Thoughts By: B. Brown -
Bar-Red Ent. Grp.
Well, here you go rap artists, singers, etc. When you read the article below, you will see the non-reality of going from your couch to MTV/BET. The truth is that it actually never happened that way for the overwhelming amount of artists that ever existed. It is usually a long road to stardom and financial success in the music business, but now it is even harder because of the way music is distributed.
I just read a report yesterday that talked about a major established artist selling gold (500,000 units) and that was good! That used to be unheard of; a major established artist would always sell multi-platinum (1,000,000+) unless something went terribly wrong with the marketing, promotions & selling of the album.
When you read the article below, pay attention to some of the myths that it clears up. A lot of artists believe they can do it themselves, but every business usually requires a team of people to get things done, and those people need to be competent along with having some kind of budget to record, mix, master, market & promote. Distribution is the easiest part thanks to digital distribution (iTunes, Rhapsody, eMusic, etc.).
Becoming popular (locally, regionally, nationally and/or internationally) is the key to digital/physical sales, shows/tours, endorsements, etc.
Checkout the article below, and let me know what you think.
One Love!
The Reality
of the New Music Business
“I’m not sure I’ve experienced anything quite like this.
Because David Lowery didn’t just touch a nerve this week, he
may have single-handedly crushed years of post-physical, ridiculous digital
utopianism. In one crystallizing, cross-generational and unbelievably viral
rant.
And after a decade of drunken digitalia, this is the
hangover that finally throbs, is finally faced with Monday morning, finally
stares in the mirror and admits there’s a problem. And condenses everything
into a detailed ‘moment of clarity’…
(1) No, artists can’t simply tour
and sell t-shirts.
It doesn’t work. In fact, shockingly few indie artists can
pull this off, except for those developed at some point by the major labels
(ie, Amanda Palmer) or a serious group of professionals. Most of the others
that are managing to squeak out a living on the road are doing it with great
difficulty and are working non-stop.
(2) The recording is now effectively
worth $0; its surrounding ecosystem has collapsed.
Some people buy CDs. Less purchase vinyl. iTunes downloads
are still increasing. But averaged across all formats and personal valuations,
the recording has effectively become worthless. And that has had drastic
repercussions for the music industry, and the lives of otherwise creative and
productive artists.
(3) Spotify is not a beneficial
solution for artists. Certainly not right now, and quite possibly, never.
Will Spotify ever put a meal on an artist’s table? That’s
extremely speculative. Sure, it might eventually mimic Sweden-like penetration
in the US. But that is not happening right now; it’s not a fair solution
for artists right now. Instead, it is shuttling people like CEO Daniel
Ek towards stratospheric riches, fattening major labels, and potentially giving
Goldman Sachs bankers another joyride.
(4) Kickstarter will mean something
to artists in the future, but only to a relative few.
Amanda Palmer may hold the world record for a long time, but
there will be other Kickstarter stories. Some will come out of nowhere, most
will involve previously-established artists, particularly those already
developed by a major label or similar entity. This will not replace the vast
financing once offered by recording labels.
(5) DIY is rarely effective, and
almost always gets drowned by the flood of competing content.
It doesn’t matter if you’re singing directly into the ear of
your prospective fan. Because they’re listening to Spotify on Dre headphones
while texting and playing Angry Birds. Some can cut through, but most cannot
without serious teams, serious top-level marketing and serious media muscle.
Justin Bieber ultimately needed the machine, no matter how beautifully his
YouTube story gets spun.
(6) Sadly, most artists are worse
off in the digital era than they were in the physical era.
Actually, we have David Lowery himself
to thank for this realization. Because the implosion of the recording has
impacted nearly every other aspect of music monetization (though certainly not
music creativity itself.) And its replacement is generally a fraction of what a
‘lucky’ artist could expect in an earlier era.
Again, all great for fans like Emily White,
but not so great for everyone else.
(7) Younger people mostly do not buy
music; they do buy hardware and access.
They gravitate towards free digital content, and
occassionally pay for things like concerts when they have the money. Emily
White isn’t a fourteen year-old, she’s a young adult that probably doesn’t want
the morality trip. And neither does anyone else – regardless of the generation.
(8) Older people buy less music than
before; they more frequently buy hardware and access.
If you really want to sell a marked-up bundle, make another
Susan Boyle. It’s still a market that doesn’t revolve around free music and
constant fan contact. But older people file-trade, they stream, they steal and
they buy less than before.
(9) Google is a major part of the
problem.
Lowery is right. Google is not interested
in protecting content creators; their interests lie elsewhere. Copyright is a
nuisance to them, unless it involves their own code and algorithms. In fact,
anything beyond the DMCA erodes their ability to serve customers, remain
competitive, and make money. Which is why the Pirate Bay is one of the ‘hottest’ searches, and why adding ‘mp3′ to any artist search produces pages
and pages of results.
(10) You (we) are a major part of
the problem.
Just because it’s legal, doesn’t mean it’s helping
musicians. It’s not file-trading, but the payouts on Spotify, Pandora,
Turntable.fm, or whatever else are shockingly low. It’s a rounding error,
towards 0. The paradox is that music fans are living in abundance, while
artists are barely getting scraps.
(11) Google, the ISPs, and hardware
manufacturers have won.
It doesn’t matter how brutal the war with Hollywood becomes;
how many Dotcom mansions get raided. Music fans aren’t going to start buying
albums again; in fact, beyond the playlist, the concept of pre-packaged
bundling will become increasingly foreign to newer generations.
It’s not about who’s right, it’s now the world the entire
music community lives in.
(12) Everyone lies about stealing.
I’ve only heard a few people actually admit to file-trading:
my close friends, Bob Lefsetz, and Sergey Brin.
If you have an iTunes collection of more than a few thousand songs, you’ve
almost certainly swapped, torrented, or swapped hard drives in your life. And
almost everyone has a collection of a few thousand songs.
(13) Mass-marketed, ‘lottery winner’
style successes will continue.
Niches are available and sometimes responsive; more often,
top-down mass marketing wins. And most musicians are playing extremely bad
odds.
(14) This ISN’T the best time to be
in the music industry.
Conferences like MIDEM make money off this sort of Kool-Aid
optimism. But I work in the music business right now; I was at a major label in
the late 90s. And the reality is that this is the greatest time ever for fans,
but definitely NOT the best time for those trying to make money from those
fans. And as David Lowery so darkly described, it can be one incredibly
depressing trip for even a ‘successful’ artist.
That’s the reality we now live in, and we have Emily White
and David Lowery to thank for making it obvious.”
And thanks to Paul at Digital Music News for encapsulating the issues so clearly.
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