AUTHENTICITY VS SUCCESSa discussion by Luke Hannam

my idea

ENCODED?

genres are encoded with different beliefs about authenticity and we use these beliefs to structure our development strategies

as artists to try and achieve success

Text

a crazy idea?

A QUICK EXPERIMENTwhich music genres are the most authentic?

ROCK 1 2 3 4 5

HIP HOP 1 2 3 4 5

INDIE 1 2 3 4 5

R’n’B 1 2 3 4 5

DANCE 1 2 3 4 5

POP 1 2 3 4 5

TOTAL

1 means inauthentic and 5 means authentic

A QUICK EXPERIMENTwhich music genres are the most authentic?

ROCK 1 2 3 4 5 5

HIP HOP 1 2 3 4 5 5

INDIE 1 2 3 4 5 5

R’n’B 1 2 3 4 5 4

DANCE 1 2 3 4 5 3

POP 1 2 3 4 5 1

TOTAL

1 means inauthentic and 5 means authentic

7%8%

10%

11%

29%

35%

ROCK HIPHOP INDIE RnB DANCE POP

GENRE AUTHENTICITY RATING

ACID JAZZ

OUTPUT

JUNIOR BOYS OWNV2

doldrums

TUMMY TOUCH

1991 1995 1999 20012013

success

failure

the success curve

ACID JAZZ

OUTPUT

JUNIOR BOYS OWNV2

doldrums

1991 1995 1999 20012013

success

failure

doldrums

success & authenticity curve

ACID JAZZ

OUTPUT

JUNIOR BOYS OWNV2

doldrums

1991 1995 1999 20012013

success

failure

doldrums

the power of hindsight

POPART

image

hits

media

entertainment

fame

commercialism

serious

disposabletemporal

permanence

anonymity

valuable

art for arts sake

philosophical

intrinsic process

emotional/ personal

songwriting recording & production performance

inductive

commercial / environmental

marketing promotion selling

deductive

authenticcommercial

the artist experiences two types of processextrinsic process

Picasso vs Calvin Harris

inputs & outputs

artist

ideas songs

If you don't know the blues... there's no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music.

Keith Richards

I think when people say 'real hip-hop,' they want it more buried in the streets. They want it more connected to the streets and the grime and the roughness

of the streets. They don't want the fluff. Q-TIP

a popular music view

can attitudes impact on our planning and working methods

lets have another look at my own career graph

"Authenticity is a sham.Commercial success is a chimera."

Stuart Lambert

THE CONTEXT

my initial questions

• how has authenticity shaped popular music

• authenticity and genre: what are the differences?

• does commerciality compromise authenticity?

• has the internet changed the way we perceive authenticity?

• what are the different media perceptions of authenticity?

• are we seeing a shift in attitudes towards authenticity?

• how do our strategic actions as musicians reflect our deeply held beliefs about authenticity and success?

thank you for listening