If you could change one thing about the metal scene, what would you?

I guess this is something that applies to music in general, but I would change the whole way the industry works. In this day and age of information, the way things work with CDs and record labels just isn't sustainable. People are going to download music, and that's that. The industry needs to be able to think in the long term and adapt to a new technological paradigm rather than doing the same old thing and expecting people to keep buying CDs. I still do buy albums, but it doesn't even support the artists that much. I've read interviews where bands have said they make literally no money off of record sales. Some bands actually find it more lucrative to self-publish, which indicates a big problem in the way the system works. I have no problem supporting record labels, especially independent ones, but the fact that artists are making so little money off record sales doesn't sit well with me.

I don't really have an alternative system in mind, but surely there's something better than the way things work now.

In more regards to metal, I wish that mainstream nu-metal/metalcore/deathcore bands would stop being associated with the metal I listen to. I don't have a problem with the styles themselves, but the trendy, only-there-to-make-money vibe I get from so many of those bands really bugs me. I also wish metal got more respect and was more understood. A lot of people look down on metal not because they are just stupid and prejudiced (though many of them are), but because they genuinely haven't been exposed to it enough to understand it. Real metal is so far out of the public eye that it's no wonder people assume that it's crap. I don't care how many people listen to metal, but I wish people at least knew enough about its complexity to understand why we like it.

BQ: I tend to prefer the more melodic side of metal.

EDIT: Howling Glory said pretty much the same thing as me in not so many words. I would get rid of the stigma around the genre.

I would change the elitism. I love metal of the most extreme variety, but I also like bands such as Nightwish. So many metalheads believe that you can;t be a "true" metalhead if you like any mainstream bands at all. Well let me tell them, I listen to bands that I bet even they haven't heard of, I love extreme metal, but yes, I also like a bit of catchy, melodic, and dare I say it, mainstream metal. Some people oin metal are just so fussy.

BQ - More straightforward, I've never been a fan of the melodic genres.

BQ2 - Atmospheric all the way.

I think the "metal scene" is fine the way it is.

BQ - I'd say I'm more into "straightforward" metal, but I can listen to the melodic stuff.

Get rid of Slipknot and bands like em....... Long Live Folk and Melodic Metal!

Hope that Helps

a big part of the metal community shuns deathcore and metalcore cuz "its not really metal"...i will admit that there are some pretty terrible metalcore bands but there is no reason to hate it. i just wish people would stop hating on certain sub-genres of metal.

also, i wish people would realize that the lyrics in death metal/deathcore and other sub-genres that scream are not all satanic and are more often that not meaningful. i mean rap and pop lyrics are usually more vulgar than metal lyrics

I would get rid of all the metal elitists who think stuff like metal is the only good genre and that Deathcore isn't "real" metal and all that crap. Other than that metal is perfect just the way it is in my opinion.

BQ: I like both, I guess I would go more for "Straightforward" metal but I really do love melodic metal too.

EDIT:

Well the people I call "Elitists" look like the douchiest metalheads who want accept any other kinds of music, don't have an open mind towards how some people have different tastes than them, and insult other genres to make themselves feel better.

I'd remove the "core", emo and numetal genres and that gay "hardcore dancing" from metal.

I'd also remove the term "elitist", people like to name-call one another for having different views from their own. I cannot stand "core" bands, emo/scene bands, and bands heavily influenced by rap... Does that make me better than the people who listen to it? No, it's called personal preference and why is it so wrong for disliking some genre of music? "HOW DARE YOU HAVE AN OPINION, YOU ******* ELITIST!!!!!" LOL give me a break, name-calling is childish, and it's pointless. It also makes you look like a crybaby when calling someone that.

Edit: and yes, I know emo isn't metal, but dumb kids today can't tell the difference so while I'm getting rid of lame genres, I might as well remove it too.

Edit II: ****, almost forgot about the BQ, it depends on my mood I guess, I like *all 3* styles really.

ATTACK THE CORE!!! (Converge can stay)

BA: Straightforward

Ted Bundy: You are so clueless, I don't know how to begin. First of all, The Devil Wears Prada and bands of their ilk are a cheap exploitation of the metal that got their sorry asses there in the first place (you know...the bands you mentioned). Secondly, metal isn't defined by screaming, it's defined the tritone scale. Wiki that ****, junior. And I'd rather hear grown men singing about wizards and bloodshed and "men stuff" instead of the emotional discrepancies of some tight-panted, swoopy-haired, breakdown-whoring nobody who writes song titles like "HTML Rulez d00d" or "Hey John, What's Your Name Again?"...that schlock makes my stomach churn. You're clearly 16 years old (tops) so I'll stop here.

Get rid of the scene kids that are giving everyone the impression that we're satanic emo's and... f*cking destroy Deathcore; most repetitive genre with too many breakdowns and sh!tty vocals.

BQ: Both; leaning towards straightforward.

I agree, remove the "evil devil worshipper who wants to murder his parents" stigma.

But that's not really about the scene itself, so I'll just say this: Drop Trivium down a hole.

BA: Melodic, definitely.