Where Have All The (Music Industry) Cowboys Gone?

Recently I’ve been having a lot of discussions about why mainstream music has been stagnant for so long, and whether or not there will be any nostalgia for this era of music. The passing of Clive Davis – if you haven’t read his autobiography, definitely put it on your list – didn’t just keep these questions at the forefront of my mind, it put them in boldface type, and led to the biggest question of all …

Is there anyone at a major label who is willing to take a risk, and push something outside the box musically?

Since the advent of social media, the role of the music A&R has seemingly been reduced to – find someone who already has an established fan base, and sign them, or in the case of young women dancing on TikTok, or reality TV, convince them they should be a recording artist.

When you combine that with streaming playlists that reward staying in one lane, and the death of MTV, which once had shows dedicated to various genres, and sub-genres of music, the result has been more than a decade not of decadence, but of detritus. Everything has been disposable, and the labels seem to love it, because as long as they can find another 18 year old girl that other girls will latch on to, they don’t have to experiment at all, and potentially fall flat with an artist, or band, that fails to finds an audience.

That potential for falling flat, however, has always been part of the game. You win some, you lose some, but if you’re good at knowing what will connect with listeners, you should find yourself in the winning column more often than not.

The key is being willing to take a risk, an educated risk, and being willing to stick your neck out and say, you know what, nobody else sees this coming, but I do, and it’s going to be huge.

We’ve had no new genres, or at least no new genres of relevance, created over the past two decades, which is mind-boggling to anyone who remembers the ‘90s, and the explosion of grunge, the splintering off of hip-hop into a plethora of location-specific sounds, alt-rock going mainstream, the ascendance of Eurodance, the return of R&B groups, the creation of nu metal, and the countless other radically unique genres that defined the era.

No sound defines our current era except the sound of stagnation.

Clive Davis took risks. Clive Davis signed artists and bands based on his gut, and knew what would work for them after he signed them. No one is doing this today, and we’re all worse off for it.

No new genres is only good for those who were on top when the stagnation began. It’s why so many bands, and artists who were on top 10, 15, 20 years ago, have managed to maintain their spot, there’s been absolutely nothing new to push them from their perch.

We are in desperate need of a music industry cowboy, someone who will ride into town, go to indie shows, and actually seek out something new – it’s there, believe me, I’m at those shows.

We need this person to get excited at the prospect of discovering the next big sound, rather than the next big check.

We need them to want to make an impact in music, and not just make dollars from it.

With that in mind, I once again ask – is there anyone at a major label willing to take a risk? Is there anyone who wants to find, and expose the next unique genre of music, and get us out of the musical stagnation we’ve been stuck in for far too long? Is there anyone who has a little bit of that Clive Davis mentality, and chutzpah to attempt to truly make an impact?

If you’re out there, music needs you now more than ever.