Songland is a new reality TV show that has started up on NBC. Setup-wise, it is very similar to the singing competition shows that have been popular ever since the rise of reality TV shows in the 1990s and 2000s, which is perhaps unsurprising considering the kinds of figures involved in its making. With that said, it is important to note that Songland isn’t a singing competition show. Instead, it is a songwriting competition show.
How Does Songland Function?
In short, Songland exists because there has been a huge change in how the public perceives songwriters. There was a time when songwriters received little recognition. However, that has changed in the present time, as shown by how more and more songwriters are becoming more and more prominent in their own right. The exact cause for this phenomenon is unclear. However, there is one line of speculation that the rising prominence of songwriters is one of the numerous consequences of the change in how people choose to consume music in the present compared to the past.
Basically, people in the present can choose to purchase specific songs to listen to them, whereas people in the past had to purchase entire albums to listen to specific songs. This is important because it means that music companies in the present can tell which songs are being listened to and which songs are not being listened to, whereas music companies in the past were much more reliant on much more inexact information centered on the sales of albums. As such, music companies now have an easier time figuring out which songwriters have the most consistent records of success than ever before, which in turn, has caused the value of these particular songwriters to shoot up. Moreover, considering how revenues are now tied to specific songs more than in the past, this means that songwriters now have increased incentive to put themselves in the spotlight, thus further strengthening this particular trend.
Regardless, the most important point is that songwriters have become more prominent in the popular consciousness, which in turn, means that it is now possible for there to be a show in which interested individuals compete to get the chance to have their creations recorded by one of a succession of guest artists on the show. To be exact, each episode sees four would-be songwriters being brought on to the show to make their pitches to the guest artist plus the production panel. Afterwards, one of the four would-be songwriters is eliminated, while the three remaining individuals are paired with three producers to make improvements on their creations. As a result, the finished products can see significant differences from their initial versions.
What Are the Strengths and Weaknesses of Songland?
The strength of Songland is pretty simple and straightforward. In short, there have been a lot of singing competition shows out there, meaning that it is a pretty crowded field to say the least. As a result, any attempt to launch a new singing competition is bound to face an uphill struggle against entrenched competitors as well as the expectations laid out by those entrenched competitors, which is never a fun process. Certainly, a new singing competition show would still be able to succeed, but it would have to overcome a lot of difficulties for it to be able to do so.
Meanwhile, Songland has an interesting advantage in that it bears some resemblance to a singing competition show but is something else altogether. This is beneficial because that resemblance makes it very easy for interested individuals to figure out what is going on, thus making for a smoother introduction to the show than otherwise possible. Moreover, it should be mentioned that some of the people featured on Songland are some of the same people featured on singing competition shows, meaning there is the upside of that star power as well. Combined, these characteristics mean that Songland has managed to differentiate itself from its closest competitors from the start, which is good because it means that it doesn’t have to content with a lot of the issues that are inherent to entering a crowded field.
However, there are some serious issues with Songland as well. For example, the setup of the show means that a lot of guest artists as well as a lot of would-be songwriters are going to pass through it on a regular basis. This is a potential issue because it means that the show has a harder time holding on to the participants who manage to get the audience’s interest, though it is possible that later episodes will have a different format to remedy this to some extent. As for any upsides, well, such a rapid pass-through rate means that the people behind the show can boot underwhelming participants with incredible ease, but that isn’t actually much of an upside because the competitive nature of these shows means that this was always true.
With that said, the single biggest issue might be this. Competition-style reality TV shows aren’t really meant to provide their winners with whatever it is that they have been promised so much as the audience with the fantasy of such a narrative. Certainly, there are successful participants that have managed to make it in the relevant fields, but that tends to be pretty rare to say the least. Unfortunately, Songland isn’t good at selling the fantasy of becoming a successful songwriter. If anything, it actually gives a pretty good look at just how the metaphorical sausage is made, which is not particularly pleasant to say the least. For proof, compare the songs offered up by the would-be songwriters with the finished products by the end of the show, which look nothing like one another.
Will Songland Make It in the Long Run?
On the whole, this approach is actually strangely realistic and strangely interesting. However, it isn’t really what one would expect from this kind of show, so one can’t help but be skeptical about Songland‘s long-term prospects. For now, its numbers are fine, but one episode isn’t enough to make any kind of meaningful judgment one way or the other.
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