SELLING OUT Page 4

Making Sense of Selling Out…Getting the Music Heard

Phish, a band known for their relentless touring and supportive fan base, has reached an uncommon position in the music market that for purposes in this paper I'll call "non-commercial, commercial success". Their fans view them as a band that is the antithesis of commercial, yet their website reveals that the band sells T-shirts, posters, hats, stickers, and yo-yo's to name just a few. Indeed, the plethora of merchandise approaches what one would expect to see on a Backstreet Boys website. Also, fans attribute Phish's gradual success to their constant touring, but many fail to note that Phish has had major label backing since the early 1990s.

I raise these issues not to support or denounce the nature of Phish's rise, but rather to point out the reality of the matter. Like it or not, Phish is a "corporate band". A corporate band is a band that has accepted the realities of the music business and willingly takes part in the corporate aspects of the music business…Phish is a corporate band. Without major label support and the backing of influential people, the members of Phish would still be paying the bills from weekly club gigs in Vermont. Phish obviously did what they needed to do in order to get their music heard, and their fans are definitely thankful for it (conflicted but thankful). Indeed, being a corporate band might be the difference in being heard or not being heard.

Moby is an artist on the opposite end of the musical spectrum. His commercial support is much more obvious than bands such as Phish. Moby's techno tunes brought him to the forefront of a budding club and rave scene, but corporate America brought him commercial success. Movies, TV commercials, radio, or videos on MTV-- the music of Moby can be heard anywhere. Often times people don't even realize they are listening to Moby's music.

Moby's route to success is different because of the very different sub-cultures that their music caters to. While Phish is a touring band with a pseudo-hippie fan base (i.e. sandals, vintage clothing, cell phone, and the money to travel across America following their favorite band), Moby's fan base was initially much more limited. The rave scene has been much more of an underground movement in the past decade. Raves are rarely heavily publicized and don't lend themselves to traveling acts. In order to grasp a larger audience with a type music that hasn't been radio friendly in the past, Moby used the music business and corporate America as a vehicle to be heard by the masses.

Green Day had a similar story of success in 1994. After being together for six years and climbing to the top of the San Francisco punk scene, they were picked up by Reprise and released their multi-platinum album Dookie. First-generation punks were angry that Green Day was getting rich off of something that they didn't invent, while their devout fans simply called them sell-outs. When asked about going against the ideals of punk by making it in the mainstream, Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day's singer/guitarist/songwriter) responded, "I can't think of anything less punk than establishing a set of rules. I don't set any rules on myself. I don't live up to anybody's expectations. I'm totally self-sufficient. That's what punk is about to me, not some elitist attitude" (DiPerna). Green Day's ambition wasn't to conform to the "rules" of punk but rather to get their music heard, and that is what they did.

The roads to success of these acts (and ones like them) should not be described as selling out. In today's market, artists must accept the corporate forces of the music business to be heard by the mass public, yet they shouldn't have to surrender to these forces. Given that to be heard is the ambition of every serious musical artist, accepting what comes with being heard is necessary.

Page 1 of Selling Out
Page 2 of Selling Out
Page 3 of Selling Out
Page 4 of Selling Out
Page 5 of Selling Out
Page 6 of Selling Out