to be blind to the anger brewing in white militia groups and surprise when the Oklahoma City bombing occurred. I have pointed out previously that the main stream media was completely blind to the Million Man March until they learned that buses were rolling towards DC.

Were we segmented but just oblivious before?

You make a number of good

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:29:48 +0000

In reply to Snoop Dogg performs with the

You make a number of good points. Current listeners doubtfully consume radio in any numbers - they either use iTunes or torrents, and have it on portable device. Radio serves either the politically obsessed to listen to talk radio, or those in public spaces with the need to have something playing all day - and those are the mindless, recurring playlists, with about 5 major genres to choose from & nothing more. (have your 80's retro? your 60's retro? your midnight storm R&B soft listening?....)

There are more ways to opt

rmrd0000 — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 06:09:57 +0000

In reply to Part of the problem was that

There are more ways to opt out of the homogenized news channels, music channels and commercial bombardment than we had in the past.

We have learned that the homogenized news that we all accepted in the past, was not necessarily the truth. We can celebrate that freedom.

The Grammys are fighting music segmentation by limiting competitive categories. Of course if your musical effort just got placed in a homogenized "ethnic" or combined classical music category, you may not see that change as progress.

Snoop Dogg performs with the

rmrd0000 — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 06:01:26 +0000

In reply to I think you're

Snoop Dogg performs with the Gorillaz.

Beyonce performs with Justin Timberlake.

It's all packaged.

I do agree that homogenization has occurred with regard to rap music. You are more likely to get positive references to drug use in rap than in pop.

I still wonder if the college crowd is as driven by the Top 40 on the radio as generations past. Musicians can build a fan base on YouTube, etc. There are more options.

If the argument is that radio play is limited, I agree. Even satellite radio tends to play the same tunes repeatedly, even on the Jazz channels.

I think a larger percentage of current listeners are taking musical cues from different sources that fly under the radar.

I think you're

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 04:34:46 +0000

In reply to The Carolina Chocolate Drops

I think you're overdramatizing - MTV launched Aug 1, 1981, and Billie Jean launched on MTV Mar 2, 1983 and then it was pretty open - even the RunDMC/Aerosmith breakthrough collaboration was 1986 - this isn't like years of the Negro baseball leagues, even if it took a bit of pressure to get MTV to expand their format. 1 1/2 years of the "Golden Era"?

(PS - Bowie & other white artists also publicly questioned the "black out".)

While I may not know as many obscure black bands these days, the publicly mainstream available ones are much more homogenous than they were in the 60's or 90's. Funny with all this choice the digital age supposedly brings.

Part of the problem was that

cmaukonen — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 03:35:54 +0000

In reply to The Carolina Chocolate Drops

Part of the problem was that starting in the late 1960s program mangers started calling the shots at the radio stations and the play lists got narrower and narrower.

A lot of artists did not get airplay except on some of the bigger college stations.

Then radio became very segmented.

But if the song was too long even in the early days, it rarely got played. 3:05 as they say.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops

rmrd0000 — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 01:53:04 +0000

In reply to Runs the gamut of variety

The Carolina Chocolate Drops played in the soundtrack for the "Great Debaters" and won a Grammy. Artists like Esperanza Spalding are pushing the envelope today. Current choices are as commercial or as cutting edge as the "Good Old Days".

It is just as likely that the aged are not keeping up with what youth today are following out of view of the adults. Jackson, Slash, Tracy Chapman, Seal, Bobby McFerrin, Run DMC, George Clinton, Prince, George Clinton Parliament/Funkadelics and even Fishbone received commercial pushes with MTV airtime after Michael Jackson and Rick James forced black artists onto the network.

MTV was the gold standard for homogenized music prior to the Jackson/James protest. Homogeneity was the rule for some of the "Golden Era".

Runs the gamut of variety

PeraclesPlease — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 21:16:51 +0000

In reply to I think we'd be surprised by

Runs the gamut of variety from A all the way to B.

Most heavily marketed shit out there, and I'd be surprised?

Once upon a time there was Body Count, Living Color, Tackhead, Fishbone, Public Enemy, Michael Jackson with Slash, Lee Scratch Perry, Bobby McFerrin, Lenny Kravitz, Run DMC, Tracy Chapman, African Head Charge, Seal, Youssou N'Dour, George Clinton, Bad Brains, Salt-N-Pepa, Prince, Robert Cray, as some examples of black acts.

Now we're stuck trying to figure out the difference between Rihanna, Pink, Lady Gaga & Anastasia. Good luck.

[oh yeah, occasionally there's still a Carolina Chocolate Drops to come along - but not on radio]