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Dear FRONTLINE,
Personally, this business deserves to die. There needs to be a clean start as it's way out of control. There are too many non-musicians/artists running this business. Big business has ruined everything in this country by pushing for the quick profit as opposed to allowing for a timely profit. Why the hurry? Money. What's the rush? Money. Who's making the billions? It's all at the cost of creativity. Where is the creative music? It's in the Indie world. That's where the real artists are. The big industry will continue to slide until it's allowed to be taken back by the rightful owners ...the musicians. They need to be given the time and freedom to create (see Ani DiFranco). There is nothing new/exciting in this industry and that's the wooden stake in its heart. It's stale. It's finished. It deserves to die...and that just may be the best thing that happened to it...and us!
Bob Wirth
Buffalo, New York
Dear FRONTLINE,
Music isn't DEAD - the situation is basically the same and the mega success stats haven't changed. There are still many venues available for young artist and real music professionals -- recording isn't the only way to make a decent living in music. Hard work, talent, luck, and who you know are still the keys to success. The whole program reminded me of a bunch of has been major league ball players lamenting salary caps and team owners taking all the fun out of the game. Maybe some of these folks should write a sad country lyric.
Steve Croxall
Nashville, TN
Dear FRONTLINE,
I was very impressed with the Frontline presentation of "The Way The Music Died". I owned a small chain of record stores in the mid to late 70s. I took much pride in really trying to understand a great percentage of the recording artists and their works,as the 60s and 70s were to me the golden age of recorded "Rock" music. I do not like much of the current wave of rock music, as it seems to be too "corporate".There was a time when music had a message, a simple message sung by a girl, boy or band about what REALLY matters in the world. And there was actually a melody in the song, all of which, I guess, is now just a part of history, just like the vinyl records we owned and cherished.
Walter Stelmack, Jr.
Stratford, Connecticut
Dear FRONTLINE,
Sarah Hudson and Velvet Revolver are excellent examples of why, in the music industry, it's all about the marketing. Velvet Revolver look and sound like a rock band. Sarah needs to step back and reinvent herself, because she isn't cute enough. Tori Amos tried to do it Hudson's way before realizing she just needed to be herself. Not every girl looks like Britney Spears, but many, like Hudson, have more talent. The segment of the show detailing the decisionmaking process regarding three nearly identical CD covers for Velvet Revolver said it all, with executives contemplating differences where none exists, just like the music on radio stations, excluding public stations which still have some say in what is played over the airwaves.
Mike Flood
Pittsburgh, PA
Dear FRONTLINE,
As a fairly regular Frontline viewer and an avid music fan, I was deeply disappointed in "The Way the Music Died." What a great title. Why not actually choose to explore it? Instead, you ran an hour of unfocused blather from a variety of different perspectives. Yet the perspectives offered were about as "deep as a birdbath" (to borrow David Crosby's accurate summation of Brittany Spears).
There's so much territory here that remains unexplored, and the territory you covered was done in such a superficial manner. Your usually competent job of reporting simply missed the mark this time. Had I not known I was watching "Frontline", I would have thought I had stumbled onto a remake of "This is Spinal Tap."
Rod McClendon
Dear FRONTLINE,
Interesting frontline, but by dedicating the episode to analyzing (and promoting)the future of connected MTV wannabees and dinosaur supergroups you have entrenched yourselves within the collective id of the old guard and not on the frontlines of the culture war. You could almost smell ;em sweating... Where were the hungry, as in starving, young artists and up and coming entrepeneurs? I guess you should have done a 2 hour episode, but I was hoping for a little more discourse on what file sharing bodes for the industry and for the next generation of artists and record companies. It would have been much more interesting to hear from some real independents like the DFAs, Dim Maks, or Def Jux's who are enjoying quality success through real grassroots means. MTV may be the biggest radio station in the country, but they aren't the future. MP3 killed the video star if you havn't heard... You covered the funeral nicely, but what about the guy holding the gun? Thanks anyways though... Frontline is the best show on PBS.
Eric
PS - The guy who took over for Adler in GNR is like, totally lame. He's like Sammy Hagar's retarded brother.
Eric K
brooklyn, ny
Dear FRONTLINE,
Along with every other news operation who has reported on this, Frontline has failed in bringing up the biggest reason why the record industry will die. In the days of iynyl, a record would come out at $7.99-9.99. In about 1-2 years it would be in the discount rack for anywhere between $.99-4.99. Even the big acts like Crosby Stills and Nash would have the prices for there older albums at $5.99-6.99.
Today it is cheaper to manufacture a CD then it was to manufacture vinyl 20 years ago. If you want an old CD of Crosby stills and Nash they charge you anywhere from $11.99-17.99 for it. GREED IS THE REASON that the record industry will die. They killed themselves! After years of screwing the public, revolt has happened with the help of technology.
If you could buy that old C.S. & N. CD for $5.99 would you be bothered downloading it? HELL NO!!!!
And I know you won't read this on the air because you don't want to tell the truth!
Glen Rivara
Queens, NY
Dear FRONTLINE,
I am not sure I really learned anything new...the major labels have a poor business plan and keep going back to the same well. I did like the Perfect Storm reference but still see the majors paddling around out there wondering when the sun will shine. Too bad no one cared to highlight a successful independent label that recognized the perfect storm and has adjusted their business model to ensure their success.
Greg Johnson
Boston, MA
Dear FRONTLINE,
Great show! Frontline...you rock! As usual. I really wish you had devoted more time to people who are trying to achieve musical success without playing in the standard forum. None of those major music companies cater to my tastes at all. There is a ton of beautiful, amazing music being made and artists that are making a living doing it and we should be celebrating and investigating them, instead of Kate Hudson's cousin. I hope the music industry caves in on itself and gives life to a whole new ways of distributing, selling, and sharing music.
Sarah Tramel
NYC, NY
Dear FRONTLINE,
I get most of my music through peer-to-peer file-trading programs, but I do purchase the music that I enjoy and listen to often. I am more than willing to give money to a band I'd like to hear more of. This 'death of the music' may just be the beginning of a new cycle, one that's probably for the best. I've heard and bought plenty of great new music recently, but not because I've heard it on the radio. I haven't seriously listened to the radio in years; peer-to-peer is my own radio.
Kevin Allen
Covington, GA
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