|
Originally Posted by Faile
I love to ramble on about music, but it's getting late so I'll just throw some random thoughts into the ether.
x. The record companies have done this to themselves! Hurrah! We, the consumer, rightly or wrongly have completely destroyed the mainstream distribution system. No longer shall we get charged £16 for an album, or £5 for a five-track multi-format single. Why is this? Because we can obtain music for free!
x. Who suffers the most, the artist or major label? Definitely the label! For years labels have been taking the greater cut out of an artist's profits. Essentially, if you signed a deal for five albums, the label would loan you thousands of pounds/dollars/euros and then expect you to pay that back through sales. If your second album failed and you got dropped, that money still had to be paid and because most musicians need to live like everyone else, that money got spent. Now labels aren't able to cut such big deals, because they don't get the money coming in, so musicians get better deals for touring and earn the majority of their money that way. However, this still leaves the question of how new and emerging bands build a fanbase and distribute their music, so on to the next point.
x. The re-emergence of the indie label! Bands can now sign pretty good deals with some of the bigger indie labels and do very well; essentially they're not signing over their souls by taking loads of money. Bands can now make a deal whereby a record company pays to manufacture, distribute and promote an album, and takes a cut of sales, whilst the band tours and earns. It's a fairer system. With cd sales dropping, the majority format will soon be digital download, but this isn't so bad. It cuts out a lot of expenses; transport and packaging amongst those. Multi-format cd singles are a thing of the past (no more do you need cd1 and cd2 - hooray!).
x. The building of fanbases by bands now has to be done in new and creative ways (lots of internet hype through the more 'underground' music sites (pitchfork), myspace*, viral marketing) or in boring ones (myspace*, adverts, nme, etc etc etc)
x. Touring is more important than ever. you need to engage with an audience. Bands should slog through smaller venues and actually play their music to people. No more one tour every year.
x. Bands should never be scared to give away demo tracks or b-sides, or even imitate Radiohead and give an album away. If people are aware of your music and enjoy it, they will come and see you and buy your other music, t-shirts and the like.
x. The best thing to come out of this situation is the power that it hands artists. you can now run a label from your room in a far more easy fashion than ever before. You can put on your own shows and have pretty big bands come and play. You can engage with the world and showcase your art and meet lovely and like-minded souls. You do not need the five album mega-deal. You do not need to be nirvana! You'll be happier and free!!!
*you decide if it's boring or not
|