New Partnership with DMV Music Alliance

DMV TV

Follow @dmvtvx

Joining together for a better community.

DMV TV and DMV Music Alliance have been speaking the last few months about what can be done to help the artists and musicians in the community. During the winter time, we have decided to come together and partner up with the DMV Music Alliance, realizing how important it really is to collaborate with other organizations with similar ideas.

Issues in the DMV

Individualism. Normally this isn’t ever an issue.

In today’s music landscape, artists across genres tend to title their projects after themselves, akin to Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, or Drake. They take the forefront while often neglecting acknowledgment of their supporting contributors, leading to a shift away from the collaborative essence that once defined music. This evolution has steered the industry toward a self-centered and somewhat egocentric environment.

This transition raises concerns. With the decline of band eras, the trend of musical collaborations has emerged. Although songs featuring multiple artists are prevalent and achieve success, these brief partnerships often lack depth.

Historically, enduring bands had the advantage of nurturing comfort and familiarity with each other’s talents over time. Similarly, collaborations among today’s solo artists or rappers emulate the early triumphs of bands but lack the enduring depth of these longstanding partnerships.

Few would contest the evolution and improvement witnessed in bands like The Rolling Stones or Queen. However, contemporary artists forfeit this growth by consistently revolving their circles, highlighting the self-centric nature of the industry.

Our music consumption has been inundated with solo artists to the extent that alternative options are overshadowed. Branding music under an artist’s name also serves as a means of self-preservation.

In unified bands, the risk of experimentation wasn’t as daunting as successes or failures were shared among the group, unlike today’s focus on solo-centered arrangements.

For example, when groups like Limp Bizkit and Slipknot hit the scene, their original cohesive relationship enabled them to take risks and redefine their careers, allowing the, even to this day to be stand out artists. Fred Durst, the singer for Limp Bizkit, has even moved onto be a director and a film maker.

This divide between bands and individual artists is evident today. Bands like Maroon 5 or Coldplay, distinguished by their unique styles, contrast with solo acts like Post Malone, often constrained within their genre’s boundaries.

This isn’t a critique of 21st-century music as a whole, but rather an observation of the culture it fosters—individualism and self-centeredness. This trend not only stifles innovation but also disregards the contributions of supporting artists, impacting their visibility and endurance in the industry.

The music scene no longer witnesses studio musicians like saxophonist Kenny G ascending to the same fame as some of their era’s biggest names. Innovations from bands are dwindling, sustained only by a select few like Imagine Dragons, while pop and rap artists prioritize commercial success over their primary role—creating music.

We hope to see more collaboration but more importantly, a merge into a communal DMV that can self sustain its own industry. Thanks DMV Music Alliance!

@dmvtelevision