this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2024
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It's less "controlling what people like" (which, I'd argue, billions in marketing suggests you absolutely can do) and more "controlling who gets paid for the work" (which, I'd argue, labor unions and labor laws suggest you can also absolutely do).
People like things that are accessible and mass media allows large numbers of people to access a handful of cartelized venues. But go and watch the various American Idol knock-offs, and you'll find plenty of untalented people on the stage. Half the show is about the heels and how far they can get by schmoozing and scheming before they're knocked out by more mainstream talent. But its as much about the spectacle as it is about any actual talent.
Meanwhile, local musicians can and do command large audiences and full venues, particularly in cities known for cultivating talent. The trick is in having these venues to perform at and running them efficiently. When small venues get starved for revenue during downturns or crises (COVID, the '08 crash, Hurricane Katrina, etc), that's what kills a community scene. When rents skyrocket and drive community venues out of business, that's what costs a town its local venues. It isn't locals suddenly all forgetting how to perform year to year.
I guess I just don't see it that way. Ive been to some "sellout" 100 person venues that do a fine business (for the business, the band doesn't get a huge payday) and I've never thought to myself "wow, most people would pay money for this". They were decent entertainment while I drink a beer.
Most people are just not that talented, or they are decently talented but disillusioned about their probability of success. My ex BIL went to school and did a four year degree for timpani. Not to teach it, to play it. Do you know how many pro timpani positions there are in the country? For good orchestras, it's fewer than his graduating class in college. Accessible or not, there is just not wide appeal for "pretty good". I'd be more likely to pay people to stop singing or playing guitar while I'm eating dinner than to buy an album. I've also got a friend who is, IMO an extremely good and qualified actor who has been trying 10 years to make it in NYC. He sells real estate. EVERYONE there is an extremely good and qualified actor.
Not everyone, and not even most, can make it in B.A. professions. It just isn't a good choice of career or study unless you are exceptional and by definition, most people are not. A B.A. degree is like going out for the NFL: basically nobody makes it.
I've been in stadiums full of giddy teenagers, losing their minds over a collection of auto-tuned pop stars. Talent isn't the issue. You don't fill a venue by finding a talented performer, you fill it by advertising that venue relentlessly.
Shen Yuan sucks shit as a performance, but you'll drown in their marketing material. Nickelback and Creed were mediocre bands on a good day but they packed venues for nearly a decade. The Korean pop bands are a dime a dozen, all with their own cult followings. They've got rotating casts of starlets who exist entirely to stay ahead of their leads catching a case of puberty.
Most people don't make these performances their careers. Practice and training dramatically improve performance quality. And you can see younger actors who improve steadily over the course of their careers. Even the so-called greats have weak performances, where some off-broadway understudy could have filled the role better.
But once an individual becomes a celebrity, that powers their career simply by name recognition. Gerard Butler has been in a slew of crap movies doing crap performances. But he'll forever by the "Gladiator" guy, so they'll be using canned glitchy CGI of him long after he's six feet under. Meanwhile, hacks like Paris Hilton and Tori Spelling can get placed in feature length films entirely thanks to their connected parents. Talent isn't a factor in this business.
But that's got nothing to do with being a grip or a lighting engineer or a hair-and-makeup tech or an intimacy coordinator. These are real and vital roles that take a career to perfect. They aren't skills you have just falling off the back of the turnip truck.
BAs don't burn out inside five years once their knees start going. And cranking out quality audio/video/design is a very different thing than being tall enough to get a ball into a 10' hoop. Nobody is going to be too short to develop artistic talent.