The Voice vs. X Factor

The Voice has been dubbed as the BBC’s version of the X factor and naturally there have been comparisons between the two. To me both shows raise interesting questions about the music industry and the direction it is going in.

X Factor lovers have called The Voice boring and say it is missing on the humiliation factor – the latter is true. However, the Voice seems to be nurturing and encouraging talent rather than manufacturing someone that will make money or fit into a certain market a-la Simon Cowell.

Could The Voice be going back to ‘real’ music by nurturing and developing the contestants into the artists they want to become, rather than giving them a huge makeover that is based around current popular artists. Arguably this strips them of their identity and spews out another manufactured artist or band. However, The Voice has not gone far enough to see if it will churn out more processed plastic copies of other artists. I’ve got my fingers crossed and I am hoping that this will not happen!

The main thing that attracted me to The Voice was the fact that the mentors have their backs to the artist and they are not judged on their looks at all! This is fantastic and the 'you shouldn’t judge a book or person by its cover’ attitude should carry on into everyday life!

The second thing that made me a Voice fan was the fact that contestants playing instruments is allowed! (These are banned on the X Factor). My Dad has always said real talent is where a group plays instruments, a motto I believe that is shared by a lot of people. In my opinion there isn’t enough main stream artists that play instruments and those sort of bands that do are on different and perhaps less celebrated scenes.

So far The Voice looks promising and I cannot wait to see how it turns out, I will definitely be tuning in every week!

But what do these shows tell us about the state of the music industry?

Is it that the industry is only interested in a certain type of artist that is deemed popular at the time and will make a lot of money? Then the second that genre is no longer cool or the artist doesn’t become the success as predicted they will be dropped like a ton of bricks (fates some of the X Factor winners themselves have suffered.)

Or is it that the industry is only interested in what makes money as opposed to real talent and creativity (something which I hope The Voice will go against.) There are so many small bands that don’t fit into the cool genre in the music industry that aren’t given the opportunity that they deserve because ‘they don’t fit in.’

Perhaps a development on The Voice (which so far appears to be dispelling the above industry standards) could be a programme promoting and giving insights into up and coming bands. Or one off documentaries following them or televising the many battle of the bands competitions. Most people don’t realise the financial hardship and upwards struggle that most small bands or artists face and I feel that this should be shown on TV. This would show people that hard work is what is needed for true success rather than the ‘not doing a lot and getting famous’ culture that consumes this country at the moment.

There are so many local bands that need to be discovered who can’t rely on shows like The Voice and the X Factor. So next time you see that contestant that wows you, why don’t you go and support and discover more local and unsigned bands, so you can say I was part of their journey and I discovered them before the rest of the world!