The promotion of music is politics. It's way more complicated than
what people think. You have to worry about image, artistic direction,
demographic considerations, marketing, censorship, courting radio and music
networks through legal or non-legal means, and paying close attention to
trends.
Artists have to be not just musicians, but also lawyers, accountants
and managers. If not they're likely to get taken advantage of by corrupt
corporate executives who mess them out of royalties and rights to their music
because they were ignorant to the business side of the industry. Not to mention
being stuck with a terrible unfair contract that more or less makes them slaves
to the label. Young upcoming artists are more prone to becoming victims of
these types of shady record deals. Rappers of the late 80's and early 90's were
also victims of these deals.
Examples of politics in the music industry are when Kelly
Clarkson’s album My December was a victim of a trope. She publicly battled
with BMG honcho Clive Davis over creative control of her album, and then
suffered a vengeful smear campaign by her own label. My December only
sold 800,000 copies, which was a disappointment compared to her previous
success. She canceled her tour and fired her management after the My
December debacle.
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