Pop Now ‘Background Sound’ Rather than a Cultural Experience, Professor Says
08/28/2024
While Oasis fans clamor for tickets to the band’s just-announced 2025 world tour, a UMass Lowell music professor says the long-awaited reunion of famously feuding brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher may see diminishing returns in ticket sales – not through any fault of the quality of their music.
“The number of tour cancellations this summer for acts that found they could not sell the tickets they anticipated should give anyone pause – especially an act that has been away from relevancy for more than a generation,” said UMass Lowell music business Professor Alan Williams. “Beyond a few mega-stars of the moment, such as Taylor Swift, most musicians do not captivate a large enough audience to fill small arenas or even large theaters.”
Reaching today’s audience may prove a challenge for the band, said Williams, “in part due to technology that hyper-connects us and fragments our attention. The internet has made almost the entirety of the musical spectrum available with a few keystrokes. In the process, it has devalued our experience of listening with our total attention. We no longer give to it what it once gave to us.”
Formed Manchester, England, Oasis burst on the scene in 1991 with a slew of radio friendly, Beatles-inspired hits off the band’s debut album, “Definitely, Maybe,” and follow-up, “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?,” which appears on the list of the best-selling recordings of all time. Though the band’s sound dominated the decade, the Gallagher brothers’ fistfights were well chronicled, and in 2009, Oasis ended its run.
Williams teaches in UMass Lowell’s music department. There, he shares his talents and knowledge as a songwriter, bandleader, sound engineer and record producer with students, many of whom will become the profession’s next generation of leaders and artists. To arrange an interview with him, contact Emily Gowdey-Backus or Nancy Cicco.
Media Contacts: Emily Gowdey-Backus, director of media relations and Nancy Cicco, assistant director of media relations