Rock stars are no longer part of the counter culture. They are immensely wealthy members of the establishment-Charlie Devereux(CNN contributor)"
For the Love of Music?
Musicians of today are not focused on giving much meaning to their songs. At music festivals today, the atmosphere is just as positive as the atmosphere at Woodstock, but it is not full of drive and purpose. This leaves music festivals feeling hallow, especially since many modern music festivals are modeled after Woodstock. Music festivals of this era are more focused on gathering of people for the purpose of a weekend (or two) long party. Political involvement is not a major purpose of modern music festivals, the mention of political issues is often frowned upon at music festivals. At one Coachella festival in 2008, Sean Penn, an actor got on stage and encouraged the youth to become more active politically. While reading through the comments about the event on a Coachella forum, attendees were less than impressed. One commenter said that "it really is Sean Penn and he wants to talk political [explicative]" Because ideals are not used to attract the concert goers, the use of lights, setting and sound effects attempt to attract and engage the concertgoers of today, in the same way Woodstock attendees were captivated by the messages and themes in the music. Many attendees of modern music festivals are not actually invested in the musical experience. According to a recent poll by MSN, about 45% of concert goers in the year 2000 actually attended a music festival for the music. Below is a clip of a concert by Afrojack, a popular DJ performing at Coachella in 2011. His set uses lighting, videos and other effects to engage the crowd.
Commercialization of Modern Music
Musicians of the Woodstock era had much more creative control of their product. Today music is more of a corporate product than a creative outlet. Artists are not allowed much creative control because corporate executives fear that controversy will make them loose money. Michael "Blue" Williams, manager of the popular group Outkast feels as if the music industry has changed for the worst, "We're run by corporations now...It's a numbers game. And music has always been a feelings game" (The "Corporazation of the Music Industry). According to Danny Goldberg the CEO of Artemis records, teenagers are a driving force behind music sales, they buy more music and go to more concerts than any other age group (The "Corporazation of the Music Industry). Since teenagers are large consumers of music, which they often emulate and the music industry controls music output, the music industry indirectly has a large influence on the youth culture of today. Musicians that have music with political themes or that criticize the nature of the music industry are usually underground, going unheard, while musicians that listen to their corporations and provide meaningless music succeed.