Should music consumers also be music elitists?

By Eric Silverman

Now that a major record label has picked up your favorite band, you have a choice to make. Should you stay a fan, or move on to the next up-and-coming unsigned band?

I remember buying the White Stripes' last independent album, "De Stijl," and being amazed.

A year later, they were playing the MTV music awards and had a hit single from their first major label release, "White Blood Cells."

I remember fans being turned off not at the music, but because more people were hearing it. I didn't understand why some people were angry that they had signed to a major record label and were being played on MTV. More importantly, I wondered if these angry people even listened to the new record?

It seemed that the White Stripes' newfound popularity overshadowed the music they were making, and old fans cared less about the sound and more about who was listening to it.

This attitude is typical of the music elite, who care only about a scene, an image, a "we got here first" attitude that devalues the art and experimentation in music.

Now that music is so easily accessible, people want something that is different than everyone else's.

Since people are exposed to new music all the time, the music elite need to separate themselves and deem some bands as hip and worthwhile, while dismissing others as a joke.

The music elite want music only for themselves, and if a band becomes popular, it is instantly deemed un-cool, tired and worthless. It's easy to feel betrayed when the crowds at your favorite band's shows suddenly jump from 300 die-hards, to throngs of people who want to catch a hit single. Still, bands want as much exposure as possible. Signing with a major record label is a part of this.

I agree that the White Stripes' early records, which were recorded in a living room, were incredible, but I also think that giving an artist like Jack White freedom in a studio will produce nothing but greatness.

If Wilco had made "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" on a four-track, the lyrics and melodies would be the same, but the music would be limited by factors out of the band's control, such as money, time and equipment. If we only pay attention to bands while they are undiscovered, we will never hear the full extent of their art. Throwing away an artist because they are popular shows a particular immaturity in the listening population.

I urge you to look past the Pitchfork reviews of a band's third record that they will undoubtedly tear to shreds while praising a mediocre record like Vampire Weekend's debut as the second coming of the Talking Heads.

Go out and buy the record. Hell, download it illegally. I don't care, but listen to it twice if you have to.

Take the time to understand what the artist is saying, be it recorded in their basement or at Sunset Studios. Don't cast aside a band because of their success or the music elite's new definition of the new cool band.

We need to face it -- musicians want to be signed. They want a top-ten hit, and if they are good enough, they will get it. You should continue to support a band after they get big. Commercial success does not equal mediocrity.

Eric Silverman is a junior computer engineering major.