I'm sure every Kemper user has watched this Paul David's video?

Quote from Guitartone

9.3 million views.

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Paul Davids is not "Today's New Social Media Musician" He is running a business, but not just looking for eyeballs.

You don't need to be a professionally trained and accredited musician (as he is) to do that.

He's teaching people and sharing his love of the instrument.

Radio is dead, album/CD sales are dead, most musicians struggle to make a decent living touring. The world has moved on since the 70’s, 80’s and even 90’s. As a result professional musicians have changed their business models. There is nothing wrong with that. Youtube and other social media platforms provide an outlet for their product (music/reviews/lessons/etc). Just like in the glory days of albums and radio airplay there is some good stuff, some mediocre stuff and some utter crap. Just because they don’t play in a traditional band context doesn’t necessarily make them any less talented or their music any less valid.

Sermon over 😉

Taylor Swift will be the last music superstar that makes millions. This is so sad. I believe the industry knows that and they are banking every dime on her to make the money while they can. Hollywood is going the same route because of streaming. Today's movies are just awful. I don't like where we are going. I'm living with it but I don't like it. In a few more years, Ai will be creating all new content anyway. I know we are going off topic but this is something I am totally frustrated about.

Someone named HER has a Fender Signature Guitar and a insurance commercial. She picks 7 notes on TV. Never heard of her(HER). We are doomed.

Maybe I'll go make some mediocre content...

HER can play her ass off.

Quote from BayouTexan

... I know we are going off topic but this is something I am totally frustrated about.

Someone named HER has a Fender Signature Guitar and a insurance commercial. She picks 7 notes on TV. Never heard of her(HER). We are doomed.

Maybe I'll go make some mediocre content...

Gabi Wilson (H.E.R.) had more talent at 10 years old (15 years ago) than you've had in your entire life. How can you criticize anybody you don't know anything about? Don't you have YouTube?

Quote from Edward Dixon

Gabi Wilson (H.E.R.) had more talent at 10 years old (15 years ago) than you've had in your entire life. How can you criticize anybody you don't know anything about? Don't you have YouTube?

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Is she a talented guitarist?

Taylor swift? HER. can you get more slave industry more than that?

Quote from BayouTexan

Taylor Swift will be the last music superstar that makes millions. This is so sad. I believe the industry knows that and they are banking every dime on her to make the money while they can. Hollywood is going the same route because of streaming. Today's movies are just awful. I don't like where we are going. I'm living with it but I don't like it. In a few more years, Ai will be creating all new content anyway. I know we are going off topic but this is something I am totally frustrated about.

Someone named HER has a Fender Signature Guitar and a insurance commercial. She picks 7 notes on TV. Never heard of her(HER). We are doomed.

Maybe I'll go make some mediocre content...

Taylors a industry whore like the rest. Behind these people is usually a very talented artist but it gets overshadowed by the machine. I watched her movie an was surprised how good she is with just a guitar an a voice. Same as kate perry etc. But they become a whole show for the coin an suck satans wad. We are at a point now were these stars are gods to be worshiped an its not about music. Song writing is a tool for manipulation an not for enlightenment. But is that new? Its come out Britpop was steamrolled by the cia. The cia was responsible for the 60s hippie movement an the beatles an the like. Go look into Laurel Canyon an all the artists that came out of there an the cia connection. Seattle an grunge would have its puppet masters too. I had a friend in the industry an I remember him saying before it came, that in a year or 2 this thing called emo was going to be the next big thing, first it will be a 80s revival an then will turn into this wierd goth mxed with school girl crush thing. An here we are recycling the past. Its all planed. Love em or hate them the Kings of leon were the last true old style band in my eyes. Music is a society weapon more than ever now an there will be more idols spewed out the machine thats for sure. The genres have all been exhausted an recycled but the masses will have their heart strings pulled by something new, an now we got AI music the perfect songwriting equations will be used. Look at fenders recent approach who they are signing i mean wtf. Who that black dude that looks like he should be selling crack on the corner an all the luscifarian symbolisim. We are doomed. The times dictate society an the bands an well..... look around. I love 80s songwriting an would to see that come back but whos going to step up to the plate an do that? People are cool when they are original an not trying hard or to imitate. Anything from here is just going to look like a tribute band or recycled. Look at greta van fleet, I cant even watch em its so try hard an sad. I think real bands are going to secretly use AI for songwriting an we going to see some cool band music in the next few years. You will not know but there will suddenly be all this great music comin out an they will act like they wrote it in the basement.

Quote from GearJocke

Is she a talented guitarist?

Exactly my point above. So if she such a talented pianist then why is she going out an bein a try hard guitarist wearing all the shinny shit like a industry puppet? Money an fame. Look at this, this is someone who is not a natural guitarist an has had lessons an looks like she at her end of school year show. And shes famous an has a signature guitar? Cmon now.

Quote from GearJocke

Is she a talented guitarist?

Yes.

The hate leveled at people you have absolutely no clue about is amazing.

Taylor Swift has written or co-written *every* song in her catalog. She was getting paid for songwriting at 14 and has 12 Grammies.

H.E.R. has 5 Grammies AND an Academy Award for best original song. Which she wrote.

Industry puppet?

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.

Quote from Ruefus

The hate leveled at people you have absolutely no clue about is amazing.

Taylor Swift has written or co-written *every* song in her catalog. She was getting paid for songwriting at 14 and has 12 Grammies.

H.E.R. has 5 Grammies AND an Academy Award for best original song. Which she wrote.

Industry puppet?

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt

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I rest my case. Another casualty who thinks how many grammies someone has as a indication to how great a artist is. If you read what im saying, on the tail end of others saying the same, im geting at the music scene has lost something. You think in 2040 they going to look back an go oh man, that taylor, she was groundbreaking an made me play guitar. That H.E.R is groundbreaking. You prob think Sam smith is groundbreaking by the sounds of it.

*yawn* Bloated self—justifying BS.

Quote from goldensheaf

its not about music. ………….here we are recycling the past. Its all planed…………. there will be more idols spewed out the machine thats for sure.

That’s always been the case since the beginning of recording technology. Nothing new in that even the bands that you consider true artists were/are part of the machine. It’s called the music industry for a reason. We don’t need to like it but we at least need to realise its true.

Quote from goldensheaf

You think in 2040 they going to look back an go oh man, that taylor, she was groundbreaking an made me play guitar. That H.E.R is groundbreaking.

The said the same about Elvis and The Beatles and ……………..

Quote from goldensheaf

You prob think Sam smith is groundbreaking by the sounds of it.

I like to try and be positive where possible. So, at least we can agree on one thing; Sam Smith is utter garbage 🤣

I really don’t get the point of the OP’s post, particularly on this forum. Perhaps I’m wrong, but surely people here (on the private forum) have already purchased and are using the product. Maybe he is simply plugging the content creator for some reason.

The title, “I’m sure every Kemper user has watched this video” prefaced with “9.3 Million Views” is somewhat baffling. If he is sure that “Every Kemper user has watched the video, then why post it here? What is the motive?

Having read through some of the heated posts, my thoughts are these:

The amount of views a video of any description has, is not an indication as to how good or how successful the artist is. Indeed, a billboard on an America freeway or a flyer on a London tube station gets billions of views. So what? I’m sure a plumbing tutorial on youtube gets lots of views. It’s very easy to look at something and click the “Like” button, but in the grand scheme of things, its meaningless. Simply a construct by big tech to keep us all “engaged”

A poster here claimed that radio and CD sales are “dead”

I strongly disagree…

Yes, there has definitely been a decline over the years, but there has also been a resurgence in CD sales recently and certainly an increase in vinyl demand. As for radio, in my neck of the woods Sothern California, there are independent radio stations popping up playing classic rock. Live music venues are also on the comeback here and in the UK where I lived for quite some time.

Rather than down tools, lament the good old days of past decades and surrender to big tech, I strongly feel that we should do our best to keep music and guitar playing alive in context with this newly found ideology.

Of course, just my opinion.

Quote from goldensheaf

Taylors a industry whore like the rest. Behind these people is usually a very talented artist but it gets overshadowed by the machine. I watched her movie an was surprised how good she is with just a guitar an a voice. Same as kate perry etc. But they become a whole show for the coin an suck satans wad. We are at a point now were these stars are gods to be worshiped an its not about music. Song writing is a tool for manipulation an not for enlightenment. But is that new? Its come out Britpop was steamrolled by the cia. The cia was responsible for the 60s hippie movement an the beatles an the like. Go look into Laurel Canyon an all the artists that came out of there an the cia connection. Seattle an grunge would have its puppet masters too. I had a friend in the industry an I remember him saying before it came, that in a year or 2 this thing called emo was going to be the next big thing, first it will be a 80s revival an then will turn into this wierd goth mxed with school girl crush thing. An here we are recycling the past. Its all planed. Love em or hate them the Kings of leon were the last true old style band in my eyes. Music is a society weapon more than ever now an there will be more idols spewed out the machine thats for sure. The genres have all been exhausted an recycled but the masses will have their heart strings pulled by something new, an now we got AI music the perfect songwriting equations will be used. Look at fenders recent approach who they are signing i mean wtf. Who that black dude that looks like he should be selling crack on the corner an all the luscifarian symbolisim. We are doomed. The times dictate society an the bands an well..... look around. I love 80s songwriting an would to see that come back but whos going to step up to the plate an do that? People are cool when they are original an not trying hard or to imitate. Anything from here is just going to look like a tribute band or recycled. Look at greta van fleet, I cant even watch em its so try hard an sad. I think real bands are going to secretly use AI for songwriting an we going to see some cool band music in the next few years. You will not know but there will suddenly be all this great music comin out an they will act like they wrote it in the basement.

Quote from Terrapin

It’s very easy to look at something and click the “Like” button, but in the grand scheme of things, its meaningless. Simply a construct by big tech to keep us all “engaged”

spot on and a very important observation

Quote from Terrapin

A poster here claimed that radio and CD sales are “dead”

I strongly disagree…

Yes, there has definitely been a decline over the years, but there has also been a resurgence in CD sales recently and certainly an increase in vinyl demand.

That was me and I stand by it. Obviously, ‘dead’ was emotive hyperbole to make a general point rather than a statement of fact but in principle I believe it to be true. I realise Vinyl and CD sales have increased somewhat in recent years but it is still a drop in the ocean compared to the past. I could be wrong (wouldn’t be the first time and won’t be the last) but I think most of these seem to be recycling old music rather than a resurgence of the format for new artists and audiences. The same thing happened when record sales were declining for “classic” artists and CD came along. The record industry saw it as an opportunity to cash in on their legacy catalogues be rereleasing old a recordings on the new digital format. A decade or so later they pulled the same trick again with “remastered versions of the digital releases. The current increase in physical sales (as opposed to streaming) appears to be driven by nostalgia.

Regardless of the reasons, I think you would be hard pushed to find many artists that have a viable income stream from physical CD or Vinyl sales alone. This was definitely possible in the past. Therefore, I believe these formats are effectively dead. They may still be technically aliveness but are in a vegetative state on life support at best.

Quote from Terrapin

As for radio, in my neck of the woods Sothern California, there are independent radio stations popping up playing classic rock.

Socal has always been a bit of an enigma to be fair. 😆

That certainly doesn’t appear to be the case in the UK as far as I can see. However, it may be happening as I rarely, if ever, listen to radio anymore. It is interesting that the stations that do pop up do tend to be playing classic rock and nothing else. They also tend to play the same songs as each other and they play them on rotation so are recycling the same limit number of songs over and over again but interspersed with adverts. The advent of streaming is actually a massive benefit to me as a consumer of music (much wider choice and no annoying adverts). As a consumer I certainly am not lamenting anything but if I was relying on sales and royalties to pay the bills I would be.

Quote from Terrapin

Live music venues are also on the comeback here and in the UK where I lived for quite some time.

I can assure you tat isn’t the case in Scotland at the moment. Several of Glasgow’s long standing music venues have closed this year. There are some pubs still putting on bands but they are literally paying the same (or even less) than they did in the 1980’s so the ability to make a living as a performer of live music at a grass roots level doesn’t really exist in the UK. It would be interesting to hear from some 0r our European members what the situation is like in their countries.

In the UK, the only gigs paying decent money are weddings and corporate functions. I am not suggesting anything disparaging about “wedding” or “cover band” players. There is nothing wrong with doing those gigs. Some of the best players I have ever heard play in those types of bands but it is hardly a vibrant music scene. In fact even the wedding circuit is over crowded and extremely competitive so there may be limited opportunities there for bands to gain experience and develop.

Quote from Terrapin

Rather than down tools, lament the good old days of past decades and surrender to big tech, I strongly feel that we should do our best to keep music and guitar playing alive in context with this newly found ideology.

Of course, just my opinion.

I am sorry if my long winded response seems like I want to be argumentative. I actually totally agree with this. I didn’t mean to come across as lamenting the good old days or suggesting that anyone should down tools and surrender. Quite the opposite actually. I believe that the new technology offers opportunities for those that choose to embrace it and can develop strategies to exploit it as a means of getting their product to a target market. I chose the words Product and Market carefully and deliberately avoided ART and AUDIENCE as we are talking about professionals in the music BUSINESS who rely on music to pay the bills. For them it is definitely a business and needs to treated as such. Realising this and putting assign any pretensions of being an artiste is essential to finding a way to survive in the music business now as it always has been.

Your opinion is welcomed, valued and appreciation (by me at least 😎)

Quote from goldensheaf

Taylor swift? HER. can you get more slave industry more than that?

Taylors a industry whore like the rest. Behind these people is usually a very talented artist but it gets overshadowed by the machine. I watched her movie an was surprised how good she is with just a guitar an a voice. Same as kate perry etc. But they become a whole show for the coin an suck satans wad. We are at a point now were these stars are gods to be worshiped an its not about music. Song writing is a tool for manipulation an not for enlightenment. But is that new? Its come out Britpop was steamrolled by the cia. The cia was responsible for the 60s hippie movement an the beatles an the like. Go look into Laurel Canyon an all the artists that came out of there an the cia connection. Seattle an grunge would have its puppet masters too. I had a friend in the industry an I remember him saying before it came, that in a year or 2 this thing called emo was going to be the next big thing, first it will be a 80s revival an then will turn into this wierd goth mxed with school girl crush thing. An here we are recycling the past. Its all planed. Love em or hate them the Kings of leon were the last true old style band in my eyes. Music is a society weapon more than ever now an there will be more idols spewed out the machine thats for sure. The genres have all been exhausted an recycled but the masses will have their heart strings pulled by something new, an now we got AI music the perfect songwriting equations will be used. Look at fenders recent approach who they are signing i mean wtf. Who that black dude that looks like he should be selling crack on the corner an all the luscifarian symbolisim. We are doomed. The times dictate society an the bands an well..... look around. I love 80s songwriting an would to see that come back but whos going to step up to the plate an do that? People are cool when they are original an not trying hard or to imitate. Anything from here is just going to look like a tribute band or recycled. Look at greta van fleet, I cant even watch em its so try hard an sad. I think real bands are going to secretly use AI for songwriting an we going to see some cool band music in the next few years. You will not know but there will suddenly be all this great music comin out an they will act like they wrote it in the basement.

Don't agree with your analysis.

Can you have talent and success? Yes you can. BTW I'm not a Taylor Swift fan but I have no grudge against her, she has gone out, made a career and made a lot of people happy who like her music, so what. She has no musical "standard" she has to achieve and is no different to any other pop artist since music started. She is not the first and won't be the last.

I reject the whole "huge machine planning everything in the background". The music industry was and always is a business, not a charity. No one pretends otherwise. It doesn't exist to promote music, it exists to make money - and in fact so do many artists. The basis behind any company. We could argue the real ones don't do it for money but its not that cut and dry. But my point is, its not a global coordinated effort to promote genres....more of a bandwagon where the sales are. Pure economics...not good or bad. You can spin it to say its the evil companies manipulating us but actually we are in control because its our money they want. The cruel fact is not everyone likes what we ( as individuals) like...lots of people like Taylor Swift and my real pet hate Madonna ( the list is of course endless)... Pop music is called that because its popular - that's not a definition of good, just popular. Its a shame but that's life....

Music isn't a weapon, although bands like rage against the machine would like to think they are - they have limited effect on life and politics beyond entertainment - that because most people see music as entertainment.. We are all doomed? Really? Because music is still ( because it always has been) about money?

Venues don't exist to promote bands, they are there to sell beer and make money.

I struggle to believe AI will dominate music - tech will always have an impact, hell we are all playing digital devices and sequencers and samplers have recycled stuff for years. In the 80's we all thought we would be flying around in jet cars and living on the moon and missed GPS and the internet so I don't listen too much to these predictions. However, if bands do use it to write great music, so what? Don't we benefit from the great music?

So I agree things are changing and will always change, but we can always point to the bad and ignore the good, both now and back in the good old days. My view is generally things do and are getting better...

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Quote from BayouTexan

Maybe I'll go make some mediocre content...

Hell yeah! I love making my mediocre content. Live for it. And I'm damn good at it. I can make the mediocre-est content around - guarantee AI will never be able to out-mediocre me.. .

V8's right about the business angle.