Mis-education at 'twerk: Where shall we go?

Anthony Tidd at The Kimmel Center. Photo by Colin Kerrigan/Philly.com.

Anthony Tidd , Creative Music Program Director at Kimmel Center

Posted: Thursday, December 26, 2013, 5:05 PM

After spending (some would say wasting) seven years working in the music industry as a music producer for a variety of well-known artists and record labels, I reached a breaking point.  The years of I - IV - V triadic harmony, the hundreds of hours spent correcting vocals (by singers who could not sing) in Pro Tools via Auto-Tune, Melodyne and Vocalign, and the endless studio days spent demoing songs for A&R’s (who could not hear) had taken their toll. Music was dead for me. I was not alone in this depressing epiphany. There were many other music producers (friends of mine who shall remain anonymous) who felt the same way.

Though some of us had made a lot of money producing pop (more were owed money), over time we developed a phobia, which has made it extremely painful to even participate in the creation of the songs/drivel that we were then expected to produce for record companies. Additionally, music had also reached a plateau of simplicity, which allowed a moderately talented 15-year-old child to produce the same results. This meant that we were now competing with a few hundred 15-year-olds who would sign any contract and produce any song for $1,000!

I remember talking with my friend, who is a well-known producer, at great length concerning the direction that things were headed and deciding that something had to be done. Like the Titanic, the industry desperately needed a change in direction.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) shortly after this conversation the entire music industry imploded, which made the choice of finding an alternative much easier. Many blamed this implosion on mp3s and song sharing, but I to this day hold the incessant pedaling of an inferior product to the public responsible. You can only tell somebody that the turd in their hand is actually gold for so long…

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