Ark “Music” Factory0

By the title you should really be able to detect the tone of this post. The internet is buzzing with the freshly discovered Ark Music Factory – a recording and video production crew who charge 2k to each artist to make a song and music video. This of course attracts the rather well off 16 year old teen who is just so darn bored of their horses, constant shopping trips and expensive gifts from Daddy because he’s too busy to actually lavish them with the attention they need. Ok so maybe that’s just a bitter reaction to not having come from a rich background, but still, sometimes it’s hard to be happy for someone when they have it so easy!

My gut reaction is to be appalled. A company, charging thousands, taking advantage of young girl’s dreams; it’s nothing new. For instance, there are plenty of top labels who charge top dollar to wannabe models for a portfolio just because they claim there is a ‘chance’ of being signed. The truth is, they’re finding new ways of tapping into the fame-obsessed culture of today, and discovering it’s incredibly easy to earn money from it. Honesty doesn’t make a profitable business.

But Ark are embracing these negative responses to their business, and using it to further prove that what they are doing works. Controversy is free advertising. I mean look at them: relatively small time names, creating industry standard videos (but god awful songs, that can’t be denied) which have been getting views on youtube that rival today’s biggest artists. These teens have certainly got their money’s worth.

So where is the harm? One could say that these kids are being convinced that having large amounts of cash is a replacement for hard work, i.e. singers that spend years writing, performing and touring to earn their celebrity status. But isn’t that just how our society works? I’m not saying it’s right, but Ark are doing nothing unique. Quite a few singers that are popular in today’s music scene have come from similar backgrounds: where they’re parents paid for singing lessons, paid for performing arts schools, and paid for the beginning of their child’s career. This is just a faster way of doing the same thing. I in fact know of quite a few musicians who have found that paying for PR and distributing their work themselves gets them far more recognition and they are now far more well known than those who do not have the same money.

As for the auto tuning, how many pop stars don’t use it on a frequent basis. Talent is not always marketable. Whereas faces combined with the correct songs are. As much as I want to hate this company and everything it stands for, they’re just additional proof that the music industry is just as image based as the fashion industry and not the cause of the problem. They’ve purely seen a niche, and are making a bundle from it.