A really great discussion about the future of the music industry, passed on to me, that i am passing on to you. sure, it's a little long, but very engrossing:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monitormix/2009/11/to_pay_or_not_to_pay_q_a_with.html
I'm glad I didn't get a job at a label, that's for sure. But it's true, the system's broken. BUT that doesn't mean there's no future. The live experience will always be something people will want (and pay for). And even if music-as-commodity comes to an end, and streaming music will replace it, vinyl has proved it has staying power.
Also, I really connected to part about loyal fans paying for anything an artist does. Lord knows, I may not have bought Ted Leo's albums, but I've paid for 15 shows, and own two of his t-shirts and a hoodie. Plus I bought his last album cause it came with a bonus EP. I'm a sucker for that shit! But only if it comes from him. AND I only got into him cause I didn't pay for his music in the first place. I don't see an ethical dilemma here. I feel like the actually music is just a marketing tool to get people hooked on a brand (the artist) for life.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on the matter.
1 comment:
Thanks for the link; I'm going to have to read that later.
About your Ted Leo fandom - awhile ago I read something postulating that if a solo artist has 1,000 dedicated fans (dedicated being buying tickets to shows whenever the artist tours nearby and buying albums and other merch). And I just found the link again, if you're interested: http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php
I'm a fan of the band Bomb the Music Industry!, who releases all of their music for free online. Their latest album, Scrambles, was downloaded 20,000 times soon after it was released, which is pretty amazing. On the downside, since BtMI! releases their music for free, they see little profit from this - they ask for $5 paypal donations with each download, but the majority of people don't do that - if they did, the band would have made $100,000 and would now be pretty well off for a few years. But what if it did cost money? Surely 20,000 people would not have bought it as quickly as they downloaded it for free. I suppose the hope here is that by providing the music for free, more people will be into seeing the band at shows. Making a living with music certainly seems tricky these days.
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