The Voice on NBC

[Babbred]

I get where you are coming from regarding the singers for The Voice. I don't think you can compare it to SYTYCD though. Those dancers train for years and years to get to the stage they are at when they compete, so I am sure that some of them are going to be known before they try out simply because of the tight industry of dancing. Singing is different. Some folks get training, some don't, some just pop out of nowhere and sing fantastically. But you can't just stand up and dance the way these kids do that make it on the show without some kind of training, except for some very few exceptionally talented kids. Even Joshua (whom was touted for having no professional training) did take different dance classes before trying out for the show.

So yeah, I would expect to see folks who are not known within the industry to show up for singing, but not necessarily for dancing. JMHO

As for the Voice, I don't know what to think. OTOH, I agree with you, Mesa. However, the fact that these people are on a reality show, trying to jumpstart a career that has obviously fizzled, says a lot. I don't blame them for wanting a second chance, so that's not going to stop me from watching the show.

I think it'll be interesting to see how this plays out. A few seasons ago AI had this problem. It seemed like half the contestants had had some sort of prior commercial experience. However, those contestants washed out until just the amateur ones remained. I wonder if, as word gets out about the contestants' previous experience, the voters will do the same on The Voice?

[RealityLovesMe]

I like that they have experience. I hope the audience doesn't hold it against anyone for having some success in the past. You know, when it becomes a requirement to find people without any experience, we end up with guys like Lee Dewyze! EEK!

[Fierce Critter]

You know, when it becomes a requirement to find people without any experience, we end up with guys like Lee Dewyze! EEK!

I SO don't understand where you get this impression.

There are THOUSANDS if not millions of TOTALLY unseen, undiscovered, uber-talented musicians out there. To say that restricting competition to people like this would only result in something bad just doesn't jibe with my experience.

4 judges, 8 contestants each = 32 contestants. I can think of over 100 in the Detroit area alone worthy of this kind of attention and competition.

[RealityLovesMe]

I SO don't understand where you get this impression.

There are THOUSANDS if not millions of TOTALLY unseen, undiscovered, uber-talented musicians out there. To say that restricting competition to people like this would only result in something bad just doesn't jibe with my experience.

4 judges, 8 contestants each = 32 contestants. I can think of over 100 in the Detroit area alone worthy of this kind of attention and competition.

If one has talent and is serious about singing professionally, why would they be undiscovered? We have youtube, independent labels, festivals and fairs, etc. Anyone who wants to be a musician has access to all of those things. I don't think anyone who has been successful should be penalized for it. Do you? Why should those who have done little to advance themselves have an upper hand? I am sure there are a lot of people who are undiscovered and talented. A talented singer who has been actively trying to boost his or her career is likely to have had some sort of success. Right?
Full disclosure: Lee Dewyze actually put out some albums before Idol. Also, Carrie Underwood was in talks to sign with a major label before Idol and Kelly Clarkson worked as a professional singer before Idol as well.

[Fierce Critter]

Oh, wow.

In the interest of not bogarting the thread, I'm just going to say that it's soooooooooooooo not that easy.

Not by a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooongshot.

"..done little to advance themselves..."

Oh, wow. You just don't know the work I've seen people put into trying to get past local bars and coffee houses, etc. The effort. The time. The stress. The determination. The rejection. The false starts. The dead ends. The brick walls. The heartbreak.

"A talented singer who has been actively trying to boost his or her career is likely to have had some sort of success. Right?"

Once and finally - it's sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo not that easy.

Been there, done that, seen others go through it for years.

I myself busted my ass trying to make it - and almost, almost got there. My problem was never my talent nor my personal drive. My personal problem was relying too much on other musicians and not trying to go it alone. Should have refocused my efforts, but just reached a point where I couldn't see straight anymore and had to quit to save my own sanity before I started hating music altogether. For me, it reached a point where it was ALL business, all work, and no fun, no enjoyment.

I've seen a LOT of people equally or more talented who made it further than I did, and still didn't make it all the way for one reason or another.

This is a MAJOR personal "been there, done that" topic for me, and in the interest of not boring people to death, I'm gonna leave it at that.

[Rattus]

Critter, I'm with you on this one. I've been in a band and so spent a lot in clubs listening to a thousand unknown bands over the years, and Mr. Rattus is currently in a band. And of the thousands of bands I've seen over the years, I would have to say that a substantial number of them were/are far superior to any number of tedious, generic pop stars who garner accolades for reasons I don't understand. As far as I can tell, talent isn't the most important factor in musical success - having the sort of clean, bland, uninteresting voice and image that won't upset or offend middle-America is the most important factor. And that is my biggest disappointment with this show. I am enjoying the concept, but I was hoping for real musicians rather than "product" and I am quite dismayed by the generic, radio-friendly quality of the voices that are being chosen. I will have to say that Adam seems to be going for the somewhat more unusual voices, so kudos to him.

[mesachick]

I'm with you too Critter. I have had several friends in bands as well. They were good too, but making it to the big time is incredibly hard. If you think about it, there are very few people lucky enough to make it big in the entertainment industry vs the world population.

I had a friend try out for AI, she sings beautifully. She was turned away because according to the judges she sounded "too professional". Frustrating to say the least.

[Babbred]

While it is certainly difficult to become a star these days, Mesa is right that you can boost your chances by taking advantage of today's internet and social media sites. I believe that Justin Bieber was discovered on YouTube; I read somewhere that his mother posted a clip of him there because he had just lost some local singing competition and so she wanted to share it with friends and family. Somehow, somebody convinced a music exec to look at it and the rest was history.

Same thing with Arctic Monkeys, a hugely successful UK band. They started off giving away free downloads of their songs off their website. Word of mouth spread and they built a huge following until a label sat up and took notice. I was living in England, working in a grocery store when they exploded on the national scene. I remember seeing the cover of a music magazine there with the headline "Internet Sensation AM make it big!" That was several years ago and I remember thinking, "This is going to be the wave of the future, using the internet." Now entire books have been written about how to harness the internet/social media to get yourself noticed. Even major acts do it.

As for AI, a lot of its contestants have some sort of professional experience, if not an actual past contract somewhere. I remember when David Cook came back after winning to perform. He told Ryan, "The year before I auditioned, I released a CD on my own that only sold a thousand copies. After winning AI, my first album went platinum. Wow!"

As for the underlying question, should we only have a contest with pure amateurs? I used to not like it when they revealed that AI contestants had past experience, but I've made my peace with it. I'm not going to deny these people a chance to start over again. As to fairness, well, life's not fair. I'm a writer, but that doesn't mean I'll ever become the next Dan Brown or John Grisham. Call it Fate, or Luck, or whatever, but there will always be some people who get picked to become famous and some who don't. Instead of being bitter about it, I'm just going to enjoy their stuff (including their singing on shows like this) and try to make a decent life for myself.

And that was a very interesting point, Mesa. For better or worse, most of the contestants who have held our attention on AI have been those with prior experience. Would anybody watch The Voice if all the contestants sang like Lee? Nope.

[prhoshay]

I guess they want a more generic voice so that they can "dress it up" the way that they want? Doesn't that defeat why you think you sing? It's like, "Let me paint this wall white/beige, and then I can make it any way that I want it to be." I don't know......I'm just asking.

[Fierce Critter]

For better or worse, most of the contestants who have held our attention on AI have been those with prior experience. Would anybody watch The Voice if all the contestants sang like Lee? Nope.

The bolded is the part that's aggravating me in these responses.

It's repeating the assertion that undiscovered = less talent than experienced/discovered.

Experienced/discovered = Britney Spears with autotune.

Undiscovered/only local experience = some people I've seen/heard at local music venues with unassisted voices so freaking good, they pissed me off.