Is the Music Industry Changing for the Better?

Is the Music Industry Changing for the Better?

Isabella C. 12, Island School

The music industry used to be dictated by music executives, but now with more singers taking their images and shows intotheir own hands, they can also have a voice and opinion on what they do.

Back before YouTube existed, the only possible ways of accessing music would be to listen to mix tapes and the radio. Thanks to the invention of YouTube, you can now find singers with talent just by clicking on a video. Of the many people who were discovered on YouTube, the most famous ones would be Justin Bieber and Rebecca Black. Not only does Justin Bieber have six million fans, he has also sold 15 million albums and has earned more than 55 million USD in the past year. Rebecca Black was an overnight success as she sang her song “Friday.” This song got over 157 million views onYouTube, and she now has an independent record label, “RB Records.”

With the development of the individuality of artists, you can now discover more styles of music that are different from what you would expect, but are still very popular. The most popular ‘recent’ genres of music are pop, pop rock, rock, contemporary R&B, Hip Hop, Electronic, Country, Soul, Folk and some Korean Pop and Japanese pop. The most popular song from an unusual genre is Gangnam Style (Korean Pop), which received over 1,000,000,000 views on YouTube. Gangnam Style also is a good example of how the music industry is improving. It is now welcoming much more unique songs. This song was popular not only because of its catchy music, but the dance and the music video.

Now with Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram and other social networking applications, you can follow your favorite artists anywhere they go, and if you are lucky, you can also communicate with your favorite artists. Using Twitter, you can send/read the text based messages of your favorite artists. Tumblr is a very blog based social networking website. You can see what pictures, videos and other news your favorite artists posts. With Facebook you can make fan pages for an artist/band, see what your favorite artists are up to, check for show dates and even see some moments of your artist which you may not have seen before. You can follow your artists on Twitter, so now you can feel closer to the artists that you like.

Although many people may think that the new development of the music industry exposes vulgarity and only cares about the looks of the artists, the ‘vulgar’ artists are just trying to show their individuality and there are certain settings in which you could block vulgar content. For some artists such as Adele and Kelly Clarkson, they don’t care if they aren’t a size 2, 5’11”, skinny singer, they have a powerful voice which they can showcase instead.

To conclude, the music industry is rapidly changing for the better. Now the music executives do not run the music industry. You can have a voice which will be heard. If you discover a great singer, you can post it somewhere and people will see the artist. The change in the music industry now helps a lot of people find good music and lets people with talent shine.

How Much Attention Should Killers Receive?

How Much Attention Should Killers Receive?

Sharon N. 12, St. Paul Convert School

There have been many shootings and bombings recently. There are merciless killers around us. Should the media just briefly introduce these killers to us and skip the most important part, which is the appearance of these terrorists? I don’t think so.

First of all, it is truly vital that the public knows about the killer as it relates to our lives. If you see someone in the streets, who looks exactly like, or even could be the killer you saw on TV, you could dial 999 and phone the nearest police station immediately. But if you don’t know what the killer looks like, you could have already died. It is less dangerous if the public knew at least the appearance of the “on the run” killer. This benefits not only the safety of the public, but it also benefits police who are trying to find the killer.

Secondly, we can understand why these terrorists did such a crazy thing. If it shows up on the media and we know the actual reason why these people do such a thing, we can help kids and teenagers who have the same problem, those who have a motive to kill or shoot innocent people mercilessly. For example, if the killer killed people because of bullying, the public can work together to help kids or teens who have been, or are being bullied. This could help decrease the number of terrorists in the future, which also benefits us.

Moreover, if this killing, shooting and bombing shows up on TV, parents can easily show and educate their purely innocent children how terrible and horrible it is to shoot innocent people. These children’s parents should really show their children why murdering people is a bad, crazy thing to do.

Some might say that showing criminals on TV and not mentioning anything about the victims is not fair to the victims. I understand that this is most unfair to victims, as they were the innocent people who are unlucky, but if we know who the on-the-run terrorist is, people would be cautious and less--or even no deaths--will occur if the terrorist is caught. We have to bring justice, ‘avenge’ those who have innocently died, and catch this terrorist, so that he or she can harm no more.

Due to our safety and better moral education, let’s make justice, ‘avenge’ those who have died unfairly, and catch the terrorist! I firmly disagree that we should banish these terrorists from the public mind.