American Idol - Why It Is Not A Threat To Your Music Career

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Since its inception, American Idol has quickly become a cultural icon and social magnet for  criticism and while the spectacle of the show seems more important that the actual substance, it is essentially an interactive singing competition  known for making pop stars and has launched a few careers.

 A friend recently told me of an argument she had with a producer friends of hers in which this producer lamented that American Idol was the reason for his lack of success.  Now while the thought of watching AI myself makes me want to throw myself in front of a slow moving bus, I can’t really blame AI for bands that don’t succeed. No if you are an aspiring artist and blame anyone else for your lack of success, then the problem lies with you. Now allow me to play the Devil’s advocate.

There is nothing wrong with American Idol. First, audiences love it. It gives then exactly what they want in terms of mindless pop and escapism. Now it’s easy to see the canned music as lacking in authenticity or to write it off as a way for Randy Jackson to get his crappy material recorded and trick people into buying mediocre, generic, Wal-Mart songs. I get that. But, if there is a market of that kind of entertainment, is it wrong to provide it?

Let’s face it, most music lovers are not looking for virtuosity in their pop music. All they want seems to be feel good dance tunes that can play comfortably in the background or in DJ booths at clubs. Is that really wrong? Is it that we as musicians are just walking around with bruised egos because our genius is not recognized?

Obviously, there must be something we aren’t recognizing as musicians if we can’t understand the basic appeal that the contest shows like American Idol and The Voice have for mainstream audiences. Not to mention, the appeal it has for artists that want to make a name for themselves in the industry. We all know it’s incredibly hard to make it and this can give contestant the leg up they may be looking for;look at  Kelly Clarkson (However, lets not forget the illustrious career of Lee DeWyze. "Who's Lee DeWyze?" ...exactly) .

My take is that unless your goal is to be a mainstream artist, shut the cuss up. Get out there, and promote yourselves like The Black Keys did. Did they need the help of AI? Not at all. What about Mumford & Sons? They got to where they are at through good old fashioned hard work. Did American Idol rob them of their fame? Mediocrity has always bred the most accessible music and it hasn’t really changed much, except now, we have shiny judges to tell us how unique and soulful mediocrity is, and for the severe music fan, not even Steven Tyler can give that stale platform clout so what are you worried about? The facts is that if you’re really good, unique and have something new, the fans you’re looking for are out there waiting to hear you so stop worrying about the effect Nicki Minaj has on your career and get out there.