It’s unfortunate, but the music industry has turned to desperate cries for attention in… It’s unfortunate, but the music industry has turned to desperate cries for attention in order to sell music. The new music industry is something I am not proud of. It used to take good music to sell records; now it takes terribly pre-planned publicity stunts in order to sell albums.

The queen of it all is Miss Britney Spears. I will give it to the girl; she and her record company are smart. She busted onto the music scene at the age of 16 in the video for “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” but she wasn’t really trying to be sexy in that video. She tied her shirt up like that to make it more “danceable,” right? Then she went on the cover of Rolling Stone scantily clad and caused a buzz throughout the whole country. And there you have it — millions of records sold.

After she decided to take some time off in the summer of 2003, she wanted to come back with a bang. She wanted people to remember who she is, so she figured: why not make out with Madonna? And there you have it — millions of records sold.

Don’t get me wrong, Spears is a talented performer, but her career wouldn’t be where it is right now if it wasn’t for her scandals.

Last year also introduced us to a new way to sell records — reality shows. The nation tunes in every week to see if Jessica Simpson could possibly say something dumber then she did the night before, on her hit show, “Newlyweds.” Then there is the other half of the sickeningly happy couple, that Nick guy. That show was the best career move that they could have made for themselves. Simpson’s last album, Irresistible, was considered a flop, and Nick was trying out the solo thing for the first time, since 98 Degrees fizzled out. They both need as much publicity as possible and this was a career save for the both of them.

Give it up for dumb blondes! It really is a shame, because Simpson has a great voice, but now her videos are advertisements for the show. Simpson is even re-releasing her album with “Newlywed” bloopers on it. I guess she decided that it wasn’t selling enough, so she wanted to use the show to sell more CDs. Mission accomplished, Jessica.

Let’s save the best for last. Janet Jackson and the famous Super Bowl flash. She hasn’t released an album in a really long time, and she plans to release one on March 30. This flash “accidentally” happens, and the next day her record company rush-released her single. They say this was because it was leaked on the Internet, but you can decide what you believe.

Good promotion is beneficial for an artist. Good promotion is getting the artist out there performing live shows, and getting his or her music heard. But record companies are smart and they know what works. All of these acts have recognizable talent, but they aren’t being recognized for that anymore. If they would stick to promoting the music and the talent of the artist, not their stupidity or their ability to have strategically placed piercings, these artists could maintain their credibility.