August 16, 2007
Hots On #9: Sound Off
Last week, Paige sent me a link to this story in Spin magazine, which parses the subject of leaked recordings and their effect on album sales (verdict--noncommittal). The story recounts Jack White's infamous tirade toward a Chicago DJ over the broadcast of White's album prior to the album's release, including his priceless appraisal of early album listens as "messing up the entire music business."
It's a good article with lots of fascinating industry details, but all the bands featured therein are fully established acts with millions of records sold. The story doesn't address the effect of leaks and file-sharing on unkown or up-and-coming artists, except to quote an industry guy saying "I don't think anyone's come up with a direct correlation" between file sharing and record sales.
As any music fan with too much web-surfing time on their hands know, new bands are popping up like weeds these days. Not that new bands haven't been popping up like weeds since rock's inception 50-odd years ago, but thanks to MySpace, YouSendIt, and the sheer volume of web content at our disposal these days (most of it certifiably asinine), yesteryear's Monday night showcase at Red's Pub are this year's boutique label signees and festival sub-sub-sub-headliners. That said, the same rules for success still apply. Here are the top five essentials, more or less in order:
1.) work hard
2.) write good songs
3.) slay live
4.) keep at it for 10+ years
5.) get lucky
So, fundamentally, what has changed about the music industry in our current moment of unlimited access? I want to open this one up to the comments section because I'm curious what you guys have to say about this. Less people are buying music, but are more people listening, and to a broader range of sounds and textures? Does MySpace really make it easier to get a career off the ground? Do leaked records really hurt sales? Will the internet eventually render copyright law obsolete?
Have fun down there, guys.
Stock photo from Bell Labs
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"Slay live" what? Slay live bats or slay live puppies?
A: Children. No, really 'slay live' is a silly term used to describe bands that play good live shows, but I meant it unironically.
OK. I hereby revoke my hipster credentials.
With the 3 billion bands online these days and the fact that only a few here and there have become popular due in large part to their internet presence, I'd say the situation is more or less the same. Getting lucky should be #1 on your list. Or knowing someone.
It seems like record labels aren't signing artists like they use to, and they're basically the financial backing for up-and-coming artists. With the majority of consumers buying MP3's at $.99 a pop, phyiscal albums are becoming a thing of the past aren't they? It seems that Management and booking agencies are going to take the roll of record labels. And then touring and building a fan base is the only thing i can think of that'll help a band succeed...but how do you tour if you have no money to begin with?
Being a musician these days, it seems even more likely than times past, you'll be slinging grub in a restaurant for the rest of your dismal life. A broad generalization no doubt, but I suspect truer than ever. Flash-in-the-pans may be at an all time high due to the very web content mentioned. That only means more people for the service industry...
There is absolutely NO GOOD REASON why ASCAP and BMI aren't paying us working songwriters a direct 1:1 payment (meaning each time our song is played, we get paid). This "statistical sampling" crap was believable in the stone age, but we've come a long way with technology. Use Sound Exchange to actually pay the artists and not just the corporate labels. Don't get me started...
Artists are getting shafted with or without file sharing because they get such a low cut of a record sale anyways.
Record labels, esp. the majors, use file sharing as a scapegoat for poor record sales when I believe they get less sales because of a poorer product. There's an increasingly large number of stamp-printed acts designed to fit with the current trend and make a quick buck, there's no soul behind their music. I think the consumer is just catching on, and not throwing their money away on crap.
Sorry, this probably wasn't relevant to the topic, it's just my standard industry's-full-of-shit rant.
In some ways, there are new moneymaking opportunities that never existed before where previous ones have dried up.
There's nothing stopping an artist from putting their music up on cd baby, the orchard, etc. and taking profits that used to go to middlemen.