tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27307522.post105087290016849395..comments2023-11-04T00:06:00.511+11:00Comments on Open Your Eyes: Levity LiasonsPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896444009781205427noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27307522.post-31594757907772016512008-07-31T13:41:00.000+10:002008-07-31T13:41:00.000+10:00Contra-Rant.The relationship between corporate fas...Contra-Rant.<BR/><BR/>The relationship between corporate fashion and independent music has been Siamese-twin close for pretty much ever. Only in the past the established model of record sales = return on corporate investment allowed talent to lead the way image wise instead of relying on brands for support.<BR/><BR/>Now that the internet has destroyed the established music model it shouldn’t be surprising that the fashion/image side of things has recently taken on a larger role in order to fill the income gap (in whiteboy rock that is. Hip-hop has for a long time realised the need to diversify its income sources because it’s traditionally had less money to begin with).<BR/><BR/>Asking for better, realer, less egomaniacal bands to be picked up by hip-as-fuck ‘fashion labels’ is like asking to live in the past; in a pre-sex pistols time when talent and image were more distinct selling points. And would the music community really be better off without the sex-pistols?<BR/><BR/>I remember seeing COYH in a small pub maybe a year ago. It was them, their coked up groupies, and mostly sitting punters. And no, they don’t hold up without a fluro clad (or is it flannelette now, I can never keep up) social pages audience. But frankly, their talent isn’t what they bring to the music community. They’re pistons in the engine of progress. Their primary job is to look shiny and jump up and down; which they do very well.<BR/><BR/>Fashion labels are the current way of keeping the whole scenester fuss spinning around so the rest of us can watch, waiting until it spits out the next truly good thing; which is as much a matter of talent as it is having a well oiled system of distribution available to turn the right people into enduring stars.<BR/><BR/>The best thing music fans can do is to not take the changes personally. I can’t imagine that members of uber-cool fashion b(r)ands want anything much different to any other half-way good unsigned band; which doesn’t make them shit-heads, only humans.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com