SELLING OUT

Written by Michael Black

It is always the same old story. A music fan falls in love with a little-known, hard-working band that they claim to be the "next big thing". The band puts in long hours trying to build a buzz and spread their music. As the band gradually constructs a following, the fan proudly claims, "I was listening to these guys from the beginning". Finally, the band breaks; they are the "next big thing". The same band that gave the fan an outlet from the staleness of modern music now is modern music. "Their" band is now being consumed by the masses. As the fan sees his individuality slipping through his fingers and struggles to find his once unique identity, he manages to muster a final, resentful cry, "Sell Outs!".

The story never changes. Music fans are a righteous group that are out to protect their own self-identity. Naturally, "selling out" is a term that is viewed as purely negative in its connotation by the fans and the artists, yet its use is often haphazardly thrown about without proper analysis by the fan in regard to an artist's intent. Despite its bad name, selling out has a positive side…being heard. After all, if Dylan never sold out and went electric, fans everywhere might still today think of rock and roll as messageless music with a groovy beat. So then what exactly is selling out? Can one even be heard today without selling out? Must selling out be labeled good or bad? These are all questions that trouble many artists and fans. In fact, the very concept of selling out deals directly with the relationship between artists and their fans. In turn, to even start to establish the nuances of selling out, one must first properly establish the artist and the fan as separate entities.

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