'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry' • Hacker News Board

Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'

#431

Post by WindyLakeReturn » Wed, Feb 17, 2021, 11:48 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #349

moduspol wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also helps a lot when the quality of the work performed by the person is subjective and overall success is largely dependent on the work of others (writers, musicians, tour directors, sound editors, etc.). It'd be a lot tougher to be successful as an electrician or commercial airline pilot if you got there from sexual favors for your boss.

> It'd be a lot tougher to be successful as an electrician or commercial airline pilot if you got there from sexual favors for your boss. That isn't true, but the reasons are different for each. For electrician getting your foot in the door is the hard part, from there on it is about on the job training. Getting the first apprentice position is one of the harder steps to success, and sexual favors can work here. Thou…

To clarify, are you disagreeing with their point, or just the examples they used? I'm able to read your comment either way, so I'm not sure.

Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'

#432

Post by slacktide » Wed, Feb 17, 2021, 11:49 PM UTC

crazypython wrote: post #96

I wonder if it's common in other industries e.g. dance. And how many victims there are, and how many of them are those most easily exploited: the poor, weak, and underage.

My sister-in-law withdrew from a US-based doctoral operatic program, and a residency with the Royal Opera, specifically because she realized she could not further her career without granting continuous sexual favors.

Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'

#433

Post by s1artibartfast » Wed, Feb 17, 2021, 11:50 PM UTC

jandrese wrote: post #328

tabtab wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re: Texas had the money to buy snowplows. They didn't. Texas had the money to winterize wind turbines. They didn't. They worship tax-cuts and D.I.Y. social Darwinism (survival of the fittest). So when the weather gets bad, many there are okay with social Darwinism per survival. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/17/texas-mayor-... Note I didn't say all are happy with it, but enough that they tend to lightly…

It's a case study in why putting public utilities on a free market is self destructive. The company that neglects maintenance drives the costs down and wins, driving out the competition. Once they have an effective monopoly the utility collapses from a pileup of deferred maintenance and has to get bailed out by the taxpayers. On the upside some very rich people got way richer than they would have under a traditional…

sounds like poor management. Why do you think the same individuals overseeing the private utilities would do a better job of managing public utilities? Public utilities rot on the vine and get bailed out as well.

Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'

#434

Post by marcus_holmes » Wed, Feb 17, 2021, 11:50 PM UTC

agumonkey wrote: post #148

shakow wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The big question is will internet free the good artists that were gatekeeped I don't think so. What they need the most is publicity, and this is not magically granted by internet. Just take a look at e.g. Spotify; I'm sure there are hundreds of extremely gifted artists sitting down at barely a few dozens listenings, just because no one found them.

But it's interesting. Do we like artists due to marketing only ? Or seducing feature over artistic quality. A small but gifted artist on Spotify could, in theory (in theory), generate word of mouth at quickly get known. Sometimes I believe that labels were filters for that. They could see who was just very good and who had some 'it factor'.

Discoverability. There is more new music uploaded to Spotify every day than I could listen to in a year[0]. How do I discover the new stuff I like?

Spotify does a terrible job of recommending new music to me - mostly my "Discover Weekly" is a mixtape of my existing playlists, and "Release Radar" is entirely stuff I hate.

I'm not sure how a new band would reach me, but it's not via the methods they're trying now. I haven't been genuinely excited by a "new" band since, oh, Mumford? Bad Shepherds? something like that.

[0] I don't listen to that much music. I would if I got more new stuff, though, I'm sure

Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'

#435

Post by freddie_mercury » Wed, Feb 17, 2021, 11:53 PM UTC

beambot wrote: post #417

snarfy wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked for a startup that contracted with the major record labels at the time, with a lot of the funding coming from the record labels. One day a group of four men arrived at the office. They were investors and not too happy with how the stock had been performing. This was a time before naked shorting was illegal. They all wore suits and one of the men carried a baseball bat into the office. They all had stereotypi…

> before naked shorting was illegal It might be illegal now, but certainly not enforced!

Yes it is. It took me less than 5 seconds to Google and find cases of it being enforced: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2014-20

The attitude of "they don't catch every criminal, therefore it isn't being enforced" that people take towards financial crimes is silly.

40% of murderers get away with it but no one goes around trying to claim that "murder but by illegal but it certainly isn't enforced".

Over 60% of rapists get away with it. 70% of robbery. 80% of theft. 87% of burglary.

Just because financial crimes (maybe) have a slightly higher rate of "getting away with it" is no reason to make the disingenuous claim that it isn't enforced.

Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'

#436

Post by mike_d » Wed, Feb 17, 2021, 11:53 PM UTC

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #91

I've been working for 25+ years in huge, international, rich companies — at very senior (tech) levels. Plenty of travel, plenty of team building, plenty of dinners and hotels. My wife asked me a few times about the orgies the movies show, and damn it, I must have always been at the wrong parties. It is interesting how this varies by companies and organizations.

It really depends on if you are the person who can sign a contract or influence a vendor decision.

Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'

#437

Post by Blikkentrekker » Wed, Feb 17, 2021, 11:55 PM UTC

hypertele-Xii wrote: post #423

Sex is currency in music industry. Music is currency in drug industry. Drugs are currency in sex industry. The three really do go well together.

What I think is most likely is that many other favors are currency in the music industry.

It's simply that enough people are so obsessed with sex that they find it worth writing about that sex is too.

It would not surprise me at all if it can be generalized to “People in showbusiness play favors to advance their career.”.

Showbusiness is uniquely qualified for such gamesmanship, because quality is entirely subjective, so it is quite easy to realize such matters. — in many other fields, one might find oneself having to justify to one's superiors why exactly one so favors this particular employee as the numbers don't justify it.

Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'

#438

Post by technick » Wed, Feb 17, 2021, 11:57 PM UTC

yardie wrote: post #84

> the Mafia is very much a part of the music industry, I'm not too familiar with the pop side of the music industry. I dipped my toe into the Rap/R&B side of the business building websites for new artists. There were literal gangsters in the recording studios sitting across from me drinking and smoking and they made plans for every aspect of these young girls lives: what and when they could eat, who they could see, w…

I used to cover (photography) the BET music awards for a newspaper between 2006-2009. I saw the same things, in dressing rooms, green rooms and after parties. Someone controlled the female artists, who they can talk with, who could take pictures of them, etc. It made my job hard and sometimes impossible.

Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'

#439

Post by tomc1985 » Wed, Feb 17, 2021, 11:57 PM UTC

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #196

agumonkey wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it's interesting. Do we like artists due to marketing only ? Or seducing feature over artistic quality. A small but gifted artist on Spotify could, in theory (in theory), generate word of mouth at quickly get known. Sometimes I believe that labels were filters for that. They could see who was just very good and who had some 'it factor'.

'Some factor' was usually the previous generations' equivalent of virality - typically a blend of sexual charisma, personal charisma, theatricality, entertainment value, and shock value. Without that packaging music is a very tough sell. Being competent and creative on its own isn't enough. I can't think of anyone who has made it on musicality alone without at least some of the above OR enthusiastic and regular promo…

I think movie/game composers might fit this criteria, unless you count the movies/games themselves as gatekeepers

Re: 'Sexual favours were the norm in music industry'

#440

Post by numair » Wed, Feb 17, 2021, 11:58 PM UTC

If you think this sort of behavior is from a bygone era, or that the tech companies will somehow “fix” the problem: please ask your favorite Swedish streaming music company CEO why he turned a blind eye to one of his key investors running party house in Coachella that was, as I was told, filled with cocaine and shady characters (this was about 10 years ago)... Those mafia-esque deals with labels and managers didn’t write themselves.

There is, of course, more to this, but nobody tells you or reports on it, because nobody wants to lose access to that world.