Dreamgirls and the music industry

The music industry is a big machine that has the power to turn even the most staunchly idealistic musician into a money-hungry pop star. I guess that’s just the nature of it — it’s a business. And as a good business, it’s supposed to work like that. But knowing that it’s music that has to be the catalyst for such a machine to work is a bit disheartening. Music is for everyone, and before the record companies were around, it really was. Some people go into the industry with dreams of being big and selling platinum records while others enter with the romantic idea of non-conformity and doing it "all for the music." In the music business eventually these two things combine, keeping the cogs in the machine turning. It’s the commodification of it all that just sucks.

I watched Dreamgirls earlier this week and was really satisfied with it. It touched on a lot of issues about the music industry; things a lot of musicians should think about before making music a way of getting by in this materialistic world. There’s deceit, shrewdness, and a lot of under-the-table deals that, sadly, the artists themselves are oblivious to. Record executives might say that these things are necessary in running a successful business and they may be right. And it really might be working out to be the best thing for these artists — the business know-how is with the execs, after all; they went to school to learn the business. I really think transparency is key, however. Honesty is the best policy and all of that.

In Dreamgirls, one of the issues portrayed in the music industry is the artist’s image. In the movie, Jennifer Hudson’s character is pushed aside to make Beyoncé’s character the lead even though everyone knows that Jennifer has the better voice. It’s just that Beyoncé isn’t fat and she’s "easier" on the eyes. It’s like that in the real-life music industry too, because sometimes if artists don’t look the part, they don’t get all the perks they should be getting. They won’t be offered music videos or many press shoots because they only look good when people hear them on the radio and can’t see them. They won’t sell to teenyboppers who care about the looks just as much as the music. And that makes them dispensable in this aggressive industry.

Another problem that Dreamgirls touches on is how many musicians sacrifice their artistic integrity because of what the boss has to say about it all. In the film, the songwriter of The Dreams was being pushed to the limit of his talents and was being milked for all he was worth. In reality, this can push an artist to the brink of insanity and it’s sad because sometimes, some of these extremely talented people resort to drug and alcohol addiction to make problems go away. I’m sure that they use these substances in happier times as well (which isn’t an excuse to use them, either), but when they use them as a way to escape from everything, that becomes a bad thing.

The recording industry is always changing and because of this, young and new talents are always being sought. Those fresh new faces that can sing hit songs are what record executives are after. And what happens to old artists? Some of them do much better than others and can survive on a "Greatest Hits" compilation every couple or so years (depending on how many albums they released in the first place). They can even indulge in company perks once in a while. Eddy Murphy’s character, after trying to sing something that breaks his mold as an aging soul man who can’t sing anything else, gets fired by his boss — all because he tried to do something new. This is the reality of older artists. They have an image that people associate them with, and when they try new things, the public rejects it. That’s why record companies are always looking for new talent. Out with the old, in with the new; always moving, always trying to evolve.

I mentioned under-the-table deals earlier, and one thing a lot of people don’t like talking about is payola — that’s when record companies pay radio stations to play their songs. A lot of people don’t know that it happens, but it does. So next time you hear your favorite song on the radio station, think about whether it got their on its own or if it had a little "help" getting there. Dreamgirls shows this aspect of the music industry, and it really is quite shady. It becomes even worse when several record companies compete over one radio station and they try to beat each other in terms of how much they can give the radio station just to play one song. No one admits to radio payola happening nowadays, but those inside the industry know better.

The dilemma of many artists is whether to sign up with the major recording labels or not; to "keep it real" or to "sell out." The line between selling out and keeping it real gets even thinner when artists have only their music as a means to make a living and nothing else; the decision becomes even tougher. But it really all depends on the artist because the music industry has been like this for a long, long time now, and a complete change in how it works any time soon is really not probable.

Anyway, I found out later that Dreamgirls was actually a play rewritten for the silver screen and can only imagine how much more powerful the actual Broadway production would be. But for now, the movie does the job — it’s got funk, soul, and is just really a lot of fun to watch. It goes pretty deep with all its issues. The actors and actresses sang, danced and did really well in their parts, but I give props to Eddie Murphy and especially Jennifer Hudson. She really has a much bigger voice than Beyoncé Knowles and the girl is a natural in front of the camera. As for Eddie Murphy, the last time I saw him sing was in Coming to America where he played (among many of his other roles in that movie) Randy Watson, who sang The Greatest Love of All at a church with his band Sexual Chocolate. This was much better than that. You guys have to remember that.

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E-mail me at enricomiguelsubido@yahoo.com.