http://www.mykevinskinner.com/
I'm not a fan of his, but this is what he's up to.
Which translates into "pretty much nothing." Or stated differently,
those making the point about how dismal the track record of the masses is in picking truly noteworthy, breathrough talent are 100% correct.
Shows like AGT exemplify the loss that has come from the death of the A&R (artist and repretory) function that used to exist at the big record companies. A&R staff -- made up of the sharpest scouts and most seasoned producers -- scoured the landscape for budding talent, and when they found it, signed 'em and them spent time -- often
years -- letting that "wine" they'd purchased mature before expecting payback.
Those days are long gone. The corporate shells that replaced the labels now focuses on finding fresh young pretty things, rushing 'em into the studio with one or at best two good numbers and then throwing them to the wind, where they quickly perish once the gloss of that one "hit" wears off.
There's absolutely no focus anymore on identifying and nurturing real talent. It's all about immediate gratification.
So what? Well let's look at one case history of a fellow named...Bruce Springsteen.
"The Boss" started as an entertaining but rough bar act (e.g., wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes on any sort of AGT type program), but was noticed and picked up by some visionary people in Columbia's A&R group in 1972.
They were patient and invested in letting the scruffy guy from NJ develop in the studio, not blowing a gasket about the fact his first two albums got critical acclaim but went
nowhere - because he was growing and getting better as an artist in the process.
Columbia continued being patient as Springsteen recorded his third try at an LP, called "
Born To Run," letting him spend six months alone on just the title track (that would NEVER happen today. Repeat, never, never, NEVER).
And on August 25, 1975 Columbia finally got the payoff they'd been waiting for:
Sadly, this sort of thing doesn't happen anymore.
And AGT is
not a replacement.