Blang Blang

March 2010 Iconic pianist Lang Lang's recent signing to Sony Music was widely covered in the music press (that's to say, of course, the tiny section of it that takes an interest in real music). According to Bloomberg, the contract is worth an eye-popping $3 million, the largest ever awarded to a performer in the 'classical' sphere.

None of the reports in the media gave the impression that jetsetting Lang Lang's move (from DG, where he wasn't exactly kept in penury) was anything other than positive. The industry sycophants take at face value Lang Lang's own (rather sinister) account of the move: "I enjoy the innovative and creative energy of Sony. They are not just looking into the future, they are shaping it, and I am thrilled to be a part of this exciting process. We share a vision." (International Piano, March 2010)

The fact that Lang Lang has now fully metamorphosed from a highly gifted pianist into a flashy global brand, a cheerleading cash cow for one of the world's greediest multimedia companies, kowtowing to a neo-capitalist system whereby a given 'superstar' fills his (or her: Katherine Jenkins, Anne Sofie von Otter etc) own pockets and his benefactors' bank accounts and removes a large pile of money from a kitty potentially available to other equally talented musicians, apparently fails to raise a single eyebrow.

As the huge video screens and clangorous amplification of some of his 'gigs' now attest (not to mention more and more examples of dubious musicianship), Lang Lang has become a pop star - in Sony's eyes, a 'classical Michael Jackson', perhaps. Above all, of course, pop stars can sell things by the truckload - as Sony Music's latest, stupefying, $200 million deal with the 'pop prince' Michael Jackson proves (Jackson's death being far from an obstacle).

Thanks to relentless media hype, Lang Lang is already a spiky-haired legend in his home country, China, and there are already millions of children there furiously practising on their pianos (and similar soloist's instruments), hoping to emulate both his musicality and, without a doubt, his financial success.

The irony is that it is the nauseating avarice of both the Lang Langs and the Sonys of this world that ensure that almost all of them will, like almost all musicians in this musically barren age, find it almost impossible to earn a living either performing or composing, regardless of talent.

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