Where are the posters?

There’s a nice article over at Popmatters.com on the current state of affairs in the rock poster art world. As the giant corporations of the music industry continue to piss and bully their customers for the cheapest dollar, and as the tangibles are increasingly replaced with the .mp3 and the low-res .jpg, the art form of the rock posters is slowly going the way of the Dodo. I have to believe the “enduring allure of the artifact” will weather the storm of the broadband connection.

“Unfortunately, venue support of the independently produced gig posters has flagged. As the New York rock club scene is slowly consumed by entities like Clear Channel and Bowery Presents, bulletin boards and glass showcases that once boasted bold, event-specific, silkscreens now display too-slick, label-supplied glossies that blend in with other mass-produced visual noise. Venues don’t want to spend the cash to produce materials they can get from the labels for free. Peripheral’s Buxton says, “As long as profit is the sole motivator and it’s just about kind of appealing to mass audiences, the clubs are not a good incubator for really cool, hands-on creativity.”

Hung Up: The State of Rock Poster Art

Here are some more little snippets on the today’s music industry from the Guardian:

Behind the music at Musexpo: Can we fix a ‘broken’ industry?

Is the music industry calling time on the double album?

Fancy hiring a personal ‘music stylist’?

Inky Fingers: Maggoty Lamb picks over the flyblown carcass of this month’s music press