Dark Thoughts

I read an interesting article on New Music Strategies today, but the real gem that I found today wasn't the article itself, but a comment by Michael.

The difference between “art” and “pop” in two broad (but applicable) generalizations:

- When “art” fails to gain commercial success, the artist still has something to stand behind.

- When “pop” fails to gain commercial success, the artist moves on.

I think he's hit the nail on the head here, and this is probably the best comparison I've ever heard to pop v art. It's got the essential ingredient for the comparison, which is the commercial side. This is important, because it is the essence of what pop is. If "pop" does not make money, it is a failure. If "art" does not make money then it's largely irrelevant to it's value as "art" (though perhaps not to the starving artist).

In many ways it really comes down to the purpose of the work. If the purpose is to make money, then there is a case to be made that it really is "pop". If the purpose is concerned more with the process of creating, then it's probably art. If the purpose is to offend people or make a statement then you should be in politics...

Labels: art, music, pop