Dear Editor,
[Re: Heavy metal band looking for new members, The News, Nov. 15]
I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge article about the young boys who started a metal band called "Fanger".
That is an excellent piece of journalism.
The arts have been exploited, and articles like this bring the community back into the arts.
We have been fooled for too long into thinking the big costumes, the millions of dollars in marketing, and the huge budget music videos are the pinnacle of success.
Musicians are fighting a war right now with streaming services and digital stores devaluing art. Artists who have been putting their faces on billboards like the Rolling Stones, Snoop Dogg or Taylor Swift have been kicking the ladder out from underneath them for many years by allowing their image to be used as corporate branding. Artists like the Rolling Stones, Snoop Dogg and Taylor Swift are these corporations' front line troops in this war. They are not the pinnacle of success as we have been told for so long.
Seeing an article like this brings into reality that music is about making friends, not being famous.
Musicians and artists in general take themselves too seriously. If we just have fun and support those around us we can have success and give it a new image.
We need to create a sustainable future for young artists.
Thanks again for writing the story about those young boys.
It is ethical and shines the spotlight where it needs to be.
Chris Busche, Port Alberni
