Hugh Masekela at the Triple Door Tavern Tonight

Caught the tail end of an interview with Hugh Masekela (Grazing in the Grass) on KBCS (Bellevue Community College student radio station). He is going to be performing at The Triple Door tonight. There will be two shows, an all ages show at 7:00PM and a 21+ show starting at 9:30PM. Tickets are $38. The location is 216 Union Street, Seattle, WA 98101.

In the interview he talked about the record companies and that all they care about is the bottom line, and that they've promoted a lot of mediocrity towards that end, and that in turn has allowed mediocrity to enter into the music community.

I couldn't agree more. These days, the groups that I tend to find most interesting are those that are touring groups or independently publish, which, with the Internet, has become easier. He stated things got worse in the 90s but I really feel it got bad far before then, early 70's when disco got popular, and then to a much greater degree in the 80's when MTV arrived. Over time they started only airing high dollar videos that were expensive to produce, independent artists were squeezed out, just as they have been by the broadcast industry.

The Internet has allowed lesser known and lesser funded groups to get exposure. Talented musicians gather a following and then it becomes difficult for the record company and broadcast industry to ignore them and even if they do they're becoming less relevant since music can be distributed via the Internet and heard via the Internet.