Music is played on the radio. That’s perfectly normal, isn’t it? But some people think only bad music is played on the radio.
Now, it’s not like people aren’t entitled to their opinions on this like anything else. But why is it that “music elitists” think that just because music is played on the radio, on TV in music videos, or in any other way widely known, it is unacceptable.
Why is that so bad?
Say there’s this one band, let’s call it Really Super Awesome. A person becomes a fan of Really Super Awesome. Really Super Awesome starts getting popular, say, because of their MySpace page or local gigs. Really Super Awesome may have music up for download or even have a self-produced album out. This goes on for a while, and the fan thinks Really Super Awesome is exactly its name.
But then, Really Super Awesome is discovered. Suddenly, they’re on a record label, they have a hit single on the radio and a top 20 music video. Really Super Awesome starts getting thousands of fans, millions even, and now the original fan sees that they’ve “sold out,” and no longer like Really Super Awesome. Anyone who likes them now is just stupid to jump on the bandwagon.
This isn’t always the case. Fans don’t always stop liking a band just because they become celebrities, and it’s not always with a brand new band, either. Moderately known bands can become bigger, and some fans think they sold out, too. There are all kinds of scenarios for music elitists to manifest their disapproval.
The question is, then, why does it matter? Does an artist’s music stop being good just because they’ve gone “mainstream”? Why should success be looked on as some kind of betrayal?
Should an actor not take roles in any high-budget movies or televisions shows just to stay “underground”? Should an author decline getting his or her book published just because it would be widespread?
Rock stars don’t have a pension plan. If bands want to stay low key and underground, they will, and if they want to utilize the full potential of their talent and get famous, that’s what they’ll do, or at least try to do.
To be a fan of something is to like it for what it is, for what it does, not for how many other people know about it.