The Monetization of the Music

The negative effects of the music industry have been discussed many times, in many articles, but this analysis will be coming from a traditional perspective, and will be exposing the issue at more of a fundamental level, therefore exposing some of the dishonesty that we have grown accustomed to in the modern world. 

In a time where anything can be sold for a dollar, the need for understanding these issues grows day by day. These are confusions that must be spoken of. Humanity cannot afford to continue moving forward with these unseen problems right under its nose. 

Let us attempt to explore some of these issues with an open mind. 

The music industry is now flooded with many styles of music, all of which make many dollars for those who control the music industry. Those who control the music industry make sure to set industry rules that will guarantee that they themselves make more money at the end of the day. It is not important whether the career of the artist is sacrificed to make this profit, and it is certainly not important if the morals and ethics of society are sacrificed to make this profit. It is about one thing and one thing only: the almighty dollar. If it can’t turn a buck, then it is not economically viable. 

These days, most of the music we hear day-to-day reaches us through the music industry. In other words, most of the music we hear ends up reaching our ears because it was financed and recorded by the music industry as part of a business plan to make money. For most of us here in America, this is true of 100% of the music that we listen to. 

If the primary goal of these projects is to make money, the message and quality of the songs are, and always will be, a secondary concern. It’s simple. If an investor puts money into something, they want to know that at the end of the day they will make a return on their investment. This is regardless if the commodity is gold, stocks, bonds, drugs, or music. 

Because the primary concern of making music is now making money, the quality and standards of the craft has sunk to an all-time low. Popular music is now at its lowest form, and it continues to challenge how low that bottom can possibly drop. 

The world of music and the musician was not always this pitiful. Music has roots as a sacred tradition of humanity. Traditionally music has a variety of roles in society. As discussed in the Root Tones article appearing in Volume 66, music can be used to do spiritual readings, to communicate with ancestors, and can be used in ceremonies as a vehicle to facilitate possession. 

Music also has a place in recreational community ceremonies and dances. There are performances of music where the goal is the transmission of history, knowledge, and wisdom. Also, there has always been popular music and songs that have been sung amongst the people on a day-to-day basis. 

In all of these cases, the primary motivation in creating the music was in the quality of the act itself. For example, how well can a person play the music in order to make sure that the history is transmitted properly? Or, how well can the song be sung so that the wisdom and the lessons reach the minds and hearts of the listeners? For someone playing music for a spiritual ceremony, they must make sure to do it in the best way so that the ceremony will be successful. These are the kind of original motivations in traditional music. 

Traditionally, even music in its most everyday form comes with the responsibility of conveying knowledge and wisdom. We can easily see that once you change the motivations or goals for doing something, the thing itself begins to change. This is the case in much of modern music. The goal is making money. 

This corruption of music as a sacred activity has taken place over a long period of time, and over many generations. This degeneration can be seen specifically in the problems of music in modern culture. Back home in Meritah there are many places where music is still being used in it’s sacred manner. This fact alone can act as a source of inspiration and stability for honest musicians within the vocation. 

These days the modern musician thrives off of the American notion of “freedom of speech”. This means that a person is culturally entitled to say whatever they please. If they want to sing praises to their respective god, they may, and if they want to sing songs of filth or demoralization, they may do that as well. In American culture, the reality of “freedom of speech” is like a double edged sword, it allows for the best and the worst of humanity to be expressed, and in doing so it protects the best or worst of humanity from it’s respective opponents. What is my best may be your worst, and vice versa what is your worst may be my best, and “freedom of speech” ensures that I cannot stop you from expressing yourself. 

There are some legal limits to how far you can go, but this is the general idea. 

For the past two millennia, many of the barbaric societies on earth have subsisted through the imposition of force, and therefore according to those societies, the rules must always be imposed in order for that society to be successful. The pretext is that the general public cannot be trusted to manage themselves. In a culture that is devoid of principles this may well be true. For a long time this has created many of the cultural problems we are faced with today such as police, and organizations focused on the management of society through force. This same philosophy of imposition can also be seen in all areas of modern society, ranging from how taxes are paid, how people walk across the street, to how people speak to one another. 

In traditional society, we do not have a police force. And we do not have a crime problem. Actually, we have much less problems than a modern society with an active police force. The community functions using principles and rules by which it governs itself. When it comes to speaking words or singing a song, if a person begins to speak or sing crazy things, they can keep doing it. No problem. It’s their life they are jeopardizing. They will just be looked at as a crazy person. 

They can continue to say crazy words, and the rest of the people will keep serving, fulfilling their daily obligations in the community. It is only when that person’s craziness interferes with the day-to- day work of the people in ensuring the success of their community, that the person will be moved out of the way. Otherwise, the people could care less. 

In traditional societies, it is the individual who is concerned with doing their best before the eyes of their Ancestors, and the Divine world. It is the responsibility, and lonesome journey of that person to stand in front of their Ancestors and the Divine world with a clean heart. This applies to the crazy as well as the sane. This is a very different way of operating than the way modern society operates now. 

The imposed political notion of “freedom of speech” has succeeded in elevating mediocre works to the same level as quality works. It must do so by it’s very reason for being. Therefore, the people making quality works are then trained to respect mediocre works, and the people making mediocre works are convinced that their work can stand equal to those making quality works. This is a natural product of the philosophy that modern culture embraces. 

We have become so accustomed to respecting mediocrity, that we have built it into our vocabulary, our children have inherited it, and they are pushing that weakness even deeper. Therefore, the music of our children has reached an unimaginable low. Don’t believe it? Turn on any pop station and listen to music. The words will speak messages of money, drugs, sexual deprivation, hopelessness, emotional desperation, deep materialism, the de-masculinization of men, the de-feminization of women, etc., etc., the list goes on and on. 

There has been a defense mechanism that the music industry has cleverly given it’s artists to protect their place in the mediocre works that they are encouraged (and sometimes forced) to produce. If the quality of the message is questioned, some of the following responses will commonly be heard; the first of which is the most honest and can’t be argued with: 

1. “I am just trying to make money.” 

2. “My song is really a social commentary, you weren’t listening hard enough.” 

3. “I am just telling real life stories that represent the day to day struggles of our listeners, in the language of our respective communities” 

4. “There is a secret message of wisdom hidden in those words” 

Response #1 is the most honest, and it is hard to argue with the truth. The other responses can be attacked and dismantled with a few simple points: 

“My song is really a social commentary, you weren’t listening hard enough.” 

Many artists when defending their work will say that their work is social commentary. Let’s say somebody writes a song about a killer. They make the song about killing sound very good. They make the act of killing sound very appealing, supposedly to illustrate the insanity of the killer, singing the song from the perspective of the crazy killer. Even if the intention was to show that the blood lust of a killer is unfortunate, the truth is that a song was just recorded that makes killing sound good, despite the supposed intentions. 

The end result: making killing sound good. This is the same scenario, played out again and again, regardless if the topic is sexual filthiness, drugs, breaking of taboos, violence, disrespect, indulgence in anger, guns, depression, suicidal tendencies, or the martyrdom of the youth. We can agree these are all unfortunate things, but if it is sung passionately from the 1st person, regardless if it is intended to be commentary, it is heard as the 1st person by a vast majority of the listeners. 

“I am just telling real life stories that represent the day to day struggles of our listeners, in the language of our respective communities” 

This is normally the response when any negative content in the song is being scrutinized such as violence, crime, drugs, and sexuality, or any subject sung about using explicit and demoralizing language. 

There needs to be more honesty and accountability for what is being encouraged within our respective communities. If we continue to sing about stories of negative activities in negative ways, we must understand, that through these actions we are inviting more negativities upon ourselves and children, opening up more pathways for further negative behaviors. 

“There is a secret message of wisdom hidden in those words”. 

Even these days, in the face of diverse perspectives from the modern socio-political arena, artists act as though they must cloak their intelligence in stupidity. In most cases where this response is exercised, this couldn’t be further from the truth. In today’s American marketplace there is generally no outside force suspending honest lyrics through duress, except by withdrawal of financing. Therefore there are plenty of opportunities to express these ideas in a straightforward way. If the message needs to be hidden in cotton candy to be marketable, then all the people will taste is cotton candy. If cotton candy is the dominant flavor, it is that which will be remembered. 

Is it possible to stop using the ability to make money in music as the determining factor for the honesty and quality of the messages that we sing about as a people? 

The refusal to do this is helping to destroy the fabric of our communities. 

As artists, our degeneration can no longer be hidden behind the false veil of intellectualism and intelligence. If we want to represent mediocrity, then we must be honest about it, and then see how that feels coming out of our mouths when we say it. 

We can no longer trade the craftsmanship and sacred nature of music for making money. 

Traditional culture has many lessons for us, and clearly when it comes to music, we have a long way to go to get back to the standards our ancestors set for us. 

Meritah is like a lamp, keeping the flame of civilization lit for the hearths of the world. 

I am always amazed in Meritah, every time I ask for a translation of some lyrics in the traditional language; I discover that they are always words of wisdom. I might be in the marketplace and hear something on the radio, or hear a group of men, or a man playing on the street. In each of these cases, it is the same; the lyrics and the songs are soaked with wisdom and history. In fact the merit of a song might rest solely on it having these qualities, therefore the artists are encouraged to work towards creating a quality work. Artists strive to inspire insight, reflection and growth through the simple wisdom presented in the songs they write. Sometimes they simply become the mouthpiece for wisdoms and insight that pierces our reality from other dimensions. Sometimes the perception of these spiritual musicians is so clear that the truth flows from them like water. 

If we are to shed the chains that the system has imposed upon us through psychological and financial bondage, we must begin to think outside of the box. If our current box is slavery, then the model upon which we must turn our eyes, outside our box, is Meritah and the traditional culture that our Ancestors set for us.