MUZIEK IN NEDERLAND

Wat is er fout gegaan met muziek in Nederland? ...


En waarom zijn die Smurfen nog steeds Holland`s grootste muziek export ooit?!

Hier komt een artikel over hoe o.a. programmeurs, agents, radio DJ`s en de Horeca samen de nederlandse publiek manipuleren!

zie PART 1 (engels versie), PART 2 (NL & engels versie) & PART 3 (engels versie) hieronder ...

What is wrong with the music scene in Holland? ...


And why are The Smurfs (Smurfen) still Holland`s biggest musical export?!

... An article about how the majority of promoters, agents, radio DJ`s, press people and the Horeca have manipulated the Dutch public for decades! (There are of course a few exceptions with the likes of Rotown, Ekko and Paradiso putting on events but too many others add very little or nothing to the future development of music) - How subsidised art in Holland kills off creativity and also ensures that the public are indirectly paying towards the music industry to shovel up shite on a regular basis! - Why should YOU pay towards certain venues in Holland putting on events and festivals that are only done so that these people can then claim their subsidy the following year again?

PART 1: The Ostrich Syndrome

So what went wrong with the music scene in Holland? - Unfortunately too much subsidy in The Netherlands since the 80`s has resulted in a music industry that is neither creative or original. While the rest of the world embraced all those indie bands in the early 80`s (Depeche Mode, The Smiths, etc) it is like radio DJs in Holland to this day have remained stuck in the 80`s with no idea on how to progress. The majority of Dutch radio stations continue to be dominated by long outdated guitar bands (Duran Duran, Queen, Bon Jovi, etc), bland pop music, or cheesy dance tracks, all of which in turn have an influence on the type of music that kids end up making today. It is no real surprise then that we end up with so called new bands who are totally outdated by the time they release their records and you also realize they are just never going to achieve anything across their own borders! It is therefore no longer a surprise to learn that The Smurfs (Smurven) from the 80`s are still to this day Holland's biggest musical export as far as record sales are concerned, closely followed by 2 Unlimited in the 90`s, while 70`s rock dinosaurs Golden Earring like to pretend they were huge abroad while the reality is that they only ever had one proper hit in America and then promptly faded away into 70`s history (please note: we are pretty sure it is 2006 now?), and if we look at how the current top artists and bands from Holland are doing abroad it becomes quickly apparent that as far as record sales are concerned: They continue to achieve a big fat zero! And if that's not already bad enough, we have noticed that people don't like to hear criticism in Holland. If you look at all their magazines, the unwritten rule in reviews appears to be "praise it or otherwise just ignore it" - criticism is just not an option (this is something that tends to run through the entire Dutch society I hasten to add). So should you ever feel the need to have to tell someone here that something is simply not good enough and you may have a point, then be prepared for their standard defence mechanism to kick in with the following excuse, or in their mind an explanation as to why your comment or observation is not acceptable: "But we are only a small country!" ("Maar wij zijn maar een klein landje!") - And with that reply they are genuinely convinced that they have justified themselves. The fact that the population of Holland is at least 3x greater than that of Scotland who don't appear to have any problems turning out quality bands on a regular basis is conveniently forgotten when using this explanation or excuse of course! But then that is the nature of this Ostrich Syndrome. As for the future, will home-grown Dutch artists ever be able to make any kind of impact abroad? - The answer lies in the very first sentence of this article, followed by the mentality and influences of the artists themselves. It is therefore very much the collective responsibility of all DJ`s, promoters and the Dutch media to address this issue instead of just sticking their heads in the sand whenever faced with a problem, and as far as we are concerned, there is a huge problem with the state of music in Holland. For the time being - The Ostrich has landed.

PART 2: Why do Dutch (guitar) bands fail to make any impact outside their own borders?

There are some people who seem to think that we are against Dutch bands? For the record, that is not the case or our intention. At AAPA we are against subsidy and maybe this has caused some confusion. The fact is that compared to a lot of other countries, Holland has far too much annual subsidy available to music and bands and as a result not enough talent or drive. The sad reality is that very few Dutch bands get to play outside their own territory because compared to other countries their standard is and remains very poor. To those who disagree with this summary we would like you to look around and be honest - Which Dutch band has really made a name for themselves abroad? Then compare those results with the amount of bands from other non-English speaking countries who have become popular (without subsidy!) that have had more than 1 or 2 hits ... We made a quick list (we don`t rate them all but it gives a good example) for you to compare. France: AIR, Daft Punk, Cassius - Belgium: dEUS, Hooverphonic, Sweden: The Cardigans, The Hives, The Sounds, The Concretes, The Knife, (Roxette & ABBA were of course also very popular in their day) - Iceland: Björk/Sugar Cubes & Sigur Rós - Norway: Röyksopp, Lene Marlin - Germany: Kraftwerk, Rammstein, Nitzer Ebb, The Scandals - Slovenia: Laibach - Denmark: Saybia, Under Byen - Italy: Lacuna Coil - Brazil: CSS (Cansei de Ser Sexy), Maria Rita (multi grammy award winning zangeress), Sepultura, and let us not forget all the artists/composers from non-English language countries who have sold millions of records worldwide like Ennio Morricone & Ryuichi Sakamoto.
More info and advice for bands in Holland can be found under: AREA - NL Bands & info

Er zijn sommige mensen die de mening hebben dat we anti-NL bands zijn? Dat is niet onze bedoeling. Bij AAPA zijn we wel tegen subsidie en hierdoor komt misschien deze verwarring. Dus met antwoord op een voorbeeld van een veel gestelde vraag - "Noem eens een behoorlijk aantal Franse rockbands of Spaanse of Zwitserse of op een paar uitzonderingen na uit willekeurig welk ander niet Engelstalig land?" - was misschien die vraag gesteld omdat er gedacht was dat er geen of niet veel bands waren van niet Engelstalige landen die internationaal success hebben gehad? - hier heb je dus een lijst (we vinden ze niet allemaal goed of indrukwekkend!) van bands die het allemaal een stuk beter hebben gedaan of doen op international gebied dan Nederlandse bands ... zonder subsidie! France: AIR, Daft Punk, Cassius - Belgium: dEUS, Hooverphonic, Sweden: The Cardigans, The Hives, The Sounds, The Concretes, The Knife, (en Roxette & ABBA waren natuurlijk ook heel populair in hun tijd) - Iceland: Björk/Sugar Cubes & Sigur Rós - Norway: Röyksopp, Lene Marlin - Germany: Kraftwerk, Rammstein, Nitzer Ebb, The Scandals - Slovenia: Laibach - Denmark: Saybia, Under Byen - Italy: Lacuna Coil - Brazil: CSS (Cansei de Ser Sexy), Maria Rita (multi grammy award winning zangeress), Sepultura, en dan hebben we het nog niet eens over artiesten/composers van niet Engelstalige landen die miljoenen platen hebben verkocht over de hele wereld zoals Ennio Morricone en Ryuichi Sakamoto. Zijn dat genoeg voorbeelden?
Voor meer info over hulp en advies voor bands in Nederland: AREA - NL Bands & info

PART 3: Stuck in the 80`s?

An alternative article from March 2007 about the state of the music scene in Holland can be found - > HERE

PART 4: Promoters & Venues

we look at a recent incident involving the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam - > HERE


MORE TO FOLLOW...

Additional info and observations on the state of the Dutch music scene can be found - > HERE

"SUBSIDY KILLS CREATIVITY!"

- TerryA (2002)





PLEASE NOTE THAT REVIEWS CAN BE IN THE ENGLISH OR DUTCH LANGUAGE