quote:

Originally posted by paxsoprano:
All good points. But it still does not resolve why a band like the Shins would not be on the radio. To clarify what I mean, here is what we know about the Shins:

1) If people listen to them, people will like them (this we know from the success of Gardenstate soundtrack, hordes of devoted teenage girls, etc).

2) Record labels generally want to release/hype music that lots of people want to buy, and this hype leads to radio play, MTV video rotation.

3) The Shins are not on MTV, and they're not on the radio.

So how do we rectify this seeming contradiction? You can't say, well the public doesn't like them, because that is obviously not true. I think we can get a clue to the answer from a Rolling Stone interview that I read about James Mercer earlier this year where he said something like, "Since the 1950's we have had all these advances in technology, but those advances have not made us any happier, and this is the subject of one of my songs blah blah blah." That sort of anti-capitalist sentiment indicates a deep mistrust of anything mainstream, anything popular. Over the last few years there has been a big influx in the number of R&B acts getting airplay. I would argue this is because R&B acts take their cue from people like Jay-Z, who are constantly bragging about how many albums they sell. To R&B artists, widespread popularity is a badge of honor, while that is not the case for indie rockers. Also look to rock 'n' roll...the two biggest mainstream rock bands in the world right now are probably Coldplay and U2, and both of these bands have been on the record as saying one of their goals is to be the biggest, most popular band in the world. You can look back to the Beatles too...the Beatles didn't just become popular in the United States by chance or because their music was good. It took a lot of effort from the Beatles to make themselves marketable.

quote:

Originally posted by dubs:
As far as I know, the Shins are still on Sub Pop, and I think it's fair to say that a platinum record would be a huge deal for even that biggest of indie labels. I don't know how long it's been since they've had one, but I perused their roster and I bet it's been a while. Like maybe since Nirvana. But this new Shins album might end up being their most anticipated release since In Utero, so it might happen.