Recently in the music industry artists have been accused of copying or imitating other artists. Have we reached a day in age where it's nearly impossible for an artist to do something without being considered a copycat?
Yes, if you look far enough back for mainstream artists, I'm sure every artist has copied somehow, just some more subtle than others that are so blatant.So yes, there can be some originality, but there isn't that much anymore.
But when it comes to artists who have at least a decent percentage of originality, the buying public says no. They dismiss them as weird or boring (see Janelle Monae). But let something generic come along - people will have it floating to the top of iTunes and the Hot 100 in a snappy.
The reason why we do not see more originality is because the public do not support it as much as something we've heard over and over and over and over again on radio - not because it's hard for artists to be at least somewhat original.
Everyone seems tame in this thread, but some are quick to insult another artist when they do something remotely similar to another artist. But are we right to insult them? How many options do they have to choose from?
I personally think that there's no one 100% original.
There's tones of situations when an artist creates a song and there's other people with a similar song to the first artist (no matter if is lyrics, melody, loops, sounds, etc...) and they don't even get inspiration from each other.
For example: in 2010 I create a song called Deathbringer and I used a synth loop and that time I didn't knew that it belonged to another song. This year Lady Gaga released Judas and that song also have that synth loop even tho is not very used as my song.
another example is that I made a song called Trippin on me and I found this vocal loops and I decided to use them and I didn't knew they actually belonged to snother song too and unfortunatly this aren't the only examples. My point is that even tho you are trying to be original, ussually there are songs that will sound similar to your song even tho u didn't do that on purpose. So for some reason I'm agaisnt people who uses samples because they won't be the only people using them (Lady gaga used, kelly rowland used, etc...)
I hate when delusional stans believe that artist actual STEAL ideas or concepts just because things look alike. Nothing is original, a lot of artist don't even know that certain things have been done before, while others obviously know but I won't say any names
But, really. No artist is 100% original. It's just annoying when people say an artist STEALS ideas from another artist, when I'm sure that is never the intention.
Anything that an artist tries has been done before by someone in the world. So nothing is totally original. However, I do agree that what we hear on the radio nowadays all sounds exactly the same. Quite frankly, that to me seems like more room to grow. So, no. I don't think we've reached a dead end. I just think we're in a slump. The music industry is ever-changing as are the artists strung along with it. People are always going to experiment and find new things that will make them, as an artist, more unique. And eventually, others will be influenced by this and make it their own. And so on and so forth.
As of what is happening NOW, I don't think anyone is copying on purpose. I just think that, like I had said, we're in a slump and there are only so many things that you can do right now that fit the current market. It's what the vast majority likes at the moment. And the public are the people who spend money on records and merch; thus, keeping this artist alive.
Gaga stans: "You can be influenced by someone and still be original."
I think our biases for our artists affect our opinions a little too much.
Originality still exists in the music industry, but it's tough to find in the mainstream. You can always argue someone's music as being influenced by someone else's.
No, but no one is 100% original because every artist is influenced by at least one other artist and it will obviously show in their work sooner or later.
