Why is image more important than talent?

[TJMarrs]

I've been pondering this question for a while. We see it all the time when 'artist' with no talent become mega-stars. Now different people have varied opinions on who actually has talent and who doesn't but I'm speaking generally. Sometimes the artist actually does have talent but relies mostly on the image to get over.

In my opinion artist like Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Nikki Minag and most pop-stars actually rely on their image for a certain fan-base. Maybe I over-react but it bugs me when someone (talent or not) uses an image as opposed to actually putting out good music. However, there are some artist that are able to combine both like Eminem for example with his huge fan-base and still putting out great music.

So what do you guys think?
Why is image so important and why more important than talent?
Am I right in my judgement?

[NextEpisode]

Those who consume - spend most money - on music, is teenagers. It is also during your early teens your most easy influenced. It is also during this time-period of your life, you'll recevie most gifts from your parents.Thus, it's obvious labels would want to reach out to this group of people. These are great factors as to why we see teen idols - who's artistic quality, sometimes, might be questioned - sell huge amount of records. And labels will not pass on profit-opportunities, they do not care about music-quality.

Creating an image makes the artist - in question - sell more records. The latest example of this is Michael Jackson. His record sales was very underwhelming before this death. But instatly after his death, his sales increased in HUGE percentages. Why? Because of his image.

[Fleka]

Because most people don`t actually have a music taste. So, they listen to what ever catches their attention. And image does that. If you are sexy, you will get on the charts with the stupidest pop shit ever. And be popular. And most people listen to what ever is popular.

[DeAngelo Bailey]

Why is image more important than talent?

whats talent.. "creating a good image" perhaps... if not, than image isn't more important than talent to you

as far as popular culture... we live in a "reality show voyeuristic post-millennium era" people want to know the artist's life just as much as they want to hear the music.. (eg. thisis50TV, BuddenTV) they wanna know who their dating, what clothes they're wearing, what rapper their hanging out with, building a coherent story that complements their music...

its all about entertainment..

so when earl sweatshirt posts a video of him in a park goofing off with tyler.. kids can relate to that

or when kreayshawn posts a video with her gettin v-nasty out of jail, its validating that they arnt just prissy white girls

or when bow-wow, soulja boy and, A-rab destroy a nice hotel room... it shows they have money and are young and reckless

rap is most guilty of this... it revolves around one artist talking bout himself most of the time..

[Buscattree]

Once we build a good image the talent will be automatically established, because if we have a good image among the public what ever we do it will takes in to count. Hope everyone will get what I am trying to say.

[LSR]

Those who consume - spend most money - on music, is teenagers. It is also during your early teens your most easy influenced. It is also during this time-period of your life, you'll recevie most gifts from your parents.Thus, it's obvious labels would want to reach out to this group of people. These are great factors as to why we see teen idols - who's artistic quality, sometimes, might be questioned - sell huge amount of records. And labels will not pass on profit-opportunities, they do not care about music-quality.

Creating an image makes the artist - in question - sell more records. The latest example of this is Michael Jackson. His record sales was very underwhelming before this death. But instatly after his death, his sales increased in HUGE percentages. Why? Because of his image.

I disagree... at least with the last part (Michael Jackson's one). If his sales increased a lot it wasn't because of his image. Reality is harder than that. It was because he died. That's all. Lots of artists have this kind of curse. In instance. what happened with Van Gogh, Mozart, Kafka...? With Whitney Houston is already happening the same it happened with Jackson. Now, everybody wants her songs, her albums, so now the downloads have increased a lot. Her death, not her image (what image if she is already dead?? There is not image) have made of her a legend because she died young and ruined and all these stuff make a kind of stupid morbid... but it's real.

I think that is the truth. Whitney Houston was AN ARTIST in life, now that she is dead, she has become in a inmortal leyend

[Mr. Porter]

Celebrities are role models to the kids and the kids don't want to be like ugly, uncool people

[Blu]

Eminem had a HUGE image: being a white trash blonde punk that was angry. That image helped him sell; him being mad at the world helped him sell millions of records. Why do you think Infinite didn't do so well? It was because he didn't have the right image. Sure you can have talent, but you got to know how to portray it just as well.

[mdemaz]

Having an image is one thing, being good at your craft is another.
You need something people will eat up, like sunglasses or ridiculously large boots.