Aleksandra Galert's Blog: I'm thinking about... - Posts Tagged "ideas"

There are songs that for a period of time you can hear on the radio over and over again. Few days ago, I was sitting with my friends when we heard the latest music hit for the x time. This was the starting point of our discussion. I don’t know if you’re aware of the fact of how much research is done on the popular songs. You think they just come out straight from the artist’s heart? Maybe some of them do. But the music business is the money business. So before spending a lot on recording, music video and promotion the agents have to be sure they’ll earn their revenue. Everything is carefully checked: which rhythms had the hits from the last years, what were the songs about etc, etc.

You may feel confused and disappointed. How can that be? You might even feel cheated. You might be wondering if the same thing is happening with other modern artists: painters, photographers, designers and so on. But let’s try to be reasonable for a moment…

If you look carefully at the history of art, you’ll find out that most of the biggest and most famous works were not created just as the result of artists’ inspirations. They were ordered by rich clients, like cardinals, kings, aristocracy, who wanted to get a particular result. Of course, the artist was adding its style to it, but they also had to eat, so they were fulfilling the clients’ needs, and so that their artistic taste.

Is that so different from the current situation? Aren’t we the clients not even knowing that we ordered a piece of music until we get it? Our delusions about creating art can get harmed now, but until we like what we get is it so important whether the inspiration came from the morning coffee or the scientific research? Probably in a few centuries people will still be watching/listening with astonishment some of the pieces created now, not caring much for the source. So let’s just enjoy the art as it is.