The Daily Pennsylvanian :: Robert Hsu | Why music has hit a low note

Robert Hsu
The Casual Observer

I am a music snob and a proud one.

Real singers possess vocal talent, do not lip-sync and have a unique identity. Unfortunately, these characteristics are hard to come by. In recent years, the number of superficial musicians has increased faster than Ke$ha can chug a bottle of Jack.

What do artists like Katy Perry, Selena Gomez and Britney Spears have in common? They are all cash cows waiting to be milked dry by the recording labels that care more about the masses than the music itself.

Music today has reached an all-time low.

Perhaps I sound bitter because I lack any musical ability, but that is not the case. I took piano and violin lessons for a combined 17 years, so I do know a little about music.

Although I grew up mostly surrounded by Mozart, Beethoven and Bach, I did uncover some universal truths about music. Notes were never just there for you to play, they were meant to be interpreted with integrity. A performer’s goal was to play notes according to the composer and infuse them with his or her unique vision.

I may be a disillusioned music-purist who needs to face the music, but I see a troubling trend that is set to ruin an art form I revere greatly.

Most artists today are plastic dolls, engineered to stroke the eyes and ears of the person who picks them up. But Spears — the most plastic of them all — is more than just a singing computer spitting out senseless words that have been polished using auto tune. She has also been transformed into a consumer product meant only to make money, with no concern for attaining artistic merit.

Spears’ songs have barely evolved over her long career. We only continue to purchase her “music” because of its addictive dance appeal. While Spears has raked in millions as a performer, I wonder if she has actually made anything off of being a real artist.

Cliche lyrics glorifying sex, drugs and alcohol plague the work of many artists, which means that a crucial aspect of creativity has been lost. Songs like Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night” and Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA” have become as predictable and as cheesy romantic comedies.

Music has come to a point at which anyone can follow a tested formula to achieve popularity. Hollywood actresses Selena Gomez and Lindsay Lohan, for example, have slipped into the music scene with little talent or artistry. Their goal is not to create great music, but to put on a puppet show to increase their popularity. Music is no longer really about expressing oneself. Instead, it’s turned into an artist’s slam piece to achieve more Facebook likes and YouTube views.

When artists do venture into the perilous territory of creating music that represents their personal values, emotional struggles and personality, they are immediately shot down by record labels fearing that their music will be less commercially appealing.

Teddy Guenin, an Engineering and Wharton freshman in Glee Club, commented on the song development process: “Many artists today hire professional songwriters to craft their songs because they are assured that they will make money and succeed. Sadly, the downside to this is that the music that sells, which isn’t even written by the artists themselves, will eventually pervade our society.”

But is it fair to just blame the artist who sells out, or should the record labels that manufacture these artists also be held accountable? I believe both parties are guilty as charged.

Artists function like businesses because they respond to their listeners’ tastes. With this, however, they run the risk of letting their fans control their artistic direction.

Perhaps a compromise can be made to this frequently filed complaint. To gain roots in a competitive world, artists should be encouraged to sell themselves in their debut album. After they achieve some initial success, record labels should collaborate with artists to develop their songwriting skills, vocals and ability to communicate their emotions through a song.

If popular music continues on this downward spiral, it risks alienating one purist at a time. This one already has one foot out of the door.

Robert Hsu, is a College and Wharton freshman from Novi, Mich. His email address is rohsu@sas.upenn.edu. The Casual Observer appears every other Friday.

Comments (22)

Glad you’re continuing your column this semester, Robert!

I think musicians and composers should keep clear of Hollywood and the big music publishing houses. With the Internet it is possible to self publish, Ani Defranco and righteous babe records comes to mind.

A viral video or two on YouTube and the big boys will beat a path to your door, but if making money is your want then you have to do the things the big publishers do. If making music is your want you may have to sacrifice some cash.

You know what’s worse than the state of popular music today? This fucking article. Just because you don’t listen to good music doesn’t mean its not out there. EVERYONE knows good music is not on the radio. Selena Gomez is not meant to be good music. Its sole purpose is to steal the lunch money of 10 year olds. 2011 was a great year for music. Bon Iver for indie genre, Jhameel for the real indie genre, Drake for hip hop… Tonight I am going to watch a legend play at Irvine. His name is Jeff Mangum and if you have never heard of him (show sold out in 38 sec) then get you head out of your ass and listen to the music.

Robert: Well done. I am the owner of the Blockley, a music venue right around the corner from Penn. I could not agree more with your assessment… The Katy Perry’s of the world represent everything that is wrong with the music industry today. Music used to be about the art of creating something special. Now it is about packaging, marketing and money. The live music scene in Philly is teeming with alternatives but certainly not thriving. There are still some truly great artists out there but they aren’t always mainstream; i.e., Beth Hart, Jesse Malin, KT Tunstall, etal.

It’s funny that your piece, which cries out against the loss of creativity in music, is the single most generic, uncreative, generic piece of writing I have read in a long time.

You are not a music purist. There is no such thing as pure music. You are pretentious. If you truly loved music, you would accept it and try to understand it in all of it’s forms, rather than just the one which will make people think you’re the smartest.

I despise this construct of music that states it must be intellectual. Music should be accessible and enjoyable, not crotchety and elitist. Sure, I wish the Hollywood machine wouldn’t pump out music so soullessly, but your stance negates a whole world of music which defies that construct.

Whenever someone says that a certain genre of artistic expression all looks/sounds/is “the same,” all I see is someone who hasn’t explored it enough. A knowledge of music is totally pointless without a willingness to explore it.

Autotune is a disgrace. Let’s be artistically pure and write our music opinions on hand-crafted reed scrolls. Later we’ll go out to Clark Park to fashion instruments made from raw foliage. Chamber music anyone?

1800s- industrial revolution with mass produced instruments jumpstarts song writing industry
1960s- Funkytown disco invades music with sex and drugs
1970s- synthesizers and drum machines makes music digitally enhanced
1980s- Blonde bimbo Olivia Newton John dazzles us with her engineered sexuality

2012- 18 yr-old freshman music connoisseur decries pop music, Spears, autotune, sex/drugs references

Studied piano and violin for a “combined” 17 yrs? Congrats(?) But maybe you should leave the commenting on THIS century’s music to someone else – just any other freshman who was allowed to go to a high school party or watch risqué music vids without being scolded in Mandarin.

The funniest part though is his friend, Teddy Guenin, the “Wharton freshman in Glee Club” giving expert insight into the songwriting process in the music industry. Lol really? I tell you man, these clowns…

@Ned:

Don’t worry. I’m sure Robert Hsu and Teddy Guenin will come over to your ‘music venue right around the corner from Penn’. Night at the Roxbury meets Mozart’s last symphony. hahaha

I think that all of these attacks against Robert are unjustified.

Robert’s argument here is not that all modern music sounds the same. Anybody who isn’t tone deaf could point out the difference between Party Rock Anthem and Levels. His argument is that there’s a substantial difference between music made for artistic purpose – essentially, music made because the artist has an argument s/he wishes to convey – and music made to boost one’s brand.

In defense of Mr. Guenin, Chris, he’s actually written music. Have you?

At any rate, I’m going to see the Philadelphia Orchestra perform Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 tonight. Now there’s a song with artistic purpose. Sure, I could go get drunk tonight, but…I can’t say no to Mahler.

@W/E’15 a.k.a. Teddy Guenin:

Congrats on having written music. Have you eaten some Big Macs too? Next you can give us some expert opinions on artificial flavoring in the fast food industry.

“At any rate, I’m going to see the Philadelphia Orchestra perform Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 tonight. Now there’s a song with artistic purpose. Sure, I could go get drunk tonight, but…I can’t say no to Mahler.”

You asked why people are attacking you and Robert? It’s the seething arrogance and pomposity. There does exist a balance between responsibly enjoying philistine pop music and beer (21 ) and 18 yr olds dressing up to see a symphony on fri night with middle aged men and hags.

Landanum (opium based drug) was popular among the bourgeoise at the height of classical music while Wagner described Beethoven as “the greatest female sex organ.” However perhaps you meant the not-subtle-enough sexual innuendo in the actual lyrics….. in which case grow the hell up, lose the v-card, and try not to blush so much (see Arielle Pardes’s article in the DP for help).

p.s.- Kesha doesn’t “chug a bottle of jack” in her song. (that would probably cause a comma or death). If one night in your virgin angst your decide to give up your G-rated compositions and join kids your own age (as I know you will despite your pseudo-rectitude), please be better informed on appropriate amounts.

Music is a business. As a wharton student you should understand that. Calling Katy Perry and other female pop singers cows waiting to be “milked” is a bit harsh isn’t it? And though I agree with some of what you said, there is a difference between music as entertainment and music as expression. It’s apples and oranges, Robert.

Maybe you would have done better to write reviews on symphony or concert performances instead. (Though you do realize that those are rarely written by the performers either and even classical concerts are developed with an eye to maximizing revenue?)

Ned: As for those non-mainstream names you mentioned, I’m willing to bet there’s a reason why they are relatively obscure. With the advent of youtube and file sharing, the market for music is much more meritocratic and efficient than it once was.

Everyone needs to take a nice, deep breathe…..ahh there we goo….goood!

Now let’s move on to criticism of something actually worthwhile, which probably does not entail a DP writer simply sharing his opinion, how about? There are certainly better things to be passionate about :)

Hi, this is Teddy, the one referenced in the article. Most of the comments blasting this article and blasting the short statement I made seem to focus on a much larger scope than the article references. Yes, the article comments on the state of today’s popular music, but that’s it. He talks about the popular music of today, the music that sells and the same music you hear on the radio. When Robert makes comments on the sad state of today’s artists like Britney Spears, Katy Perry, and Selena Gomez, he isn’t using them as representatives of all new music these days – just hear him talk about Kelly Clarkson. So he defines himself as a music snob who does not care for popular, generic, and cash-spawning songs made simply for money.
As for me, I enjoy all types of music, so don’t generalize me either. I love basically every type of genre (barring a few), ranging from people like Mahler to Blake Shelton to Citizen Cope to Radiohead to Muddy Waters. In addition, Chris, maybe you should pay attention to the Glee Club or go to one of our shows before you make hasty conclusions about our breadth of music.
Both Robert and I have a fine balance between fine classical music and hip hop. We both listen to accessible music, but this article does not talk about that. This article talks about the select few popular artists and the genre of music that is the most universally popular – which happens to be the music manufactured to make money.

@Teddy

“Both Robert and I have a fine balance between fine classical music and hip hop. We both listen to accessible music.”

So you’re saying Robert LIKES uncultured accessible music? What about “the meaning of music”, “unique identity”, “artistic merit”, “artistic purpose” and“unique vision” (whatever he means by these things)? What the hell is he decrying then? Just needed to write an opinion article on something?

There’s only a handful of W/E’15s. How many read this article and know you personally? If “W/E’15” isn’t you then it has to be Robert defending himself in the 3rd person lol.

so basically…pretentious asian freshman studied/loves classical music, thinks sex/alcohol is bad, thinks pop/dance music is for idiots unable to appreciate true art, and knows the inside of the music industry on account of being in wharton and being BFFs w/ some glee club freshman “Teddy.”

Author: probably better to go back to your old article topics- “community service, diversity=good; Penn=sometimes good, sometimes bad; people use facebook; blah, blah” at least nobody can make fun of that on account of boredom.

Editors: the DP opinion page was never great. But its getting worse. Boring happens. Condescending happens. But together its not worth printing anymore.

@Chris

I’m A W/E ’15 (not the same that commented earlier) and I know both Robert and Teddy. I too agree with the article and support Robert’s opinion. Furthermore, you’re being a bit of a chode.

@David Tompinks

Do you honestly expect us to believe that there are other W/E’15 commenting on this article besides you and Teddy Guenin? Also, I’m saddended that you are resorting to vulgar name calling- I’m simply trying to critically disect some of Robert’s condescending and hypocritical writing. I sincerely wish him success as the violin playing grinch scowling at penn kids drinking and dancing to “non-pure” music. Surely, he seems like a fun and sociable guy that anybody would love to intern or work next to.

Again, I ask, Tedd/Robert: Tell us what “hip hop” music you listen to that IS “pure” with “artistic merit”? Enlighten us so that we too can be cultured “music snobs”.

Hey, I’m another W/E ’15 who agrees with Robert’s article. Chris, you’re drawing a false dichotomy in that you have essentially stated that anyone who thinks that many mainstream artists are sell-outs clearly must be a friendless, fun-eschewing hermit. This is obviously not true.

As one of Robert’s best friends, I know that he listens to the music that he criticizes, because it’s fun to party to. However, Robert’s point is that he wishes artists would make music for themselves, not for their wallets.

Ayn Rand argues in Atlas Shrugged that one should write music as an espousal of their own values and artistic argument. Rand goes on to say that the reason to let other people listen to your music is because you obtain pleasure from the audiences being receptive to such values. This is how one makes money off of music – or any product, for that matter.

As an arranger for Penn’s Glee Club, and a composer who has won a composition competition and been a three-time Florida Bandmasters Association adjudicated composer, I can say that this is why I make music. As someone who has played in and written for 3 ska bands, this is why I loved throwing concerts.

This is why Robert wants artists to stop selling out.

In conclusion, Chris is obviously trolling anyway and won’t care about this post. I mean, the dude goes on the DP’s website at 4 AM. Clearly he has nothing better to do with his time.

@Max Scheiber

So now we have 4 seperate W/E’15s commenting on this thread?

1) Are you even listenting to your Rand plug-in? Or are you some wharton banking wannabe that’s going to plug objectivism into any discussion? So we make money from music by making the audience receptive to it. Thanks for the business insight. You should get on the expert panel with Teddy Guenin.

2) Why are you (apparently seperate?) W/E’15 freshman braging to me about your HS extra curriculuars? Congrats about those local competitions? What do they have to do with the professional music industry producing non-artistic work?

3) If he does in fact listen to, and has fun with, the music he is criticizing then why is he asking it to be stopped and being annoyingly snobbish about it?

Max Scheiber
Teddy Guenin
Robert Hsu

Where would Penn be without these three pomopus know-it-all wharton freshman?

As a college senior and future employee at Sony Music, I’m not trying to be mean-spirited. I just find these naive argumentative opinions backed by dubious qualifications/ECs (“he’s [meaning Teddy] written songs- have you?”) worthy of critique.

Best,
Chris

>Freshman
>18 years old
>17 years of music experience
>Bullshit

Pick three.

Freshmen really know nothing at all about anything. It’s really evident. Whenever your article starts with the copula “Real X does/do Y,” I know your article is shitty and you’re a pretentions asshole. In four years, you’re going to look back on your freshman year opinions, which are being immortalized for all to see on this site and in this paper, and feel pretty stupid.

You guys are being mean! We should listen to these freshmen. they have a lot to teach us on music and the music business. I mean look- one of them took a violin lesson, another wrote his name on the sign-up sheet to the Penn glee club, another’s written a song that his friends and family said they liked, and yet another competed in some high school music contest nobody’s heard of.

Max Scheiber: “This is how one makes money off of music – or any product, for that matter.”

Hats off to you dude. I’m sure you and your HS english copy of “Atlas Shrugged” will be a powerful force in the business world. When I was a frosh we actually thought we didn’t know anything.

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