Competitions on the web Chris - The Band of the Eye
   
I'm interested in finding out what bands and listeners think of a relatively new trend in music competitions by which artists encourage their fans to vote for their music online.  The winner, consequently, is the act with the most votes.  I'm coming across more and more of these competitions and I think their system is immoral.

Bands work hard to build up fan bases.  My band has a substantial and ever-increasing mailing list from which no-one has ever asked to be removed; due, I think, to the efforts we make to control the frequency with which we contact people.  We send out one e-mail per gig, and we won't pester people in Bedminster about a show in London.  I think we'd risk our fan base if we bombarded people with 'vote for us' correspondence every time we were trying to get freebies for the band.  Once I voted for a band in such a promotion to help them out - promptly I received an e-mail saying, 'Don't forget you need to vote every day!'

Being trusted with a person's contact details is a privilege, and spamming people for personal gain is an abuse of that trust.  It may be possible to argue that bands will attract willing votes if their fans are passionate enough, but I don't think it's realistic to make that assumption about unsigned bands.  Dropping the responsibility of attracting voters at the doorstep of the bands conceals the cheapness of the trick; that the competition organisers have found means of persuading others to do their spamming for them.  Ultimately the winners are always the organisers, who have found a cheap method of attracting people to their websites.

I'd like to think that these competitions are unpopular, but I'm not sure what people think.  If this form of promotion is unwelcome I think people should make their feelings known to encourage better forms of music competition.
 
 
Responses:
 
Kathryn:
"Competitions should be one person one vote. Genuine bands just send out an e-mail once because they know they rely on their real fans for support. But I really do hate this 'vote for me' culture with continual nagging, I mean spamming of e-mails and messages, it is so superficial. In the end I just delete people because I get fed up with it. However these competitions aren't a reliable source of talent and the best band doesn't necessarily win. By the way do many of these 'winning' bands/artists get any further in the music industry?"
 
Dave from Alien Stash Tin:
I agree with the last comments about the organisers being the 'winners'.

Music is not a sport, where the one who gets to the finishing line or scores more runs/goals is the winner. Its a passion.

Yes we all want more opportunities to play our particular music to more people, but for the life of me I cant see how it can be made into a 'competition' as what we all like as listeners is personal to each of us.

I would also like to point out, (not knocking them!) that your average college/university student has a much greater chance of mustering head count than us old hippies for instance!
 
Paul Towler

I agree with the comments made so far. Personally, I despise any form of competition in music, and it's an ever growing trait that I feel quite strongly about.

Competition is all very good for the sports field, after all, sportsmanship thrives on working to be better than the rest. However, applying a 'survival-of-the-fittest' mentality to any form of 'art' is simply detrimental to the whole creative process. Would we be asked to judge a Picasso against a Van Gogh and be expected to choose which one is the best, at the expense of the other? Of course not. Both are there to be appreciated for their own individual merits. As with any art form, variety gives music it's richness and sensuality. So, why are we being cheaply asked to choose one band at the expense of another?

Personally, I'm not prepared to 'vote' for ANY band, no matter how much I like them. I'll happily buy their album, go to a gig, or even buy a t-shirt (assuming they've catered for my size) because none of these supportive gestures will be to the detriment of any other band. But 'voting' is another matter - effectively, we're being asked to give a 'black mark' to whoever we DON'T vote for! When such little respect is given to  fans that nothing more taxing is required of them than a mere 'vote', isn't that just a little patronizing?

Sadly, 'Battle Of The Bands' is another equally repulsive form of competition that has been growing in popularity over recent years. What positive energy can possibly come from bands working AGAINST each other? Surely, the only way for a healthy music 'scene' to develop is for bands to work TOGETHER rather than compete against one another!

Last month, a Somerset based newspaper group won an award for it's annual 'Battle Of The Bands' competition. OK, so let's not begrudge them such an accolade, but it does make you wonder exactly who they're doing it for - the bands? - or themselves? Similarly, today’s TV game-show culture is encouraging music to be seen as a gladiatorial arena - a 'fight-to-the-death' scenario, not to offering potential career options to talent less wannabes.

Competitive mentality is slowly suffocating pure creativity. Is it any wonder that today's mainstream music sounds so formulaic? It's only because everyone is after a piece of the same cake without considering that they could, if they wanted to, bake a completely different cake. Bands who enter these competitions will inevitably focus their attention on beating their rivals rather than being inspired by others to fulfil their creative potential. So, ironically enough, if you want my vote - don't ask for it!

 
 
 

 

Copyright © 2008 - Bristol Rocks