The Ratings Game

By: Sunil Noronha
Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Ratings are what it is all about. The record companies only advances on new music once the present ratings guarantee that their business intrests are guaranteed by the ratings. The people will buy knowing that it has been rated well and so should be good. Out of the millions of the people in the world whom are music junkies whom have all the music that the entire world could possibly possess, how many of them really come looking for something in particular and leave? Most of them come just looking and go along with anything that sweeps them off their feet. Give them something new and they'd either make it the next best thing that has come about or will deem absolutely incomparable because of something else that they can relate to which they'd call the better music around. Let it go to the hands of the wider audience and there will be sudden rise in sales because a whole lot of few people liked it and made it one of the best selling collections of music around so it is sought by the music buying junkie. This game of ratings surrounds the music industry.

So, Who decides goings on the business? Is this indiscipline the chaos that decides who makes it and doesn't? Is it this indiscipline that drives good artistes to nothing and then back again to something and then back again to nothing? How many people whose souls they feed and whom feed their stomachs and put a roof over their head just throw dice over music that they spend hours toiling over? Not very many people believe in its saving power, which has resulted in it getting flimsier and flimsier in the name of freedom of music.