Dataphiles' Music Madness

Whenever I upload my music to websites I am always faced with a dropdown menu (or two) for me to enter the genre. This shouldn’t seem like a problem but it often is.

I don’t really mind when there’s a general list of big all encompasing genres, I can always just classify my stuff as electronica or dance, its the absurd list of sub-genres that often accompanies it I object to.

I’ve honestly seen sub-genre lists that contain UK grime and electro crunk without a catagory for house (which I would assume is a somewhat better represented genre than either of the other two)

There is also often a problem when you have to classify a whole album (or even worse your entire artistic output) as one genre. I honestly think this is a hangover from the bad old days when the only way you could get music released was by signing up to a label. Large generalist labels such as EMI and Universal were extremely difficult to get signed to and so people would instead go to smaller niche labels. Niche by definition means specific and over time the niche labels only got more specific, instead of being an electronica label or a trance label or whatever else you get labels devoted entirely to a single, often obscure,  sub-genre.

But these are the times of the internet and direct distribution (and a much greater access to music making equipment). People make all sorts of music and don’t just conform to preexisting subgenres or even to their own previous style. This doesn’t mean that every time you deviate you need to invent a new genre name (black eyed peas anyone?), just that when you create music you shouldn’t have to always think of the specific sub-genre you’re going to upload it as.

My suggestion for music based websites… be a little less specific with the subgenres you offer and make sure you always offer an ‘other’ or ‘experimental’ sub option as well.

OK rant over

Love and Peace

Dataphiles