Question: “Do artists even need record labels to become successful anymore?”
I chose the topic of evolution in the music industry because I like listening to music so I thought this topic would be interesting to do research on since it is relevant in my life. I came up with this specific question because it is interesting to see, especially in today’s world, how many artists have blown up out of nowhere without any major help or established entity backing them up. Also, many artists now are doing well without any record label power and there are even artists that do have record label back up and they aren’t doing well commercially. I would provide examples of artists who blew up without any record label help, artists who had no industry help at first but signed deals afterwards and skyrocketed into fame. Also artists that do have record labels but aren’t doing well commercially, and artists that are doing well still and are successful still without record label help to this day. I would gather stats, articles, and websites for my information.
Doubts: Some doubts that I have about my topic/question is if its too broad or too narrow. When I saw the slides that were presented in class, I tried to come up with a question that didn’t fall into those categories. Another doubt that I had is what type of information I’m going to get and the credibility of those sources. I threw some potential information I might get, but I don’t know if thats enough or up to par with what a research question demands. Another doubt is what will I argue. I don’t know if I missed this, and if I did my bad, but will I have to argue for anything? I know we have to do research and come up with an answer to our question, but like can we include pro’s and con’s of each side, then come up with a personal answer? Or does it have to be a factual answer? I’d say thats my biggest doubt/concern. But other than that, I’m actually excited about researching this question/topic.
I really like your research question interesting. It’s something i’ve thought about too. I think your question is good because it is open-ended enough, it’s not just simple yes or no. There is definitely argument there. I think adding your personal opinion is a good idea. It doesn’t have to be strictly factual.
Music is a very interesting topic for me and I never really thought about your question. It is a very interesting question because I agree with both side right off the bat. It is also a little opinion based and you can find many different answers to this question.
I think that it’s a really big deal that you’re excited about researching this and it will help you write a better paper. As far as if we can just present both sides of an issue, it’s a good question and I’m not really sure. I’d ask tha prof just to be sure
This is an interesting topic, I have also thought about this too. I think this also ties with the rise of social media. I think that maybe you should focus a certain time period.
This is a definitely a really interesting topic, and has substance to it. Maybe a focus could be how social media allows for individual platforms, and then using artists like Taylor Swift who got put into contracts which hurt their creative expression and rights to their own music, to make an argument on why labels are not only obsolete but also controlling.
Don’t overthink it! I think mixing in facts with your personal opinion is a very good idea because you will be to analyze the artifacts of the musicians you choose, and even analyze the points that professional writers have made about your topic. Your question isn’t too general because your pretty much only gonna go through the last 25 years of music. There’s a lot you can mention in this paper with people like Dr. Dre if that is one of your examples.