Obsessive Anti-Progression

[Socra_Maat]

Why are music producers largely avoiding experimentation?

Everyone just follows a trend because sub-consciously they want positive feedback, because making whats hot right now, makes you.. cooler.. For a few minutes.

Example: Why is anyone still making "trap"? Its just a single perspective of a hip-hop type rhythm, not a genre... same triplet hi hats, same snares, same drums, same ideas.

So why is it still being made? Why do we yearn to be monotonous?

 

[Pumpthrust]

Maybe because people just like making trap music?

 

[bandcoach]

three words

"Fear Of Failure"​

We have created a generation of people who are afraid to try because they are afraid of getting something wrong or fear losing face, being embarrassed by their inability to do well. It started a long time ago though; about the same time educators refused to give numerical grades and even began to question the validity of the bell curve (normalised/standardised testing) in the awarding of letter grades for performance on assessment tasks of all kinds.

Even though in recent years testing and number grades are big again, we still have a generation afraid of experimenting because they do not wish to be told that they are not good at something.....

Almost all of these people have never been told that making a mistake is the first step to learning - it is only through having our mistakes corrected that we can begin to know what we do (and don't) know and understand.

So if more people were willing to do two things they would be better off and so would the music industry.

1: experiment and make mistakes
2: be prepared to learn about more than the minimum to be successful - by extending your knowledge you become better equipped to do the simple things easily and the tough things well.

 

[tReHoLLa]

not really. being different means doing it at the risk of being ostracized. the easiest way to be recognized for being different is to start out doing what everyone else is doing, and then eventually/gradually evolve into something different. kinda like outkast. they started out kinda like a southern pharcyde or like a camp lo. and with each album explored a different side of their creativity or challenged themselves artistically.

but from what i've seen most people claim they want something different, but when you give it to them, they either clown it for being different, or try to discourage those that are different by refusing to acknowledge it, until they can emulate it or water it down and repackage it.

record labels don't sign different artists, they sign safe artists that they feel can make them a profit. even though every once in a while, a true different artist comes along that causes everyone to wanna bite, but that becomes the new, safe norm, and the cycle continues.

and if you don't believe that, then why, if you were an a&r or talent scout, would you charge artists to perform at your showcase? if you're a bonafide label, then you should be looking for talent, the label's job is to sell tickets. let the artists focus on making music and performing, and the label should be focused on booking and promotion.