Your Take: Pretty, Pretty Ponies

I’ve arrived!

But seriously, I’m interested to see how the thread plays out, and I will return later this weekend with some input.

Razor X
You have something there. The whole Kanye thing certainly helped Taylor with her world domination. But now after the CMAS? It’s turning now the other way. I think Carrie suffered when she won Entertainer of the Year and I often wondered if that was why soon after that award, she went in “hiding”. She was off the whole summer..sure making her album but to not perform on the big stage at the CMA festival? There was a whole summer of not touring, not performing much of anywhere but the Opry now and then. Where I work and what I read…a lot of people are putting the fiasco of the CMA voting vocalist award on Taylor. It’s not right..but..it’s there.

I think the image has supplanted the music in a big way. The music nowadays seems to be an incidental part of the whole package. Even if you look at the music itself, it’s way more dramatic now than back in the eighties where slice-of-life tunes such as “Summer Wind” were topping the charts. It reminds me of a theatrical production nowadays than anything that speaks from the heart.

Taylor Swift may write most of her own songs, but her idealized view of things lack that slice-of-life component that I’ve come to associate country music with. I take Tom Russell’s tunes over Taylor’s any day of the week.

Darn, I though this thread was going to be about pony related songs! If so it would have to include Kasy Chambers’ “Pony” and Harmony James’ “Painted Pony”. Hmmm…

Mainstream country music became a part of popular culture big time back during the “Urban Cowboy” era. That faded until Garth Brooks and Shania Twain brought mass market attention back onto mainstream country. Starting in the mid to late 90’s, with so many radio stations becoming part of large conglomerate chains, a good number of people who didn’t like twangy country were put in charge of Top 40 country stations. The direction turned decidedly pop-rock and towards the pop culture mainstream and has continued on that path.

Carrie Underwood attracting a large portion of the American Idol audience to mainstream country marked a profound shift which helped make Top 40 radio listeners more open to Taylor Swift. Next we had Julianne Hough coming over from the pop culture phenomenon “Dancing With The Stars”. Both Carrie and Taylor have graced a lot of pop culture magazine covers and I’d say are two of the main reasons that “People Country” magazine issues even exist at all! The folks at People magazine obviously feel that these pretty, popular mainstream country artists have broad marketplace appeal in the popular culture realm they cater to.

As far as the question are they too pretty, in the case of the female artists the answer of course is a resounding “No”! (lol) The downside is that female artists who aren’t physically attractive have no shot at Top 40 country radio as the door will be slammed in their face. Looks and image are just as important as talent these days in AirHead Country Music, or maybe even more so (say like Bucky Covington).

Lyle Lovett has not only acted but was married to Julie Roberts without damaging his cred.

…that was a seriously odd-looking couple!

I think Phil boy certainly captured what I’m thinking (as well as everyone else I presume), yet I also hope he wasn’t drinking when he typed this because that is one PHILOSOPHICAL post! 0.o I gotta hand it to you Phil…I’ll take your prescription and analysis on country music problems over Dr. Phil. :P

I think what’s happening in country is what’s been happening in popular music forever. It’s being hijacked by very young artists.. country has been spared this miserable fate for a long time and has allowed room for older artists, but now it seems to be shifting toward younger artists.. it’s still not as bad as pop though, where the average singer is washed up by the age of 30, so there’s hope still.. For some reason, the music dollars are being spent by very young consumers, who have time to sit and spin cds, or digital downloads all day.. whereas the older fans have JOBS and life responsibilities.. I’m sure music row is now just cashing in on these spenders if they can. Can you blame them?! Young people will always relate to people a little older than themselves… even with books and movies.. they don’t relate to people that are twice their age… it’s always been that way.. always will be. With youth comes superficiality…

but if you look at Zac Brown Band who are pretty hot right now they break all those molds don’t they? No glossy image there at all.. Maybe there is hope for the less superficial in country music.

Phil, citation of those “studies”, please? And then, if you don’t mind, explain what on earth “objectivity” about music could possibly mean.

“I feel no shame I’m proud where I came from I was born and raised in the boondocks.”

I have come to think that, as sad as it sounds perhaps the country genre has left me and I need to move on.(Perhaps not the genre so much as country radio.) It has caused me to broaden my musical ears and I have discovered a whole world out there that is not confined to the genre. I am and will always be a fan of the singer/ songwriter. I believe music is art. And some art sucks or is mass produced but the best art is an original one of a kind.

I am not saying that women don’t think music. However, I would say that many (not all) women feel to get to their thoughts. Whereas, I think many men think to get to their feelings. So women and men do both think and feel, just not necessarily in the same ways or in the same order.

I think a great example of this is Miranda Lambert’s song “Dead Flowers”. I love it how she uses the tangible (flowers in a vase, long string of lights, tires on the car) to define the intangible (her feelings) in the song.

However, I think the funny thing is all of these tangible things she is describing in the song started out as intangible things to her, and started out as tangible things to the guy. And by the end of the song, they have become tangible to her, and intangible to the guy.

So, let’s look at the dead flowers. before the guy gave them to her, they started out as a thought (tangible thing), which then led to his feelings (intangible). When she received the flowers they were then received as more of a feeling (intangible) than for what they really were (just ordinary flowers), but by the end of the song they then became to her what they really were (just ordinary flowers that have died). But for the guy, he thinks the flowers will always be alive because that is how he thought of them to begin with, and his feelings will always be based off of that. For her, as the flowers die, so do the feelings she had when she received them, and her thoughts are based off of that. So the way I interpret the song, the guys thoughts lead to his feelings, whereas the women’s feelings lead to her thoughts.

That is why when the guy says “hey, ain’t it such a nice day”…it’s because he needs that simple thought or tangible thing to get to his feelings (the intangible). Whereas she already knows that it will just go to waste just like the rest of his thoughts in the past (the flowers, the long string of lights, the tires on the car). She quit caring what he thinks because he has stopped caring (or is not taking into account) how she feels. So his thoughts never become feelings, and her feelings never become thoughts. Which is why she is living in a hurricane, and why he ain’t feeling anything.

Anyway, I’m way off the subject of this thread. But today’s music does seem to use the intangible to define and describe the tangible in much of its lyrics. Whereas, I believe music from the past used the tangible to define and describe the intangible. Which is why I think I can relate better to the music of the past, as I need the tangible to describe and define the intangible. I need the thought first, and then my feelings come after I think about it. Whereas, it seems in much of today’s music the feeling is there before the thought even takes place. So therefore, I don’t think much of it since I cannot get to thoughts from my feelings. I need to get to my feelings through my thoughts.

But to answer the question in my own way…I think the problem female Country Artists are having right now is they are focusing too much attention on personality and image, and trying to compete with Carrie and Taylor on that front. When all they really need to do is focus on the music and make it relateable to a wider audience (including men). That will then lead more people wanting to find out more about who they are as a person. Instead, it seems they think that more people will want to find out more about their music if they focus on their personality (and who they are as a person) and their image first. Sorry, but Carrie and Taylor (and Kellie) already have that market covered. Which is what happens when the female Country Artists are expected to bring in an already established fanbase from Reality TV shows just to get their songs heard on the radio. And unfortunately, mainstream Country Radio seems to be in love with the notion of marketing to that audience exclusively with the songs being released by female Country Artists. So female Country artists are in a tight bind because of it. They can’t win the personality and image contest because all the money is going to Carrie and Taylor in that market. And they can’t appease a wider demograpic because Country radio won’t play their music unless it satisfies their target demographic (females between the ages of 35-54, and females under 25).

So what do you expect me to say about today’s music? That it’s good? Sorry, but not for me. I don’t know, maybe I’d like it if I was part of the demographic they were marketing it to. Unfortunately, that seems out of the question since the Industry either seems they don’t care enough to figure out how to, or don’t have the brains to figure out that personality and image is not the way to a man’s heart…it’s all about the music first, and then the personality and image afterwards. And today, personality and image comes first, and the music we hear on the radio is the end result because of it.

Just my opinions of course…but I try to keep them as objective as possible.

Phil it seems like you’re ruling out a heck of a lot of artists based on your opinions of one or two female artists.. there are a bunch of male artists, duos and groups out there that don’t cater to image.. but you seem obsessed with two female artists ruining the landscape of country music, and the scary thing here is you’re not alone..

To Please! I’m not leaving anybody out, I just haven’t touched on everybody yet. If you really want my overall opinion of what has happened to mainstream Country music (and mainstream music as a whole), I could sit here all day and dish out my opinions. But to say that the shift to personality and image over the actual music itself has not been a huge factor across the board in today’s mainstream music (no matter what gender the artist, duo or group) would be a grave miscalculation.

Anyway, I think you missed my point about what the definition of personality and image is anyway because you weren’t taking into account that all I was saying is that the personality and image is now what is leading to the music, rather than the music is leading to the personality and image. As I said before, I’ve always thought of music as being a tangible thing which then leads to the intangible things such as personality and image. While today, it seems the personality and image has either become the tangible and the music has become intangible, or the personality and image is still intangible and the music is still tangible, but the personality and image is defining the music. And I personally need the tangible to lead to the intangible, rather than the intangible to lead to the tangible as it seems to be doing so today (and it’s not just in music, it’s in practically every industry in our society today).

But I don’t want to get too deep into the male Country Artist’s personality and image thing (although it is just as big, but perhaps not as noticeable, based on the audience that the mainstream Country Music Industry is catering to exclusively)…all I can say is, the male artists are the ones who are benefitting the most from Carrie and Taylor (and other female artists who bring in a new already established fanbase) bringing in these “new” fans to Country Music to help build their fanbases…which is only temporary by the way. And I’d go into detail about why this is, but I think it’s pretty obvious based on the traditional business model that Country Music still employs, while hiding under a false pop model facade.

Kim: I like your post. I don’t see Carrie and Taylor as anything more than what they were designed by the industry to do in the first place: Bring in “new” fans to Country music…it’s too bad they forgot about the “true” fans in the process.

As far as the glass ceiling for female Country artist’s goes…to me, this whole strategy the Country Music Industry is employing is setting female Country artists back 20 years, not moving them forward. Using the personality and image approach is probably the last thing they should be using to become successful, and yet, since it worked for Carrie and Taylor….ughh. It’s only making what was wrong with their business model in the first place, that much more glaring and harder for female artists to advance. It’s hard to take the female artists seriously if all they’re going to do is try to appease the same audience that Carrie and Taylor brought with them and copy what has already worked for them (and I personally think the Industry is doing this on purpose to make it harder for new female artists to advance, while at the same time making sure Carrie and Taylor remain at the top with all the awards and accolades, and publicity and promotion they receive). I seriously don’t know how much longer Country Music can get away with having two So-So female artists who aren’t really Country, and at the same time call them the cream of the crop and the best the Industry has to offer. I know my local radio station has a contest where you can win tickets to see Taylor Swift in concert in…April. And another contest to fly to Chicago to go see Carrie Underwood in concert and meet her. The blatant over promotion of these two female artists is really starting to draw on my last nerve. How about a little variety from the 80’s Pop Music of Tiffany and Debbie Gibson? (which is really all they are in my opinion). I thought living through it once was enough. Twice…I’m living in the wrong world.

I don’t see Carrie and Taylor as anything more than what they were designed by the industry to do in the first place: Bring in “new” fans to Country music…

Shania and Garth supposedly brought in a lot of new fans to country music. Where are they now?

Phil, objectivity in discussion is impossible when you base your argument on counter-factual opinions. Not only are you using your opinion, rather than fact, to explain first how men and women listen to music differently and second how this difference accounts for differences in audience/artist relationships between some point in the past and today. You are also not doing a thing to try to prove your opinion that there is such a difference (which was the question posed in the original post).

To answer Karlie’s question, I don’t think there is (or ever was, much) a group of fans put off by too much drama. There are certainly fans put off by the content of the drama — but that’s usually because they have their own idea about what’s dramatic, romantic, something to identify with. And that has always been a source of tension within country music. Unless you’re going to tell me that Johnny Cash’s fans and detractors both don’t overemphasize his image; unless you’re going to tell me that the Opry under Roy Acuff’s leadership didn’t pick and choose guests based on image; unless you’re going to tell me that wondering whether Loretta Lynn was having a breakdown or June Carter was going to get a divorce didn’t consume the fans; unless you want to say that setting up Jimmie Rodgers as the rambling guy, contrasted to the Carter Family as the good, wholesome folks, isn’t a marketing ploy that goes back to the very beginnings of country music as a genre; unless you want to say that people never really asked Hank Jr. the questions in “Family Tradition.’

And as for sweepstakes! and contests! and win a trip! — that’s not different from what fan clubs always did before the advent of the internet. New technology? sure. New ideas about what personalities are appealing? absolutely. New preoccupation with image as “you, the fan, written large”? not really.

Razor asks: “Shania and Garth supposedly brought in a lot of new fans to country music. Where are they now?”

If you’re talking about the fans, I raise my hand high. Garth is definitely one of the people to bring me to country music and I’m not exactly a casual country music fan.:) If you’re asking about Garth and Shania, both of them have had control over their careers and their respective absents from the country music scene. I can’t predict if they’d still be around right now if they so chose to continue full force, but I couldn’t say they wouldn’t either.

Razor X said: “Shania and Garth supposedly brought in a lot of new fans to country music. Where are they now?

I’m right here thanks mostly to Garth Brooks. He was the first country star I really considered myself a fan of, before Reba took his place as my favorite. But because of Garth Brooks and even Shania Twain the 1990s, I started listening to country music as a genre and was open to the sounds of its past too. And I’ve since researched and went back to study the sounds of the genre’s history, and must say, I’ve liked what I’ve heard very much.

But Garth Brooks had a very traditional element running through most of his songs, and especially on his albums. So there was always a hint of the tradition that came before him in the music of Garth, which could account for his music bringing new fans to the fold. Today’s pop-country stars aren’t nearly as traditional, and certainly aren’t paying tribute to the roots of the genre as much.

So it’s harder to say whether these new fans will seek out the sounds of yesterday after coming to country music by way of Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, and Sugarland, but I wouldn’t totally discount the possibility either.

I would think that 15-20 years ago, everybody was saying the same thing about the new Garth fans: ‘these kids listening to Garth aren’t gonna care about George Jones, Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, etc.’ But that’s exactly how it happened for me. A ‘crossover’ star opened my ears to country music in general, and from there I proceeded to seek out more country music, simply because I liked what I was hearing from the pop-country stars of the day.

… sorry for getting off topic.

Kim, that’s a very pretty myth but it isn’t true. The Carter Family were nothing like their image, for instance. Instead of wholesome, traditional family stuff, they had desertion, divorce, pants-wearing women and secret lives. Johnny Cash didn’t shoot a man in Reno or anywhere else, and he wore black because it was slimming. Now, one could argue about whether their images were created by artist alone or by the artist and management/”business” working as a marketing team and sold to the fans, by the fans and the artists in collaboration, by all of the above. But that they were not (partially) products that weren’t at all what they looked like is a fairly shaky claim, I think.

BTW, the closest male to that description is Tim McGraw. But he wasn’t nominated. Curious…has he been blacklisted for “bad behavior?”

Let’s just say that I am a fan of the music and artist first, and then the image and personality is a product of that. And it seems today, the Industry is marketing and promoting the image and personality first, and expecting people to like the artists music based off of that image and personality.

So the tangible/intangible relationship has changed in today’s music world. And like I said, I’ve always thought of music as being a very tangible thing that then leads to the intangibles such as image and personality. Whereas today it seems the image and personality is now leading to the music. And the music has changed as well. Today’s mainstream music seems to be more of a feeling than a thought because the lyrics are written in such a way that the intangible describes the tangible. And I need my thoughts to get to my feelings about something…it does not work the other way. Which is why I ain’t feeling anything for today’s music…much like the guy in Miranda Lambert’s song ain’t feeling her pain.

As far as how I was introduced to Country Music goes. It was Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson back in the late 70’s and early 80’s by my father when I was around 8 or 9 years old. He also introduced me to Ronnie Milsap, the Oak Ridge Boys, Eddie Rabbitt and Crystal Gayle. My sister loved Kenny Rogers, and my first cassette tape I ever received was Anne Murray’s Greatest Hits back around 1979. I don’t think I listened to much Country Music in the 80’s…my tastes changed to 70’s pop music then. When Garth Brooks came around, I never became a huge fan of his music, but I could at least relate to it and there were a few songs of his I really liked. Shania and LeeAnn Rimes? I liked a few of their songs, but never really became a fan.

Which leads me to where I am now. I didn’t listen to mainstream Country Music (or pop for that matter) at all in the past 10 years or so because mainstream music seemed to have changed so much due to the Internet and the consolidation of the music industry. And American Idol made it even worse. I didn’t think the Artists being promoted even came close to the artists of the past that I liked. And I still don’t. I became a fan of Kristy Lee Cook’s on American Idol…and it sure as heck was not based on her looks or the fact that she loves horses and hunts and fishes, like everyone always accuses me of. It was all her voice and style and music that I became a fan of. The personality and image was the intangible that came after I liked her music. So when Arista marketed her personality and image first over her music and voice and style, that was when I really started trying to figure out….what the hell happened to today’s music? And to me, it has the reversal of personality and image over the actual artistry and music being the culprit as to why today’s music just can’t compare to the past. And I do put blame on shows like American Idol and the fact that the Music Industry is now creating artists themselves based on personality and image, rather than allowing artists create themselves based on the music they want to define themselves as artists…instead they base the music off of their personality and image…which is the exact opposite way that I process my thoughts and feelings. And pretty much every successful artist today is a product of that image and personality over music mentality.

So there you have my story…so far. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out in the future. But based on right now, I would say Country Music (and mainstream music in general) has a long way to go if it wants to capture my interest as being all about the music again, and not all about the personality and image masquerading as the music. I just can’t take today’s music seriously because of it. And watching the CMA’s and these award shows only reveals how much of a joke it has become. At least to me.

Her vocals were horrible.

Haven’t you heard? That doesn’t matter anymore.

Haha…I’m not going to get in this argument with you again Stormy about Kristy Lee Cook. Let’s just say that I disagree, and that the reason she was not able to succeed with Arista was because they rushed everything and did market her personality and image (and tried to create another Carrie Underwood based on that giving her album and single zero promotion in the process), and did not focus on her music and voice and style first. They marketed her as a person rather than as an Artist, and on American Idol she could define herself as an artist, and could not get enough fans to like her personality so they never gave her a chance as a serious artist musically. Which is exactly what is wrong with today’s music to me. And why shows like American Idol are why we are living in a world of personality and image first and then music, rather than music first and then personality and image.

And that is the problem I see with most of the female Country artists today who are trying to make it in mainstream music, and why it is difficult to take them as serious artists. They are trying to compete with Carrie and Taylor using the personality and image approach (or copying musically what already worked for either Carrie or Taylor)…and because the Industry and Country Radio is promoting that, they must leave who they are as an artist as the intangible thing that comes from that, and market themselves as a person. Which is setting female Country artists back 20 years because of it. So female Country Artists are stuck in a tight bind because the Industry is promoting the personality and image of Carrie and Taylor, and they are stuck trying to appease that same audience that Carrie and Taylor brought over with them using the same approach. While in the process they cannot appease a wider audience with their music because Country radio is marketing its female artists to that one audience exclusively. Add to that the Traditional business model that Country Music employs that gives male Artists 5 times more radio play, and it’s pretty obvious why Carrie and Taylor really have no competition, and why Kristy Lee Cook was not able to succeed with Arista, and why new female Country Artists in general are having a hard time making it in the Industry today.

But I disagree that Kristy’s vocals are horrible. Afterall, that’s the one single reason I became a fan in the first place (and I know it’s a subjective opinion). American Idol just wasn’t the right venue to show them off, and she was never able to define herself as who she was as an artist because of it…the show seemed to focus too much on her personality and image rather than her actual singing. And then Arista proceded to market her personality and image rather than her voice and style (her first single, the cover of her album, and the video for her first single are good examples of that). Which is probably why it took me until she sang “Anyway” to become a fan…and then was able to notice her personality afterwards.

Couldn’t outcute Taylor? I would say she couldn’t differentiate herself as an artist from Carrie Underwood because Arista never gave her a chance to, and was too focused on trying to show the similarities between the two. Which was the either a completely dumbheaded marketing mistake, or was done on purpose…I’m still trying to figure out which one.

and the fact that she cornered an international teen audience.. Everyone seems to leave out that fact.. Taylor is a huge success outside of the country music genre.. Has sold as many albums as Beyonce and Rhianna..

I think Kristy Lee Cook is an ok singer, not great… she can’t compare to Carrie Underwood as far as her vocals. How did she show herself as an artist on a karaoke show like AI may I ask???

To Please!

I’m not going to get into a comparison contest between Carrie Underwood’s and Kristy Lee Cook’s vocals. I happen to prefer Kristy’s vocals to Carrie’s, not only in the tone of her voice, but also the way she delivers and interprets a song. But I blame the Industry for starting this whole popularity contest between all the female Country artist fanbases in the first place because of their preferential treamtment of Carrie and Taylor…and quite honestly, I’m tired of it. I’m patiently waiting for this phase in Country Music to pass when the Artist is promoted and not the person. I may be waiting awhile…until then, I just hope that Kristy is given the chance to define herself as an artist based on her music, and not based entirely on her personality and image. And I meant to say that Kristy did not define herself as an artist on American Idol with my previous post…:) But she was able to show off her vocals during the show, and that is why I became a fan.

You are right about pop people buying Taylor or Carrie but don’t like Country. I have a friend who loves Carrie from Idol days and buys her records but when I turn the radio to a country station, she cringes and turns it off when I leave the room. I mean I wish we could see who many people who already loved country actually bought Taylor’s CD.

I mean I wish we could see who many people who already loved country actually bought Taylor’s CD.

Zero.

Dan E: Kristy was actually given two chances and blew them both.

I mean I wish we could see who many people who already loved country actually bought Taylor’s CD.
*Raises hand*
Died in the wool Buck Owens, Gary Allan, Hank Sr, Jim Lauderdale, Rodney Crowell, Johnny Cash fan here – bought both Swift records and like them a lot, the second more than the first.

i listen to country and bought Taylor’s CD, but I hardly listen to it.. not my style.. guess, I’m not young enough to appreciate it. LOL!

Oh…you mean the show that the judges pimped the guys to no end to ensure a David/David “boxing match” finale at the end? That show? Give me a break Stormy. It’s not like the show ever gave Kristy a chance to win. In fact, she was eliminated after one of her best performances (”Forever”) because lo and behold the following week she was going to have the “moment of the season”. Don’t take my word for it:

Here is Debra Byrd’s comments about Kristy on ALW week (she is one of the voice coaches on the show):

“THEN Debra said the most disappointing thing about this week is that (shocker)

Kristy wasn’t here to perform. Rickey agreed!! Debra said had Kristy got to sing her song . (She picked “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”) She would have Blown everyone away and it would have been the “moment” of the season. Rickey argues saying that he agrees it would have been the moment, but he thinks David A already had one with Imagine and David C with Billie Jean, Debra responded with “Kristy this week would have outdone both of those performances, I believe, it was one of the best things I’ve heard throughout the 7 seasons working on Idol” and Rickey said “I can’t argue with you there, this was shaping up to be Kristy’s week it was devastating to see her go after how excited she was for this week. You don’t know how good Kristy is until you hear this, it might have put her into front runner status” Debra agreed saying it would have definitely thrown a huge wrench into the competition.

Anyway, we can sit here and talk about American Idol all day, but just because there were millions of viewers doesn’t mean anything unless you’re one of the popular contestants…and to me, the show made sure Kristy was not one of the popular contestants on purpose (placing her in the Botton 2 four times…that was no accident). They cast her to play the role of the scapegoat. I still hear comments from people who hold a grudge that she outlasted Michael Johns. Heck, everyone was telling her all week how good “8 Days A Week” was, and then the judges called it, in Simon’s word, “horrendous” the night she performed it. I have my own theories as to why, but my bigger question is why did 19 sign just her and the two David’s, and give her no promotion (not even an ad for her single or album on the AI forums…which is the audience they marketed her to exclusively by the way)? That is one thing I dislike about American Idol…they market all their signees to the audience that watches American Idol. And it seems like the rest of the Industry has followed suit. Hello! There are other people out there who would buy music…! But they’re probably too busy watching movies or playing video games to give a darn about today’s meaningless and mindless mainstream music. LOL

So what Phil is saying here is that america doesn’t really have a say, that it’s pretty much rigged.. I suppose it doesn’t surprise me too much..

To Please! and Dan E. You are right, I should keep my mouth shut because I don’t know Kristy personally and I’m not saying that the show is rigged. I was simply responding to Stormy’s statement regarding American Idol. And I know how popular opinion works.

So I’m sorry if my last comment came across the wrong way to anybody. :)

Anyway, everyone has there own opinions and I respect that. It doesn’t mean I have to agree with them, or that people have to agree with mine.

@Vicki I bought Taylor Swift Cd and I have listen to country music since 97

Stormy: Well I personally thought that Arista made a huge mistake when they marketed Kristy’s personality first, rather than her music and vocals first, while in the process did nothing to try to differentiate her from Carrie Underwood or promote her. I would say if anything they highlighted their similarities. And there is no way Kristy can win that comparison if all the money is going to Carrie. In fact, they even included a song on her album that Carrie co-wrote. Believe me, I cringed the second I heard about that. And her album only had 10 songs on it, one of which was a cover of “God Bless The USA”. She still sold over 30,000 copies with practically zero promotion or publicity after Idol.

And then for her video “15 Minutes Of Shame” (which came out like 3 months after the song was released) they even did her hair the same way as Carrie and had her wear the same vest that Carrie wore in her video for “Before He Cheats”.

I have no idea what Arista was thinking honestly. They did everything the exact opposite of how I would have gone about it. And I still think it was no accident. My opinion is they (and 19) set her up to fail. But that is MY opinion of course. And it would take me all day to list all the reasons I believe so. But I honestly don’t know the whole story and I’m not pretending to…so it’s probably best just to let it go.

But you are right…Kristy did have an opportunity to sell about 10 million people on her vocals…it’s too bad Arista marketed her personality and image instead.

Not that you care. lol

Steve – its certainly possible a record label might sign an artist that they don’t really intend to promote wholeheartedly. They might do it to prevent that artist from signing with a rival label, gaining success with that label, and perhaps taking sales away from a currently successful artist on the original label.

Whether that happened in Kristy’ case I have no opinion.

Haha…Steve…there are things I’m leaving out, and there are other things I don’t know. I can only go by what I do know. And yeah, she recorded her album in 4 days while on the AI tour. It’s not like they had to waste a lot of time (or money from what I can tell). Whether it was to make Carrie look better…I’m not going to go there. All I know is, the timing of everything was so questionable…from the announcement of her signing a day before the AI tour started (which upset people that she was signed to a deal and others weren’t who finished higher on Idol), to the leaked single a month before its release, to the actual release date of her single the same day that Archie’s song came out (with not one mention of it on ITunes), to the album release date 2 days after she got off the AI Tour so she had no chance to promote it herself (it was pushed up from Sept. 30 to Sept. 16), to the date of her video release 3 months after the song came out, to her being dropped right before Christmas less than 6 months after she was signed….anyway. It doesn’t matter.

Because to me, they marketed her all wrong to begin with, and to one audience exclusively (I don’t think I have to mention who that is again). Unfortunately it seems that the Industry and Country Radio only cares about that audience (and they are not necessarily loyal to Country Music…just to their “favorite artist” of the moment, because they are marketing Country Music as an image and personality first, and the artist’s actual music second today. Plus, like I said, the music of today is more of a feeing than it is a thought like it was in the past, so it is not timeless and will be forgotten)….which will backfire…eventually (time will tell).

is that all they’re selling these days? That’s pretty pitiful if you ask me.. No wonder the music biz is so desperate for sales…

its certainly possible a record label might sign an artist that they don’t really intend to promote wholeheartedly. They might do it to prevent that artist from signing with a rival label, gaining success with that label, and perhaps taking sales away from a currently successful artist on the original label.

I’m trying to think of an instance where something like this was actually the case. Anyone?

That’s not to say that there haven’t been cases where labels haven’t signed artists who then got the short end of the stick on promotion or other kinds of support (including actually releasing already-completed albums); I’m talking about this specific “stifle the competition” scenario.

Phil: It was that they marketed her all wrong. They marketed her as a singer and they should have kept marketing her as a model. She is good at standing their and looking pretty, its the singing that gives her problems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBuUH3i7tDA

That’s why she failed.

Oh goosy, another singer where you just have to listen to her songs. Wait, not that song, another song. No, not that song either. Wait, if you just listen to that one part of that one specific song she’s not completely terrible.

I like singers I can just pick any song to listen to. I also happen to like singers you have probably not heard of because they get no airplay on mainstream radio, so spare me the sob story about “no promotion.”