Loyola Greyhound

Issue date: 2/26/08 Section: Arts & Society

Media Credit: MCT campus The Ying Yang Twins are also on TVT's roster, with their single "Drop" in the 32nd place in the hip-hop charts.

In my opinion, the music world is approaching a state of permanent lull. Manufactured music headed by artists physically designed by MTV and other big corporations has sadly been the accepted popular scene for quite some time now. Even so, on the other side of things, independent music and record labels have remained strong. This became questionable, though, last Monday when TVT records filed for chapter 11, or, in nonprofessionals' terms, bankruptcy.

Most people do not know of the record label, but the artists. TVT was home to such big hip-hop artists as Lil Jon, The Eastside Boyz, The Ying Yang Twins, Pitbull and the Polyphonic Spree, as well as a few rock artists, including one of my personal favorites, New Years Day. In its early days, TVT even held office with Nine Inch Nails and popular industrial group, KMDFM.

The crumbling of such an independent, but powerful, label means many things. The integrity of the creative process may be gone in the way of the dodo. The thing about independent labels is the fact that the artists have creative control over what they produce. There is not as big of a quota to fill for the record executives, because usually they are in it for the love of music; the person creating the label is highly involved in its actual operation.

This may be one of the reasons that New Years Day turned down a recording contract with Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen. The label is run and owned by Pete Wentz of MTV-favorite band, Fall Out Boy. In my opinion, many of the bands coming out of this label are forever under the shadow of MTV. They are successful, this fact is undeniable, but they all start to sound similar and lose control over the type of music they write. As much as I love Paramore, their album liner notes do not deny that the band got a lot more help writing their second album than their first; with Riot! being the more commercial, MTV-babied album.

TVT artists may not be as financially successful as big-label talent, but they do keep their integrity in tact. They decide when and where to tour and what to write, for the most part. With this understood, they are still triumphant with gaining fans and being creative. However, with their label no longer a label, what's going to happen?

Continued...

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