Music Is Out, Reality Is In

After Lukas Rossi was crowned as the winner of a music talent reality contest and is now the lead singer of Rock Star Supernova I’m pretty sure that we will see more of this mixture of reality and music in the future of the entertainment and mobile industry.

A short brief for the non U.S. among my readers:
Rock Star Supernova is a CBS reality TV show where in its second season drum player Tommy Lee (Mötley Crüe), bass player Jason Newsted (ex-Metallica) and guitarist Gilby Clarke (ex-Guns N' Roses) were gathered together on the search for a rock\metal lead singer. To find their rising star, they had a big contest with all the reality sh*t (sorry) of: accommodating all contestants in the same huge mansion so they can fight each other, eliminating a contestant after a live show every week, decision making done by a combination of viewers' voting and the band's decisions. And, of course, a big prize to the winner - to record an album with the band and go on a tour. On first impression - it’s pretty much like the hard rock version of “American Idol”. Wait.

Entertainment in the last few years is more and more about process and less about content. Being a little nostalgic here I would say that in the past, bands were about the music they made (content). They had to struggle for public recognition and success. If we examine Rock Star Supernova for a moment, the band is practically a weird bunch of musicians scraped together. They wouldn’t have joint together under any other circumstances; and they could never succeed without the show because their music is meaningless and uninteresting from a musical point of view. Yet, in reality, Rock Star Supernova was a success even before it had a single song or even a lead singer…! Nobody really cares about the future band or even worse - about their music. While the process in which people compete, fight, excite, stimulate, win and lose is much more interesting and traffic generating. It’s all about elimination, who gets voted off, who hates whom. Furthermore, even the band itself doesn’t make artistic\musical decisions but economical ones: if a talented contestant wouldn’t generate enough traffic, the band will eliminate him\her, even if he\she is favorited by the band. Why? Because eventually, they all need to sell and attract the masses later down the road. Decision making comes down to plain economics of benefit vs. cost. The money maker isn’t necessarily the outcome (music, tour, album) but the process (rating, SMS traffic). So I can sum it all up to this: Music is out, reality is in.

How this has happened? The "reality" concept which was integrated into the music industry has changed the way music is made. Instead of “the making” being hidden and the music being public, it has become the other way around. It's more profitable. This generates buzz about the band when there is no real content yet. Also it produces emotional attachment and huge interest before there’s a music product to sell to the masses. And most important - it enlarges sales: now we consume the process of “the making” and we consume the power to keep or eliminate contestants. We do it by voting by SMS and by consuming mobile content like ringtones, ringbacks, wallpapers and clips all by Verizon, before there's an album or a concert... The outcome: the mobile and entertainment industry make more $$. So, who’s gonna give up on another season of the show?!

Comments

[GorillaSushi]

So much to say...
My wife and I both watched the first episode of RS SuperNova and we both predicted that little Lukas guy would win. It was probably luck. Second episode, we couldn't stand to watch it - it doesn't have the "train wreck" factor of most reality shows. We watched the last episode and still weren't impressed.
I think that type of marketing is just serving to mold a new genre of music - an over exposed reality-pop. I personnaly would compare it to having cotton candy injected directly into my eyeballs, but that's just me.
For me, this kind of marketing pushes me further toward the grass-roots, local type music. I think I tend to enjoy music more if I've had to search and discover - music that I can turn others onto.
Conclusion - that Lukas is one cute and cuddly little Canadian...