Is American Culture Being Overwhelmed By Foreign Cultures?

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Velociryx
I still say that if you want to support local artists, then support local artists!

What if I don't know about them because all mainstream radio stations don't air them, and because I'm not interested in music enough to listen to smaller, less known, radio stations ? This is precisely what happened with French music before the law : there were artists, but none was known because none was distributed widely. Of course, they didn't bring any significant money by being unknown.
The distribution problem is a problem in all media : if TV stations refuse to air a TV show because they don't feel confident in its success, the program has zero chance of success. If big movie theatres or companies refuse to air a good movie, and only small "artistic" theaters do so, then the movie has also zilch chance of success, no matter what its real quality and sellability is. When it comes to videogames, well, there is a whole website dedicated to good yet underdog games which never went under the spotlight (it is forbidden to mention it here).

And guess what : It does compete ! In today's top 50, 6 of the 10 first are French speaking tunes (and one is swiss techno)

But if you look at the same top 50, you'll notice only one measly tune is in a foreign language that is not English. That's because radio stations always air British bands in their 20% of forceful European music. Surprisingly enough, British music sold also much better than before in France after the introduction of the law.
Again, we see the conservatism of the music industry striking.

A Federally mandated law which blocks other forms of entertainment and FORCES you to look locally is certainly one solution, but it is not the best solution, for reasons that should be painfully obvious.

Of course, I would have preferred the music industry to be less conservative, and the US music to be less commercially agressive, so that this law wouldn't have been needed. Unfortunately, it was the only thing to do. I'm very glad we've done it

[gunkulator]

Originally posted by Adalbertus
There is a somewhat different problem for culture in a free market. Free market exaggerates. So if the demand in a given country is 60% American, 30% French, and 10% German music, market will produce 90% American, 9% French, and 1% German music, because every vendor tries to get something of the big cake.

Ah, but the clever vender aims for an unfilled smaller niche market versus an oversaturated albeit larger market.

(As an example: To get at least some attention, most German pop bands sing English, with all the horrible consequences regarding pronounciation. If you can't beat a language, corrupt it .)

We don't mind. Heck, the Brits already think we've horribly mucked up the language as it is.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Velociryx
If they wanted to, they could just as easily go support the local music scene. We do that here, and our countries are not so different. Yet, we are in no danger of having our music be "washed away" by French music, or German, or the music of any other nation (and yes, even in the heart of Dixie I can put my hands on any number of CD's from Europe)

If suddenly some big fish in the American music industry noticed than cheap Indian music sells correctly, while costing nearly nothing, and if this company pushed your radio stations to air nearly 100% of cheap-profitability Indian music, you'd say something different.
The problem is not the CDs. THe problem is whether the people know about it or not. the huge majority of music consumers aren't music-loving specialists digging the most obscure CD, they are people who enjoyed a tune on the radio or MTV and are going to buy it.

[Velociryx]

Good observations. Here's how we deal with that here:

Local bands start *getting* exposure in two ways:

Write-ups in small (local to regional) newspapers that specialize in entertainment (these are given away free in most cities I have been to in the US, so even folks with only a casual interest in music can read about the latest rising stars).

Play! Local nightclubs are *always* looking for decent bands, whether known or not! And once you get a couple of gigs, it's very easy to get a couple more. Make your next one in the next town over, and repeat that often enough, and before you know it, you'll be known from Gascogne to Picardie!

And when you ARE better known, it's easier to get increasing amounts of attention.

You say that America controls more mass media outlets....how many TV and radio stations does the United States own in France? How many American music shops are there in France? Not many, would be my guess. Far, far outnumbered by the shops owned by....Frenchmen?

If the shop owners are interested in staying in business, they'll stock what sells, and again, the current anti-americanism in France (and other parts of Europe) is a strong equalizing factor. "Come! Buy the music by our local artists! Down with American Music!" )

It'd sell. WITHOUT the need to legislate it....

-=Vel=-

[Adalbertus]

Ah, but the clever vender aims for an unfilled smaller niche market versus an oversaturated albeit larger market.

That's why I didn't put both to 0%. If you put production costs (which don't ask for popularity) into the equation, you'll arrive at it. At least roughly, I didn't calculate a complete model

We don't mind. Heck, the Brits already think we've horribly mucked up the language as it is.

And Brits say, this is mostly German influence. Double attack. Harrr....

[Velociryx]

And Spiff, if what you described ever happened here, you'd see a new crop of radio stations that played the type of music being *demanded* by the customer/listener base crop up so fast that it'd make your head spin....

(then, there'd be a HUGE market war between the existing radio stations as they scrambled to switch back and the new upstarts....it'd be awesome...)

-=Vel=-

[MrFun]

Originally posted by gunkulator

We don't mind. Heck, the Brits already think we've horribly mucked up the language as it is.

The British just do not appreciate the superiority of American English.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Velociryx
Play! Local nightclubs are *always* looking for decent bands, whether known or not! And once you get a couple of gigs, it's very easy to get a couple more.

Indeed, that's how Matmatah and Louise Attaque (previously cited) begun. That's why they have been quickly chosen by radio stations when they were forced to air French music.

Make your next one in the next town over, and repeat that often enough, and before you know it, you'll be known from Gascogne to Picardie!

This is wrong. Matmatah was performing in Breton clubs for a few years now, when my Breton cousin first told me about them and let me listen some low-fi tape. Without the boost from radios, they'd have need years, if not decades, to become famous. This is the big problem : People who are going to clubs (in France, they are bars rather than discos) aren't a financial or advertisial pull enough to launch someone quickly. They are simply not mainstream.

And when you ARE better known, it's easier to get increasing amounts of attention.

Indeed, but radio exposure or the absence thereof is a magnifying factor bigtime. Those who get known -to the point of being profitable to a major music label- without early radio exposure are extremely rare. However, those who get radio attention can sell very even if they are completely untalented, see the boy's bands.

You say that America controls more mass media outlets....how many TV and radio stations does the United States own in France? How many American music shops are there in France? Not many, would be my guess. Far, far outnumbered by the shops owned by....Frenchmen?

The French music distribution industry is mostly held by French companies, even though the British Virgin is an important competitor. No significant actor has a cultural agenda, and they all put the spotlight on tunes deemed highly profitable. That's a vicious circle : unknown tunes go to an obscure display, and remain unknown while being there, hance are unprofitable...

If the shop owners are interested in staying in business, they'll stock what sells

Indeed, and famous songs are those that sell. Just like "famous" videogames are those that sell regardless of the quality (how many copies of EnterTheMatrix have been sold worldwide already ?).

and again, the current anti-americanism in France (and other parts of Europe) is a strong equalizing factor. "Come! Buy the music by our local artists! Down with American Music!"

Indeed, the current antiamericanism could help local cultural products for a limited period of time. But I don't think it would have given the necessary kick to move the disc industry out of its conservatism. It would have just whined that it makes less money, with minimal adaptation.

[Velociryx]

And there is the rub.

Supporting the local music scene is not mainstream in France.

Which means that the majority of Frenchmen don't do it.

Why? Who knows....that's their thing, but they don't.

And because they don't, French local musicians have a hard time.

Until a law gets passed that FORCES the country to pay attention to the local music scene.

If you already did (ie - if support of local bands was a fairly mainstream activity), then the whole issue never would have come up, and THAT, coupled with the current anti-americanism, would have accomplished the same thing, without the government sticking its nose into everybody's business.

-=Vel=-

[Adalbertus]

coupled with the current anti-americanism, would have accomplished the same thing, without the government sticking its nose into everybody's business.

Freedom Fries

[DinoDoc]

I just call them Belgian fries because that's where they come from.

[Arrian]

Same old arguement. You'll never convince him, Vel. He honestly believes in American Cultural Imperialism (tm).

Me, I'm starting to think it's just an ethnocentrist mindset (racist, even?) that demands that the things in France be "French." If something isn't, it upsets him.

Though he's much more eloquent and thoughtful, I'm not sure his mindset is all that much different from Boddington's (those damn furriners are screwing up our country!).

-Arrian

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Velociryx
Supporting the local music scene is not mainstream in France.

Which means that the majority of Frenchmen don't do it.

Well, it is indeed not mainstream here, as most of our music consumers buy what they heard on radio... Isn't it the case in your country ?
Well, I don't care whether our local artists are supported or not as local artists. It doesn't excuse the fact that, without the law, the actual demand for French music nationwide wouldn't be met by conservative broadcasters.
The French people support French music, see the Top50 above, but they only support the music that is aired by corporations.
The law didn't force French citizens. The law forced French music corporations to stop the nonsense. The French citizen had all right not to buy French music, and only to buy the vastly superior American music (still 40% of radio time was completely free, and 60% had potential of being English-speaking, so popular English or American bands are still widely aired here). Yet, they now buy French music en masse.
But of course, since the companies represent their demand perfectly, the French citizens have been coerced into buying French music

[Velociryx]

It cuts both ways here. For example, my favorite radio station (not that the call letters will mean anything outside of Columbia) is WARQ, 93.5. The reason I listen to that particular station is because two nights a week, they devote a healthy chunk of their programming to the local music scene. Every NIGHT, for an hour, they have a "battle of the local bands" competition that aires the latest offerings from local musicians and promotes listener participation by awarding prizes to folks who call in to vote on which song they liked better (often including passes to go see them at the local clubs). On Sunday, they have a 3-hour segment devoted to "underground music" (stuff that's REALLY obscure, local or not.

And Columbia is not atypical in this regard. Pretty much any city of any decent size in America does similar things in support of local music. It IS played on the air here, and there have been lots of garage bands that have grown dramatically in their popularity (love 'em or hate 'em, the band "Hootie and the Blowfish" got their start here in Columbia, SC, playing at a haven for local artists called "Rockafellas" (played twice a week for a couple of years, actually).

Happens all the time bud, and that's why I'm still convinced that the Federal Mandate approach is non-optimal.

-=Vel=-
PS to Arrian: Yeah, but you know me....

[MRT144]

i agree with velociryx... college radio/small town radio is the best.