"Keeping it Real"

Being my first post, I want to point out what I intend to accomplish in this blog.

It seems there is some confusion between entertainment and expression. The main concern of companies is making the sales.  This concern trickles down to the artists forcing them to compromise their expression.  I feel all forms of art ought to make a a genuine statement.  Even if the sole purpose of the said expression is to entertain, I feel the entertainment itself should be genuine.

I guess the phrase "keeping it real" was coined by Hip-Hop artists, but I feel my comments on this statement encompasses all genres and mediums, i.e. rock, punk, pop, film, television etc.

One would believe that such a statement implies being the opposite of fake.  However, in the entertainment industry, there seems to be a bigger concern of making the sale than there is maintaining integrity.  These companies have designed formulas that appeal to what they call the under 25 over 25 audience.  Once new talent is recognize and retained, these artists are forced to compromise their genuine expressions to "fit the bill" of the company's formulas.  Basically in film, music, and television, these companies are attempting to target and prevent offending a large population, rather than satisfying a particular niche.  In marketing, this idea is absurd. In fact, developing a product to fit the particular needs of a segmented population is much more successful than trying to make a "one-size fits all" product.

These formulated expressions are detrimental to not only expression, but to the populations that are being targeted.  When these companies treat expression like the result of an equation, the authenticity becomes nonexistent.  When this occurs these expressions become empty and weightless.  This in turn helps solidify the ignorance of the populations consuming such formulated products.  Basically these companies are conditioning their target to desire these formulas by constant exposure.  I feel it is offensive that these companies treat consumers like sheep while converting artists into prostitutes.