Genre is not needed, haven’t we got further then that!

Genre is not needed, haven’t we got further than that!

The line is from a new artist that was in the pre-selection of the Idol 2015 in Sweden. And now she is doing a comeback with a new totally unknown local record label. And this what she said in the local newspaper.

I guess you can say that genre is not needed but not like this. Spotify found out pretty quick that people didn’t care about genre, instead, mood was something they rather looking for. And yes sad playlists are still very popular.

Then the girl above has no understanding of what the genre is for. She thinks the genre will lock her up in a box and that you can never get out of the box. That is so far from the truth you can come. No one will stop you from doing whatever music you like many artists has a career doing a different project with different styles.  A good example is Sting.

Then of course your fans might expect something. I remember when I got a ballroom dance star in Sweden and she wanted to record some rock albums. Sure, her old audience didn’t like her new stuff and some reviewers didn’t get what she was doing. Still, overall it worked pretty fine. She just has to be honest and really explain I wanted to do this for this period of time.

In this kind of light, trying to fight genre is just plain stupid so when you get the question from a journalist what kind of style you are doing, answering everything is just contra-productive. The same as counterproductive to invent a small own genre like not exists like dishwasher metal.

What you need is kind of a broad description of what it is. As a booker, I really need to know what I’m booking. And with over 3000 artists applying I can’t really go and listen to everyone. And if my stages are dived in sort of genre one pop stage, one for harder metal music, one sing and songwriter, etc. I’m not interested to go through 200 artists that play jazz if I need a metal band. You don’t really need a long exact on-point description.

A to point description can also be misleading. A metal band can play a softer song like Sounds of silence with Disturbed. But still Disturbed is not a pop band. The major part of their repertoire is metal or rock.

Yes, we need genres. Not though that many believe that we go in on Spotify and just write pop and get the perfect song. It’s about when you cannot listen to a song and need a short description here it is handy. Still keep it in the broad not going to deep to try describing your last single with a new genre.

Also don’t try to fit into a genre of you, not that genre. No Nickelback is not a Metal band. Yes, Ramones can be both Punk and a Rock band.