| CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast |
 June 29,
2009
Ep.65 : Matthew Ebel - Stream your concerts to the world
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| CD Baby Music Podcasts |
 Music Discovery
 Hip Hop
 60's Pop
 Rockabilly
 Top Sellers
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| the Future of Music Careers |
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THE FUTURE OF MUSIC CAREERS: QUANTUM CAREER DEVELOPMENT IN A TRANSFORMING INDUSTRY
by Peter Spellman
http://www.mbsolutions.com
The beginning of a new year is a good time to reflect on where things are at and where things may be going in our industry. A few of my colleagues have expressed their views on 'industry trends' and, as usual, their insights were penetrating and refreshing.
As a complement to these contributions, I'd like to offer some thoughts not so much on trends in the biz, but on music career development amid these trends.
I will try to open up some of these trends and look at their career implications and applications.
I hope both musicians and industry careerists will gather some guidance for setting their sails amidst the mercurial waves of a transforming entertainment business.
First, some noise from the trenches:
-Of the 35,000 albums released last year by the recording industry, less than 5000 sold over 1000 units.
-Since 1988 only 16 classical albums have sold more than a million copies in the United States; five of them were put out by Victoria's Secret.
-The source of most music listening hours is neither CDs nor radio; it's video games.
-When pop star Sting needed a marketing partner for his 2000 album release he chose Compaq Computer.
-"Ten years ago, rock musicians would never listen to dance music and dance musicians would never listen to classical music. Now, most of the rock musicians I know own samplers and most classical composers I know also are listening to dance music." -- Moby
-Worldwide entertainment and media spending will reach $1.4 trillion by 2006, (PriceWaterhouseCoopers).
THE NEW MUSIC ECONOMY
The news is good and bad. We're seeing nothing less than a global restructuring of the economy. This isn't a brief shudder; the organizational structures of the last century are being torn apart. Business worlds are deconstructing and reconstructing. Everything is blurred, fuzzy and vague. And the meanings of "work" , "career" and "job" are being re-written.
We're also witnessing (and feeling the effects of) the end and beginning of the music business. Like humans, industries pass through developmental stages: birth, youth, maturity and death (or transformation).
Our industry grew rapidly, matured, plateaued and is now in the throes of transformation. How successful this transformation will be depends on how creatively the musical industrial complex can dance with the changes.
Unfortunately, so much of the music industry is beholden to corporate owners itchy for corporate-size profits and driven by rigid corporate imperatives. This wrecks havoc with "artist development"; hell, it wrecks havoc with business development, and necessitates high turnover of both artists and employees.
Complicating industry maturation is an event no one saw coming: a new distribution channel called the Internet. The big labels are contracting as a vast Web is spinning around them. The Internet is both threatening to take the rug of necessity out from under vast sectors of the traditional music business AND providing musicians and songwriters with direct access to global audiences.
All of this adds up to a picture today where it is no less risky to "go indie" than to "get signed", signed, that is, as an artist or as an employee. Choosing to go indie is exploding across all industries not just music. We need only think of indie film or book publishing. Independence is a mark of the times we're living in. We are profoundly on our own in this milieu.
And that's the rub.
We're beginning to accept that we will never return to the more static, less opportunity-rich but also more comforting world in which most of us were raised.
The changes we're living through are both permanent and dynamic. The real social revolution of the last 30 years is the switch from a life that is largely organized for us to a world in which we are all forced to be in charge of our own destiny. That's the scary challenge.
And also the exciting opportunity.
Today we have three different music "industries" developing side by side:
1. the mainstream pop/rock business, which will continue to market established stars like Celine Dion and Whitney Houston;
2. the chaotic illegal record business, involving at one extreme pirates and bootleggers, at another experimental and political artists refusing to accept the restraints of copyright law; and in between the usual variety of pirate broadcasters, home digital distributors, and so forth.
3. the indie, genre music scenes, local players connected through web sites and digital radio, but commercial in their niche, making enough money to go on making music but not necessarily seeking to play "the game" of ever-increasing ladder-climbing success.
The first industry is contracting; the second is and always will be present; and the third is poised for quantum development.
The lesson: Unless you're seeking Britney Spears-level fame, then avoid the major labels and prove yourself in the independent sphere first. Someday you may want to partner with a major company (record company or otherwise) but, for now, focus on creating your own success, building your value, maintaining control of your career and music trajectories, following your muse and your spreadsheets with utter dedication and focus.
FROM THE "MUSIC BUSINESS" TO THE "MUSICIAN BUSINESS"
In a sense musicians may be in a better place today than they've ever been before. Taking a cue from the cyber-bard John Perry Barlow, I believe we could be seeing a paradigm shift from the domination of the "music business" to that of the "musician business".
The same forces that are undoing the larger music companies are empowering individual musicians. And as a result, the idea of a "music career" is sprouting new wings as artists and industry careerists begin discarding intoxicating myths and tapping into some new-found powers.
Powers deriving from desktop computers and digital recording gear, from a hyperabundance of entrepreneurial and self-development resources, a segmenting (and reachable) music marketplace, and most importantly, from the Internet - the first tool that puts a global communication and distribution "channel" into the musician's hands.
As venture-funded dotcoms rose, crashed and burned, a quiet revolution has been slowly but surely mounting; one that threatens to turn the music industry on its head.
In a peculiar way, the computer sets the music industry back 300 years.
Consider: Musicians of the past performed songs for royal and religious "patrons" and received support (patronage) in return. It was a direct connection between musician and audience, as small as it was.
Today, with the Net, musicians are capable of galvanizing global audiences, nurturing them through generous communications, and building support models to help them earn a sufficient living.
In other words, the Net allows the patron model to re-emerge only this time, rather than having one exclusive patron, a musician may have thousands. It's a slow-growth strategy but with a pace and quality entirely in the hands of artists and their teams.
"Patrons" subscribe for a reasonable price ($30-40/year?) for access to the artist, first call for all new tracks, and extra values like discounted tickets, fully-packaged recordings, posters and exposure to any other works of the artist.
Musicians and bands like Jonatha Brooks, Scooter Scudieri, Maktub, Christine Lavin and Aimee Mann are all using the digital channel (alongside recordings and performances) to grow and nurture supportive fan bases in this way. Again, slow but sure.
If you're putting out awesome music, then build it and they will come.
The lessons: Accept your new power. See yourself as an entrepreneur - one who creates forms to hold and deliver creative works. Befriend technology and rigorously apply yourself to understanding it. Thow out the "quick fame" idea and commit yourself to long-term career success.
EVERY BUSINESS IS A MUSIC BUSINESS
Every business is becoming a "music business" or, more accurately, an entertainment business.
Management guru Tom Peters claims that "it's barely an exaggeration to say that everyone is getting into the entertainment business." Peters counsels his corporate clients that "the bottom line in commercial life is the sum total of conjured-up dramas created by our customers." The new operative words, says Peters, are myth, fantasy, and illusion.
It's no mere coincidence that other industries try to model the way the entertainment industry is organized. What do the cultural industries - including the recording industry, the arts, television, and radio - do? They commodify, package, and market experiences as opposed to physical products or services.
Their stock and trade is selling short-term access to simulated worlds and altered states of consciousness.
The fact is, they are an ideal organizational model for a global economy that is metamorphosing from commodifying goods and services to commodifying cultural experience itself.
Companies way outside the orbit of the traditional music business are waking up to this all around the planet. As a result, you are no longer beholden to traditional "music industry companies" to achieve music success.
We'd mostly agree that the major record companies served their purpose well: they made recorded music available to us on a fairly vast scale for seventy-plus years, instilling an insatiable appetite for music in the process.
As a result music "sells". Music has accompanied just about every product that's come to market since the thirties. In fact, today some of the most interesting music is heard more readily on tv commercials than on the radio.
Wherever we go we hear music. Why? Because we love it and we want it. We want it when we drive, eat breakfast, shower, work, make love, shop for stuff -- it's the aural landscape of our lives.
We hear music on recordings, at concerts, on tv commercials and at the airport; we listen to music over the phone and in our video games, Walkmen, iPods, Rios and cell phones. The global demand for music is chronic and ever-growing.
We're purchasing music just about everywhere too. 25 years ago you bought records at record stores; today you can get them at record stores, grocery stores, drug stores, book stores, consumer electronic stores, department stores, plant stores, tattoo parlors, bars, gyms, museum shops, thru the mail, over the Internet, at kiosks, at the airport, at MacDonalds, at Starbucks, at Victoria's Secret, thru 800#s, and hundreds of other places-- MUSIC IS EVERYWHERE!
Why?
Because it's a universally loved value and activity, and companies across the board are looking to associate themselves with music and its fans.
The lesson: These trends require a new way of thinking about the "music business" and "industry careers". It's time to stretch our minds and get outside the box of traditional music business models. The "digital common" brings all kinds of non-music businesses into a space where creative partnerships can develop. Non-music partners are fresh and unjaded and excited about associating with musical and entertainment arts as a way of adding value to what they're offering.
We should reflect on where musical skills are used rather than on where music has traditionally been sold. Think of companies you personally resonate with and then focus on those that may have an affinity with the kind of music you produce. Make an alliance and use that alliance to market your music.
Consider Craig Dory and Brian Levine of Dorian Recordings who get their recordings played on all the new hardware at consumer electronics shows. Smart alliances.
Remember, the economic structures of the last century are being torn apart.
The rules are being rewritten. Anything goes in the business world today.
Therein lies your opportunity.
LESS PRECIOUS, MORE VALUABLE
Some fear the devaluing of music simply because of its ubiquity and, to an extent, this may be true. "We are teaching a generation of consumers that plastic costs money and music is free", Albhy Galuten, VP of Interactive Programming at UMG once famously said.
And it's true. By placing the value of the musical content in its pretty package and not in the music itself, by reacting with lawsuits instead of evaluating the validity of their current business models, by focusing their efforts on how to prevent piracy through content protection schemes rather than remove the motive to pirate instead, record companies are indeed teaching a generation of consumers that music is free.
More choice of music should, however, increase consumption and lower price.
The business of music should grow and music can be more integral to one's life with less limitations on how to consume it. Music will get more valuable but less precious (in terms of a "collector mentality") and less expensive. We may need to regard our recordings increasingly as a promotional expense designed to provide access to other arenas for our talents.
SEVEN NAVIGATIONAL CLUES FOR SETTING YOUR SAILS
How can you best position yourself for optimal career development in a transforming industry?
Here are seven ways:
1. Brace yourself for crazy times.
The transitions we're living through aren't ending any time soon. We're in an entirely new game, but we don't quite know yet how to update the rules. Our situation offers tremendous opportunities for individual fulfillment and self-expression. But it also requires that we expend a great deal of energy making what were until recently fairly routine and straightforward decisions.
As the Internet morphs into the Evernet - turning our personal computers, electronic notebooks, PalmPilots, and wristwatches into the equivalent of perpetually open T-1 lines, the institutions that we have come to know will continue to change shape, crumble, or disappear with a ferocity we can only now imagine. More instability and more opportunity, more dislocation and more choice, will be the result.
And so we have a richer environment today, but a far more daunting one as well.
The job picture isn't any better.
Higher. Bigger. More. Not so long ago, that's what getting promoted was all about. The aim was the top. The way to get there was by climbing the ladder, accumulating the badges of power: a bigger title, a bigger office, more people reporting to you. Everybody knew how to win at this game. You got ahead by climbing over the backs of your coworkers. And by kissing the...hand of whoever was in charge.
The game has changed.
Try: down, sideways, and sometimes up. Try: smaller, less.
The career ladder's been hacked to just a few rungs. The new path is full of switchbacks. Plan on zig-zagging in your career. You've got to meander - taking different jobs so you can learn more skills. The size of your office? Who cares?
You're never there anyway!
You need to be an "ambiguity survivor" in these times, that is, you need to have a high tolerance for confusion and may even relish it because you know that it's a close relative of change. You'll need to be able to live within the paradox of past comforts vs. your vision of a more fulfilling future. And you need to know that the greater the spread between the past and future scenarios, the more your creativity will flourish.
If all of this sounds vague, get used to it.
2. Size yourself up.
If you want to create work that suits your individual needs and talents, you must not only be aware of the forces reshaping your world. You must also develop a through knowledge of yourself and an understanding of what you have to offer. Only then can you set about finding the point of intersection between your opportunities and your gifts.
Know our priorities, values, temperament, character, and ambitions. Understand where your blocks lie, what emotional legacies might be holding you back or pushing you forward. Understand what you fear, what makes you feel stuck or overwhelmed.
The well-known motivational theorist, Abraham Maslow, once commented: "If the only tool you have is a hammer, you will see every problem as a nail." Many of us are walking around today with outdated toolboxes. New challenges call for new tools. If we are to re-create our careers and businesses for the twenty-first century, we must release our outdated beliefs about the way the music industry works and replace our time-worn hammers with a radically new tool kit.
Know your strengths but, more importantly, know your weaknesses and blind spots too. Are you a master player but a marketing dunce? Can you blast out a song in five minutes but find it hard to make friends? Playing and writing are crucial skills but in today's business world you'll need to also practice the arts of self-promotion and networking. Find a way to get what you need.
Also, don't sell yourself short! Be sure to make visible those skills that lie under the radar of your memory. Those swim classes you offered at your neighborhood YMCA contain a rich palette of skill colors: student assessment, curriculum development, customized instruction, group facilitation, etc. Don't sell yourself short as you inventory what you can offer.
3. Think "skills security", not "job security".
In many ways, "job security" is gone. We're seeing a shift from corporate loyalty and identification to enlightened self-interest. All across the board there is an increasingly prevalent attitude among workers that, in the face of increased uncertainty and a shifting, constantly re-focusing economy, they have to become "free agents" - highly-skilled "units of one" not necessarily attached to a particular company, loyal to "projects" and individual teams rather than organizations, and always looking out for new opportunities.
Think "skills security".
This comes pretty easy for most musicians who are already wired for flexible works arrangements and are used to wearing several hats at once. In fact, musicians are optimally suited in may ways for the new world of work. Through their diverse activities they've learned to "multi-task", "build coalitions among diverse groups" and use "whole brain thinking". They quite naturally demonstrate that "flexibility of being" so valued in today's quick-changing environment. The key is to have confidence in your skills, continue to develop them, and watch for opportunities that beg for them.
This means:
-Writing your own script rather than waiting for someone to write it for you, being vigilant on your own behalf, identifying and preparing for opportunities, rather than expecting anyone else to guide you along or do reconnaissance.
-Becoming an independent agent, defining yourself in terms and concepts
that are independent of your job title, your organization, or what other people think you should be.
-Changing your mindset from selling to solving.
4. Become a corporation of one.
Telling is the marked increase in the number of actual freelancers, independent contractors, and temps in today's workforce: now roughly 1 out 5 workers falls into one of these categories. Again, pretty familiar territory for most musicians.
Think of yourself as a corporation of one, with a number of different departments, and you as the product:
-Research and development: What are the areas in which you're going to learn and develop? How are you going to keep your skills on the leading edge? Now as ever a lack of information - about a new position, a new company, a different location - is the root of most job seeker anxiety; in the end, I feel, the informed careerist is the happy careerist.
-Production: What services or products are you going to offer? How are they linked to you personally? What processes will you employ to develop them efficiently and effectively?
-Marketing: What key assets do you have to sell? What market niche can you exploit? What opportunities can you take advantage of? Do you have a marketing plan? What is your product worth? Have you developed creative and effective ways of selling your services?
-Promotion and public relations: How are you going to promote your product? What are the stories behind your work? How do you plan on penetrating a dense media culture with these stories? And what "affinity partners" will you link up with to mutually expand your visibility?
5. Be a meaning-giver.
Futurist Paul Saffo talks about the different "scarcities" the world has experienced over the past hundred and fifty years. First there was a scarcity of "conduit" (that is, pipeline). Then electric wires were strung coast to cost and conduit was hyperabundant. Then there was a scarcity of "content", that is, information and programming to fill the conduit. Then content became hyperabundant too until today we're drowning in information.
The new scarcity, according to Saffo, is "context", that is, giving meaning to all this information. The increasing flood of information calls for "filters", "editor" and "portals". The need for context is so strong that Saffo sees a time when people like Opra Winfrey and Peter Jennings will be licensing their "worldviews" to software companies to create products that screen vast amounts of information and present digestible info-bites in an acceptable framework for users!
A clear example of providing context in the hyperabundant field of music is the compilation. Once a mere afterthought of the recording industry, these "variety packs of music" have emerged as a vital force in the market. Have you noticed all those compilations on the counters of lifestyle retailers Pottery Barn, Structure, Williams-Sonoma and others? One man - Rock River Communications' Jeffrey Daniel - usually chooses the music. If mixing tapes is an art, then Daniel is the most popular artist you've never heard of: his branded compilations have sold nearly 5 million copies. Rock River's annual wholesale revenue is about $8 million, on par with a midsize record label.
How might you, in your area of expertise, be a meaning-giver in the world of music? Are you an expert in the use of ProTools or on 70s soul? Is bluegrass your passion or is it music education for kids? Are you highly informed about microphones, roots reggae, or lyric writing? How can you put that to use using channels like the Internet and other digital tools?
6. Own your niche.
The times call for focus. Mass customization and a segmenting marketplace encourage the development of products and services of a "niche" nature. Since few of us have the time, money or energy to mount national marketing campaigns, it is in our best interest to discover and concentrate on a niche that we can explore towards successful enterprise.
Niche is an architectural term referring to a special place that's designed to display or show off an object of some kind, like an ornament, that's placed in a recess of a wall or an arched area of a room.
And that's just what a niche can be for you. Finding your niche will set you off from others who do something similar and draw the best possible attention to you and what you can offer.
Examples of niche marketing abound in the world of music:
* Chris Silvers, a Dallas trumpeter, used to take out every Latin music recording from the Dallas Public Library and play along with them, until he mastered the horn lines. As a result, he became a first-call musician and horn arranger for all latin bands passing through the Dallas-Fort Worth area and beyond.
* Chicago native Joycie Mennihan was always drawn to music's power to heal. She took this interest and turned it into "Sound Health", a company providing workshops, seminars and books about music therapy and its health benefits.
* Lee Jason Kibler (aka DJ Logic) turned an interest in sampling and a love of multiple music styles, into a unique production sound so that his chops are some of the most in-demand from top recording artists.
* Boston's Rosie Cohen, took a love of singer songwriters, a passion for adult literacy, and tireless devotion, and turned it into Big Girl Records' first release, "Can You Read This Boston?," a compilation album of singer-songwriters, with
a portion of the proceeds going to the Boston Adult Literacy Fund.
Choosing a niche will open certain doors to you while closing others. But just as you'll never get to see the world if you can't decide which destination to head for first, so it is with committing to one focus for your career and business marketing.
The doors that will open to you once you fully commit to one endeavor will present new opportunities you may have never imagined.
On the other hand, the 21st century musician should remain flexible and be ready to re-purpose when the time comes.
When asked about what advice he had for young players, pianist Ahmad Jamal once said: "Prepare yourself to have options. Many of the greats were lost because they didn't have options. If there is one exit door when a fire breaks out
chances are you're going to get trampled to death. You can conduct, perform. Teach, arrange, produce, go to an institute of higher learning and get the options, and avoid the exit door".
7. Use the Force
Nothing speaks louder than something creative. No one can define "creative" but we all know it when it's present.
Unfortunately, most of us traffic with societies demanding little in the way of creativity. We can get by, and even be very "successful" with partial participation, re-cycling culture and conversation ad infinitum.
Studies show that a child's creativity plummets at around age 5. What usually begins at that age? Right.
Though the word "education" comes from the Latin "educare' (meaning, "to draw out'), our systems betray a fear of human nature and instead pour in reams of information that a committee somewhere decided we should know.
In the process, the multidimensional child-artist is flattened and "de-programmed". To make room for all this intellectualizing art, music and drama are pushed to the margins of education and are often the first activities pegged
for budget cuts.
Few of us get any training in how to tap our inner creative. The last few centuries were outward-oriented to the extreme and much of the ancient knowledge about human power went underground. As a result, we hear that humans use only 10% of their brains.
There are two responses to this: accept it as the expert opinion, or push on to the other 90%.
Beginning in the 1950s a more inclusive consciousness began to spread, and people experimented more readily with new ways of thinking and acting. These "new ways" were, of course, often old ways rediscovered and renamed. They included a more appreciative attitude about the body, the environment, and different lifestyles.
Another was a "turning inward" and the power of thinking to affect reality. In its most basic form, it says, "you are what you think you are."
Today we all have the chance to compose our own lives. It's a liberating prospect, but also daunting, because it requires a high degree of self-knowledge. If we don't start at the core - if we instead accept reflexive, inherited, or half-thought-out definitions of who we are and what we have to contribute - we run the risk of being overwhelmed by the possibilities that we face.
To break through to those other parts of ourselves that sit submerged beneath our everyday consciousness demands courage.
There is nothing more brave than filtering out the chatter that tells you to be someone you're not. There is nothing more genuine than breaking away from the chorus to learn the sound of your own voice.
In his 1994 inaugural address Nelson Mandela spoke these profound words:
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us."
Well that certainly turns it on its head, doesn't it? The poet Robert Frost similarly observed: "Something we were withholding made us weak, until we found out that it was ourselves."
Tapping into the creative means first understanding the qualities creative people share: keen powers of observation, a restless curiosity, the ability to identify issues others miss, a talent for generating a large number of ideas, persistent questioning of the norm, and a knack for seeing established
structures in new ways.
COMMENCEMENT
The only way to lead in the new world of music is to deconstruct the ruling dogmas of our industry (like, for instance, that records are the best vehicles to convey music and they should remain the chief support pillar of the industry), to generate heretical ideas to challenge that dogma, and then to build strategies around those ideas.
There's a new dynamic in the biz today, one that flies in the face of all received wisdom. It can be said the first phase of the music industry (c. 1935-70) was music-driven, new sounds came up from the streets and clubs, and entrepreneurs responded.
The second phase (c. 1970-1995) was business-driven, lawyers and accountants ascending to decision-making posts and corporate imperatives dictating "hits".
The third phase (1995-now...) seems to be market-driven, consumers themselves are taking control of their music consumption. There, of course, are elements of all three approaches at all times, but one has dominated each era.
Moving forward to individual audience empowerment brings music back into a more purely aesthetic relationship again, which is good for the art itself, and better for artists too. Artists may never recapture the kind of control of their relationship with their audience that they had in the past (except live, in concert), but a genuine aesthetic interplay with their audience is much better than being beholden to the least common denominator of the average of a mass audience's taste.
The current difficult climate serves as a form of reckoning. The tougher the times, the more clarity you gain about the difference between what really matters and what you only pretend to care about.
No one knows where all the cards will fall in this industry-wide shake up, but the good thing about radical change is that, during those times, the little person has a chance to make a big difference. It is the time when big ideas are brought to life, big names are made, and, yes, even big money is made.
The power's in your corner.
Rise.
--
Peter Spellman is director of career development at Berklee College of Music, Boston and the author of The Self-Promoting Musician, The Musician's Internet, and several other career-building books. He can be found at http://www.mbsolutions.com
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....in other words, think with the mind of Bob Dylan.
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I think the author makes a number of good points, although I find his jargon very corporate and scary. There are a few equations and statistics he is missing, however. I find it misleading to paint such a rosy picture of the independent musician and artist control over their careers. There are very, very few unsigned, never had been signed, independent artistics making any money or selling in the numbers that would look like a successful career. In fact, I don't have any personal artist friends who are; they all have some other form of income. I noticed that Mr. Spellman has a full time job as the Director of a department in a very expensive music school...
:) jmho judy
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I completely disagree that dealing with majors is the only way to sell records. I have many friends who have done much better with indies than majors. A big indie will give you a better arrangement than a major nearly ever time. why? because they care about the music more than the units.
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Thanks for touting the article by Peter Spellman concerning career development in a transforming industry. The article contain excellent advice for individuals working in the music business. None the less the major labels became big businesses by doing some things extremely well. While they have not adjusted to the changes in the business recently, don't expect these corporations to go "quietly into the night." When they understand what they are doing that is no longer effective, I believe they will come roaring back. 'tis sad but, I believe, true: corporations with lots of money and a powerful promotional machine can, when working properly, overpower the individual, no matter how intellgent and hard working she/he is.
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I'm constantly trying to sell my friends and clients on the concept of total control of your career.The days of corporate domination are,thanks to the punks and the hip hoppers and god,are over.From our site we offer links to an online art gallery, online stationery distributor, with children's books on the way.Swrecords.net is a multi level, multi faceted independent record company with 100% control of it's music publishing.Which is something the Beatles and Elvis never achieved in their illustrious careers.Our distribution campaign to college radio is only 8 months old.We now have an international client base that's growing daily.Bust your butt doing what you love.Independence and self ownership.Make it your mantra.It works!
Best regards,
DC Pryor
www.swrecords.net
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Total control is hard and some people really don't want
it. It's tough to know that if you fail you have nobody
else to blame it on.
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great reading! very empowering. it makes you feel like success (define "success" as you like) is achievable.
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Simplified: Be yourself and don't be concerned about what others have, want or expect. And you automatically find your niche.
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Pardon me if this comes out sounding wrong: the only people I see sweating the 'changes' in the "music industry" are those greedy corporate ^&*(@!$s who got themselves into this mess in the first place. Only greed makes a new CD list for $19.98. So kids find a way to rip and download - more power to them.
There's a real "buzz" building about "going indie" - I've seen many articles in the trades and music press in the past several months - I take this to mean that the music mega-corporations see their days are numbered. B'bye. Who needs them? Indie musicians have known for years how to survive and thrive without the majors making monkeys out of them. No musicians in my local scene wants to sign to a major - it's just seen a lame career move - more then ever, a "sell-out". This is only news to the majors themselves, who are finding a lack of any real original talent knocking at their doors. Too bad no one at the upper levels of the "music industry" knows squat about music anymore; they're all MBAs who would just as well be selling widgits or cheese or SUVs. The majors are already irrelevent, the only people who are just discovering it are the majors themselves.
Enjoy your indie life - never aspire to be owned!
I wish you all the best in your music careers!
Proud to be one of the other 30,000,
Kent Sparling
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A very interesting and informative article. An inspiring piece of writing touching on many aspects of the music business and providing the necessary tools for self-evaluation and attitude inventory. A must read for any musician who is serious and focused on achieving their goals in music and for that matter, life in general!:)
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I loved it. I've been preaching this to friends of mine, but it's a hard sell at present. I'm in that most introverted of musical forms; "straight - ahead" jazz. But these guys are starting to come around also. I'm looking forward to the maturation of the "new music economy". I'll be in there somewhere!
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Interesting motivational article, good, if not totally original advice. However reading it reminded me a bit of the "Dr. Bronners Magic Soap" label: Good suggestions and relevent strategies, but lacked weighing "chaos theory" and the randomness of the universe...
Lather up anyway... It's a dirty world out there.
Chris Kubie
http://www.ckubie.com
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Great words of advice and encouragement.
To which I would add: try everything you think might assist in the road to progress, but be married to nothing. If something's not helping don't be afraid to jettison the idea and try something new...
ron guensche
bassist
www.abovetheorangetrees.com
cdbaby.com/atot
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I do most of my label courting thru email and I only do that to get our recording costs and CDs for free. After sending out 300 some "promo paks" cause they email me back just giving me an address to send I just tell em I need more incentive than that. Especially when I have most of it online. Now Iam the rejector, cause I can. HA! I actually told the last booker/label whatever that I know thats the way the "game" is played but the game be changin. Wonder what they thought of that.
fod4der
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What a beautifully written, insightful, and ultimately optimistic view. Being an indie artist myself, I do hope that Peter's assessment of this so-called third phase of industry development is accurate in its hopeful predictions of a "patron rich" environment. Possibly, I suppose. One can hope and certainly all the indie artist can do is simply bust his or her butt in trying to make both a living and the production on new music.
I don't buy into the argument that freely burning CDs anywhere and anytime is good for the artist, and neither does, I think, Peter. There are production costs involved in creating a really good collection of music, and be it the indie artist or some fat record company, somehow the costs have to be recouped if any more such collections are to be made. The counter-argument goes something like, "Well, if people are freely copying your music, then more and more people are hearing it, which means much bigger audiences for your shows." This argument ignores what I take to be a trend over the past five decades for people to become more and more "interior" beings: Wedded to cable TV, the Internet (yes, I see those three fingers pointing back at me!), surround sound suburban rumpus rooms . . . why go out to a concert when you can have the music right here and moon about au natural while you listen? When the artist who really cares about making something better than a mere gig souvenir eventually says, "I'm not making enough on either the recordings or performances to justify the money and effort I'm putting out," that artist will go back to the 9-5 job and the world will be poorer. Instead, we'll be awash in cobbled together "music" that will be good for about one spin and then join a growing mountain of dust-gathering plastic.
Enough of my nightmares: I do applaud Peter's optimism and sincerely hope that his brighter vision finds realization in coming years. In the meantime, I'll be in there with the rest of you indie artists trying to nose out those rumored hordes of eager patrons! Does anyone have the address of the Emperor Joseph?
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That was a whole bunch of reading!!but i really could not have put it any "nicer" some people need to read stuff like that..what would you rather be? or an orange?....a jacket cause a vest ain't got sleeves.Oh!Be-have!!
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For anyone that doesnt read the Spellman article, you need to stop what you are doing and read it. Great Stuff that all musicians and entertainers need to read and realize.
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Great article - thanks! We're doing it - now all we need are more zero's on the sales figures - and even that is on the way!
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I agree, It is ironic tho. . . .
The dilemma comes when, after all the ' self
promotion' and ' successfull selling' the
majors are drawn to the sweet recipe of
success!
help!!!!
What to do what to do What to do
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Whatever you do, do it on *your terms*. You've come this far, no? :-)
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Very smart and interested.
My opinion about indie bizness:
I think that if you do indie music and have a little niche, you have to find your fans everywhere in the world.
Why not?internet will help you to expose your music, find contacts and think to play everywhere.
Easy!(especially for you)everbody understand english!
You are exotic, new and often more appreciated when you play outside your country.
Some american friends told me that they have more fans in Europe than in the States, even the first time they play here.
So I think I have to do the same.
Exchanging ideas, plans and contact is free,don't be paranoid, life is done like that"give to receive", just do it!!I have maybe the good plan for you and maybe you too!Think about that!
I use to look for new ideas to do cheap marketing, original things to promote the music.
To express my own différence:
Simply be human, it's really appreciated by all the people who received every days tons of music.
I think that the best promo still the live event:
I want to do a perfect show a possible,
it's free, just work!
Last gig I have done, it was the first time in this town, not a lot of people, but the good ones, so I win three gigs in this town and I will play as a head in a known festival in a large venue, bingo!!!
About press, I always work first with fanzine, because, they are friendly, done by music lovers and buy by music lovers too!and do advertising for free!In France people who write in fanzine, often works for indie radios and sometimes organize events.
To moderate the speech, I'm working 18h by a day and no private life, I would past more time doing new songs.
Be indie is a new job, different than to be only a musician, it's not so easy, and I think it's a good way to find some help.
The praise to be free!
I think also that it's not a good choice to sign in a major compagny:
First, you are a piece of shit and you are not in a good position to discuss a deal.
Second, noone will respect you if you don't have already sold tons of CD.
Three, if you sell 5000 copies for a little label
everybody will be happy, in a major compagny, You will be a loser.
Four, Sell your ass for three or five years and if your music don't work as well, you will stay at home watching TV until the end of the contract.
Six, your guitar sounds is not the fashion, the producer will change it, you don't agree, no way, you are not the boss, here!!
Seven, I've got some experience from my past in a famous french rock band signed on a big record label.
At the end, eventually sign with a major compagny only if you don't need a major compagny.
All the music bizness is based on this, people come to you when you don't need theym!
So,I do the job first!!!
At least, I don't want to imitate INTERNATIONAL BIGGEST STAR MANAGEMENT, it will be a mistake.
I stay as I am, professional, human ,friendly, indie and a little bit......punk!
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Thank you Derek for a much needed view
outside the box........as usual.
James
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The only flaw I see is simply a lack of money at the bottom. If I had the backing, I would never even try for a label. I think he needs to take into consideration that there are genres (the more extreem ones, metal etc...) that it is fairly impossible to find enough fans in your imediate area to build enough capital to grow above just your computer and your region.
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"Lack of money at the bottom" didn't stop me from making my first CD this year.
I went to my niches -- in this case, my Jewish community AND the local bicycle community (I'm a part-time Cantorial Soloist AND a bike mechanic, really!). Told them all what I was doing. Invited them to invest in the project by pre-ordering their CD, plus making a an additional gift if they wished.
Guess what?
I sent out word to over two hundred contacts. I pre-sold thirty CDs and raised an additional 600 dollars in gift money! Also, got someone from a Jewish Federation to donate art and graphics work (valued at how many hundreds of dollars I'll never know and all she wanted was mention and a free CD! And I do not know this woman except by email and a mutual contact.)
When that ran out and I still needed to pay for printing and duplication, I organized some music pals and produced a really fun concert at my shul. Raised another 400 dollars, just enough to complete the project on a Very Small Budget. No, I didn't record in a studio (would've needed even more) but the live recording turned out fine and got my music Out There, which was the goal anyway.
If you think you lack money, see what your community can do to help you along. Make sure they know they're investing in your talent and becoming part of the project by doing so. Lots of non-musical pals simply want to feel like they can be somehow part of what you're doing. Make it work for you; and be sure to give something back along the way (like throwing a party for your pre-buyers to thank them for their support; or playing at rest homes in your community, or whatever else makes sense for you).
I have learned a lot about asking for what I need. Sometimes I actually get it. Cheers.
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Thanks Derek for always keeping us informed about our own "personal power." I've been able to keep on going for years without the help of booking agents, majors, managers, etc. I'm lucky enough to have discovered some marketing strategies to boost my sales and my show schedule. I've also discovered the internet, online companies and publications that offer leads for festivals, venues, etc. and, of course, networking with other bands is a great way to build a fanbase as well!
I had "major management" in 2002 after the release of my 2nd CD "History" and a major record offer as well. It led to a few (and I definitely say a few) shows and opportunities that would've taken me some time to achieve. After only 4 months I realized that my manager wasn't holding up to his end of the bargin(but that's a whole different story all together.) In a nutshell, I was disappointed because he didn't work as hard for me as I did for myself! After our split I started working for myself again and now at 6 months I'm already seeing major changes in my schedule and fanbase (for the better, of course.) I'm a little further along than I was before I met my "manager" not because of him but because of me and my devoted fans and supporters.
This article only confirms what I've always believed, "no one is going to work as hard for you as you can for yourself!"
Peace and good luck to all!
Annie Sidley
PS Feel free to email me at Anniesid@aol.com if you have any questions on some of my resources for festivals, venues, marketing, etc.
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I feel there are a few problems with Peter Spellman's article and here's why.
1. The general CD buying public becomes aware of new artists by listening to commercial radio and commercial radio won't touch artist who aren't signed to labels.
2. The general CD buying public assigns "inherent value" to artists who are marketed via major label marketing ("if there's a 5x10' poster of him up in Virgin Megastore, he must be good...")
3. The Internet is now so flooded with amateurs (hobbyists) that the real indie artists (full- time musicians) can't get through to their audience.
Case in point: I'm a full-time touring indie artist (based out of Boston)with my own label that I run along (with my interns)out of my apartment in Boston. My CD "Somehow" was a college radio hit in 2002--spending 5 weeks in the CMJ Top 200 (peaking at #95). It also debuted at #18 in CMJ's Top 40 AAA (just under Bob Dylan, Sting, and Lyle Lovett.)
Last year I toured 60 dates throughout the U.S., and played over 250 shows in Boston. I have a great website that could compete with major label marketing.
You'd think I'd be selling CDs like crazy over the internet right? Wrong. Even with all that I've accomplised, I'm not selling CDs via the internet. I'm selling them at shows, but that is limited (especially on college campuses where stealing music is now the norm.)
People normally don't buy CD's over the internet... not yet. Most go to brick-and-morter stores. The ones that do buy CDs via the internet are buying major label releases. Why? Because there is an unspoken idea that the general public has in the back of their mind that an artist who is "signed" is better than one who isn't.
Most people have to first hear the music, in order to like the music, in order to buy the music. The problem is how do you get people to hear the music when commerical radio is dominated by major labels? Yes, the Internet provides an opportunity for people to hear it, but what will draw people to that Internet site to hear it (especially when the world is filled with ".com"s?
If anyone has a suggestion of how I can reach people, I'm completely open to hear them!
Thanks for reading this.
Rob Gonzalez
www.robgonzalez.com
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| by
on Thursday February 20 2003 @ 12:39AM PST [ reply | parent ] |
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Rob,
Sure its tough to compete with major label promotion.. but its becoming increasingly possible. Your success so far tells of your drive, and ability to achieve. Don't let your own mind set you back now!
While the majors brood over what to do next, step in and use your inborn charisma and first-hand knowledge of your niche, to get your stuff on commercial radio. After all, they too are driven by the $$ bottom line. If your music will bring them listenership, they will play it.
(incidentally, *ratings aside, I know no-one who listens to a station for more than 10 minutes at a time.. and that's if a 'great song' happened to be playing while they flipped through the stations)
Consumers just don't have to 'put up' with being forced to listen to what corporations *think they should listen to. Its easy to see why p2p has become so popular. After all, why pay 19.98 for a CD, when you can get the one song that's great for free? Its not that people have stopped buying CD's or going to shows, its that they have become more choosy on what to spend their $$ on. Many people I know will download several songs from an artist, THEN go out and buy the CD or go to a show, if they like a lot of the material from that artist!
You put yourself to task and achieved 'success' before. Put yourself to task again! :-)
Cheers,
`C'
Pisidia.com
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I know very few people who actually listen to the radio... most people I know listen to indie radio or internet radio anyway because they're sick of not being able to choose the music they want to listen to.
Downloading music is more about freedom of choice than freedom from paying money, although some college kids might take it otherwise. (But with the rising costs and debts of college I don't blame them! lol.)
I'm only starting, but I've sold a few CDs to people I meet while busking on the street or in my communities, both offline and online. I really think that's the way to go.
It really is about selling by touching people's lives. Then they know you and want to support your music to support you. It's about enabling creativity and letting other people be a part of your success, now. It's not about getting paid money for the music you create. It's about fans supporting you to create more music and more great memories and experiences with you.
This article is a little too rosy, it's not THAT easy to build a supportive following that's willing to sponsor you in your life so they can get more music, but the trends are definitely there and it's up to us to ride the wave (or wavelets!) as best we can.
Serpent Goddess of Between the Worlds - first CD coming VERY soon at CD Baby!
http://worlds.serpentgoddess.org
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Rob,
Your points are all very well taken, organized, and ring of truth. But just a note
- artists have always made the majority of their profit from live performance. Most of the ones on major labels don't make a dime, anyway - unless they've hit gold time and time again.
- the exciting part of what you are saying is that it is true - but these are the things that are changing, and that's the exciting part. There is now a whole force of people - artists and business people - coming together searching for ways for the indies to be more successful than the majors. The general public is beginning to understand what we have known forever - that they are being manipulated. The changes over the last five years alone are amazing (thank you CD Baby for being one of those major forces of change!). I don't believe these changes will stop until we see a complete reconstruction of the industry, one that benefits consumer and artist.
Hang in there. I was making a living in this industry before the digital age, when being an artist meant accepting a lifetime of being broke - and I have spent many years living on a teaching income - as have many of the musicians even centuries before us. To date, I still live day to day - but wake up often at 4 in the morning or stay up til four in the morning because I can't wait to get to the piano, and once I'm there I just can't leave it! Peace, Rhonda
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Hey Rob,
Just think of how many people are reading your feedback right now and probably checking out your website. I've never even heard of you before, but just because you gave some feedback, I sat up and took notice and said, "Hmm, let's just go check out this guy's website and see what he is all about!" Actually, that is the same principle I have applied to over 100 other Internet artists, BEFORE hearing a single sound they have made. Probably not the NORM, but I would rather KNOW the artist as an individual, than just hearing what they sound like from afar. Hence, that is why I am sending this e-mail to you. But, not just you, but all the other artists who are replying to the posted article. I'll probably be checking out your websites as well, and remember, I haven't even HEARD your music yet!
Ross Kendall sends.
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Check out my site, too!
Carolyn Owen
www.cdbaby.com/carolynowen
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First suggestion, if you want people to hear
you music, make it accessible. I went to hear
your tunes and couldn't get anything to play
from the "awarestore" or whatever you call it. I
clicked on the hyperlinked song title and a
window popped up with a "Listen" button that
does nothing. I'm on a Macintosh, which may
be the problem -- but it should be accessible
to everyone.
Mark
-------
Listen to my tunes at:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/markwallac
e_music.htm
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/329/mark_walla
ce.html
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the veil has been lifted
and the freedom gushes everywhere
oh yeah,
USER
www.user.us
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Well, if you have achieved all of this success with charts then maybe it's time to flood distributors, stores, the critical press/magazines, and indie radio crowd with your records! I think your defeatist stance only reinforces your view that *we* cannot suceed without corporate radio play and major label support.
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I was a 24/7 professional musician until 1986 when I dropped out, and rejoined the loving world of amateur musicians. in the 70s and 80s, the venues that paid any money were all smokey and alcoholic. The indie market wasn't easy (though my friend, Katie Lee, pioneered that market in the mid 70s w/ Katydid label). In the last few years, technology has made high quality independence very possible on a relatively small budget and venues/environments for folk/jazz/alternative/eclectic/americana/etc., are more diverse and healthy. Seeing that I can be true to myself and spread my music globablly, I have dropped back in with great enthusiasm. this is a very exciting time.
One thing the Spellman article misses, however, is that, in this third phase, the indie phase, the "consumer" is not only the music listener. The "consumer" is also very much the music producer (artist, writer, performer, producer, etc.) - there are a million "affordable" gadgets available for consumer level music production. This includes the hardware, software and all the educational materials, as well as the conferences and myriad services attendant to the artist. One need only attend the folk alliance to glimpse the enormous industry that has grown to service the indie musical artist. It is a very expensive endeavor for the indie. This is a very new phase/twist in the paradigm. ON the other hand, while it is expensive for the indie artist, there are also great enabling services like CDbaby, which, for a nominal fee, make my music available for worldwide distribution. this was unthinkable in days gone by.
Kathleen Williamson
www.cdbaby.com/kwilliamson
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It was great to read Peter's latest write up! I am grateful to Peter, having used his music biz services in the past as a sound board for my own Indie career. After being tempted by a potential Major label offer last year, He advised me to go with my gut instincts, which were to keep on as an Indie in my niche market but to do it smarter, better, and with full passion. I took it to heart and can attest to the results...My sales, concert schedule and daily work pace are full throttle! Check it out, www.annamoo.com along with CDBABY.com/moo are going strong! The Major Labels need a colonic - no question about it. Go CDBABY!
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this could have been said, the salient points of the
article , in a much shorter presentation. I do think the
author was getting into "tony robbins" motivational bs.
territory, where we are all going to be these little
successful capitalists, if only we can find and remedy
our character flaws that dont intersect with the
juggernaut of a merciless , darwinian structure. there
were some practical observations and ideas, but, really
, give me a break, with the other vague verbiage. it
turned into a laurie anderson piece, ( and that is much
more entertaining, at least.)
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I agree totally with the comments of Rob Gonzalez. He hits all the major points, save one. The "missing link" for indie musicians is a credit card. From the article: "We're purchasing music just about everywhere...today you can get them at record stores, grocery stores, drug stores, book stores, consumer electronic
stores, department stores, plant stores, tattoo parlors, bars, gyms, museum shops, thru the mail,...at kiosks, at the airport, at MacDonalds, at Starbucks," The current generation are the ones that buy the most music CDs, and they don't carry palstic. This is why only 4% of CDs are sold online! Little Jhonny or Suzie can take their weekly allowance, baby sitting money, odd or part time job pay, and go into any of the stores mentioned and buy a CD with cash in hand. There will be no real indie explosion until we all figure out a way to have this lean more in our favor.
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The way I see it, record companies will become obsolete. The way the consumer would evolve to is that they will collect sound files of various songs that they like, and those that are really into the band of those songs will end up buying their album. The album itself will end up becoming more of a collector's item rather than product.
As for making money, as a musician, if you're making enough money off of your music to live off of, you're doing very good! Making just good music no longer matters how much money is made anymore, promotion plays a major part. The rest of us are stuck working day jobs.
I wish I could devote more time to thinking about the promotion of my upcoming album(s) "Death Eternal" and "This Asylum Earth", but with a war to fight, I'm spending what little free time I have on just writing and recording/mixing the music.
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A lot of young people in the US have debit cards that work like credit cards, just taking the money directly from their chequing accounts. When that expands internationally (put pressure on Visa and Mastercard and your local banks!) we'll see a lot more teens buying online with their own money.
I actually tried to get such a card but was told it wasn't available in Canada yet (Visa) and wasn't able to find a local bank that supported it even though it was supposed to be available here (Mastercard).
Once that is in place it will be a little easier.
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Thanks for the article it was very informative. It had some very interesting comments regarding the current state of the industry. Good motivational tool for the serious artist/business person trying to make a career out of the chaotic world of music.
"In my opinion if you REALLY want make money in todays game learn how to program your own e-commerce website."
Holla,
L. HOOD
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I read the article at the right time. I've been feeling completely overwhelmed and uncertain about my own career and this helped me sort things out in my head and gain some hope. I loved the futurist's quote about the need for context. I'm gonna try to go create some context now.
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Maybe I should write an e-book on how to promote and distribute music with little or no money. I could sell it through my future website (musicdistribution.com?), independent bookstores and other music related sites online. Eventually, I could set myself up as an expert because of all the books I've sold, then I could charge a membership fee to learn 'hidden secrets' of the music industry... Nah!
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Thanks to Peter, Derek AND the discussion… here goes the rant.
I enjoyed and agreed with this statement the most:
“The new scarcity, according to Saffo, is "context", that is, giving meaning to all this information.” Can we add this - ‘Information’ created/disseminated with no meaning (except for the subversive soul-empty intent to grab your dollars) need not be organized… it can/should be discarded. All else is already gold. My hat’s off to the gold makers.
Unfortunately, popular music (that gets played) has take a nose dive in the ‘meaning and depth’ department over the past 30 years… more about that later… don’t blame the artists. They’ve been responding to the constricted obstructed corporately owned racket we call the Music Biz.
As far as “Opra Winfrey and Peter Jennings will be licensing their ‘worldviews’” goes, let’s hope we can skip this phase of our development. The very Internet that makes possible our ‘transformation’ (I chose not to say ‘inspires our transformation’) need not be used in this archaic “top down” manner. Many have paid dearly during the past couple of years to prove that, in fact, the internet doesn’t work from the top down very well at all. (mostly because there is no “Top”… duh! My web page will load for you just as fast as CNN’s - almost). And wouldn’t the well organized thoughts of thousands of bright people help you form your worldview better than paying for Peter Jennings’ thoughts.
How to do it? I don’t know. Let’s figure it out. But the website you’re now viewing is built and hosted on open-source software, software being built and improved upon right now by thousands of brilliant people at once. The licensing structure is a completely new model. The top-down model is over already. The Microsoft model can’t/won’t win this game without government intervention (law) to un-level the playing field. THIS collectivism is what’s revolutionary about the Internet… group effort at an accelerated pace. Science research is ahead of the curve taking advantage of this. Al Qaeda too, unfortunately. The tools have no motive. The people do. It’s STILL about meaning.
So what’s our (musicians) plan to build something meaningful with these new tools? I agree that “Artists may never recapture the kind of control of their relationship with their audience that they had in the past (except live, in concert).” I’m all for it. It’s like the stock market… this is just a “correction”. Maybe it’s a sign that we’re supposed to try something totally different like getting people to sing and play WITH us, instead of being “the show”.
At the total opposite end of the idea spectrum was Moses Avalon at the recent NM2C music conference in Nashville, touting ‘more product placement in videos’ as a great partial solution for the teetering industry (and us musicians). And maybe Sting’s Brand New Day Grammy should have been accepted by the marketing people from Jaguar. And maybe the Bush Administration will edit one line, out of context, from the greatest protest song of all time to use as a TV ad for military recruiting. It will probably be Vivendi, after all, granting the license. I’m sure George W. knows somebody who can make the call. Maybe give each new recruit a case of Seagrams for signing up. Moses also had some crazy idea that loyalty (cultivated by Film industry’s better (better than the music biz) behavior) was a big factor in why movies weren’t being ripped as much as music. This is hogwash. Movies are simply harder to steal.
This brings me to my only disagreement with Peter. “Choosing to go indie is exploding across all industries”. I believe it’s exactly the opposite. Entrepreneurship is alive and, yeah, everyone’s trying to apply new technologies to making a buck but MOST industries are NOT going ‘indie’. Outside of the mentioned book and film publishing, exactly the opposite is true. Try starting your own steakhouse between ‘Logan’s and Ruth’s Chris’ or getting retail shelf space for your new, better tasting, healthier and less expensive candy bar next to a Nestles Crunch. The “1. the mainstream pop/rock business” is selling music like Nestles Crunch. Always have, always will.
But we are the third world… “3. the indie, genre music scenes”. And why are we the third world? Because we have the promise of digital radio paying off someday down the line (but we can’t afford to listen to it ourselves) while #1 owns controls all delivery NOW – Vivendi, Viacom, Clear Channel, etc. There are GREEDY PEOPLE controlling that pipeline… the same people who bought up most of the promoters in the US a few years back, went public, tied them up with a bow and re-sold them to make a hefty profit. Now it costs $100 to see a show. These same people to whom the FCC (Michael Powell – guess who his Daddy is) is now planning to divide and SELL (not lease) OUR airwaves. Read: http://www.citypaper.com/2001-08-01/feature.html
So as the headlines read “Consumers are taking control of their music consumption”, can we imagine if they read “People are taking control of their own creation”? But they don’t… yet. And because record companies/radio have asked us for such crap for so long it will take us a while to use our new tools to create something beautiful rather than SELL something mediocre. And because consumers have been fed the same fodder for so long, it will likely take them a while to find these better choices.
Meanwhile the visual media (more hypnotically powerful and still controlled by big Bro) feeds the same fear-based diet in an attempt to keep the audience dumb… and PAYING. Will we be distracted into fighting the wrong battles (or no battles)? Will we be concentration on getting 50 instead of 25 people to our show to wake up and find digital/internet radio is controlled by Viacom or Microsoft’s lobbyists are pushing for a law that will allow them to own Linux?
Let the revolution begin but before run away with ‘HOW’ I’d like to hear a lot more about ‘WHY’? What meaning will you offer to the smorgasbord?
If you have time to even think ‘career development’ rather than ‘next paycheck’, you are the elite of the world. Nobless Oblige… don’t waste this opportunity.
Thank you Peter… teaching is next to Godliness.
Tom Acousti
Tom@TomAcousti.com
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So so. A bit long winded! But what of the Non Performing Songwriter? Without access to the right performers or top marketing and promotion his work could be left in a drawer!!
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I think there are a lot of good points made in the article -- but its still a hard slog whichever route you take.
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on Thursday February 20 2003 @ 07:07AM PST [ reply | parent ] |
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It truly sums up our present condition not only for the Musician Business, but for the world economy.
His delineation of the history of the music business coincides with changes in our culture as a whole: when the business was "music-driven", the U.S was an industrialized, market economy. During 1970-1995 when the music industry was "business-driven", our culture started the change to an information based, consumer culture.
And for the future? With complete commodification of experience addressing the desires and fears of an individual's dream world, perhaps the primeTime sublime?
____________________
______________________
New? Music
that doesn't fit
anywhere
........................................................................................
href="http://www.primetimesublime.com">www.primetimesublime.com
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I have to say that the article was informative, but as an independently labeled artist, there wasn't much in it I didn't already know.
The statistics were very encouraging, because there was mention than so many sold less than a thousand copies, and mine sold over 2,000 in it's first year.
When I set out on my excursion to create my own music, I self-produced it, marketed it, and began my own record label in order to distribute it.
Of course, this was the most difficult option because the respobsility for failure or success rested solely on my own capabilities.
I learned alot from trial and error, but even more through market research. I think if anyone is going to go Indie, they should be prepared to work their fanny off, and be able to accept that the first venture is going to suck out all their money, to very little success, and you don't generally see a profit until like about the third or fourth CD, after you've built an audience for your "Niche".
The cool thing, is that now anyone can find a level of success if they have good music to offer. It's no longer neccessary to go to bigger levels to make a living at this. Until you reach a certain level, you can pretty much do this on your own.
I am only just now beginning to seek representation, and it's mainly because I am just plain tired. Five years of "Do-It-Yourself" stardom is difficult, costly, and time consuming. From a desperate need to sleep once in a while, I've cast in the towel.
All the same, I wouldn't change my course of action for anything in the world. I love the fans I have, and I spend a great deal of time nursing new comers to some level of success through my newsletters, free artwork, and web services.
I have enjoyed this article very much, and I hope it reaches all the right people. You can check out one of my articles at:
http://www.musiccareers.net/article.php?id=237
This article just basically shares how I came this far.
Thanks for reading, and good luck to all of you!
Your friend in music,
Sonata Jones
http://www.MP3.com/ModernRelic
http://www.softsonata.com-us.com
http://sonatajones.wmnsnetbiz.com
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I don't see how any of this is relevant. He sounds like Tony Robbins or one of these other self-promoting millionaire seminar-gurus. What's next, quoting Yasser Arafat???
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It's a comfort, for us unsigned.
But I would prefer to be signed though.
It's hard to stand alone.
Sincerely
Dag
www.dagking.com
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Isn't that like saying it's better to be in a miserable marriage than no marriage at all?
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Bravo Peter!
Derek Sivers sent me an email suggesting I read this article. I was not sure what to expect. I laughed ... I cried ... this is a masterful piece of writing. Peter Spellman has basically condensed a whole book of knowledge into fifteen some pages of text. I was forced by one manager to read the author of Minute Manager and suggested to read Who Moved the Cheese. Peter approaches the same problem of change in our society without insulting us and without kissing up to upper management, which is in my opinion why the latter's books were so popular with management. My comments on 'Cheese' and 'Minute Idiot' below. Bravo Peter on having such a visceral handle on our changing culture, society and marketplace. I will definitely be in touch to buy your books!
Now for the review comparison of "Minute Manager" and "Who Moved the Cheese", as I sent my comments to a former colleague who prescribed at least to the cheese philosophy ... by the way after this review he is no longer talking to me.
Enjoy .....
"I sort of wonder the intent as I had been used to someone moving and/or cutting the cheese in past careers and look not only as the cheese moved within one maze but also thinking outside the box to cheese in other mazes, cheeses jumping over mazes, malicious cheeses, if you know what I mean. Of course some of the last few mazes had me running for nine years in one, two in another and over five in the last. The mice never survived in my first maze as I got hungry and devoured them with the cheese and then moved on to another maze .... good with a fine wine, like a Merlot.
Clever book by the same author of "Minute Manager", who my boss at one of the first mazes suggested I read ... did not agree with the concept as I perceived this boss in the "Minute Manager" to be lazy and arrogant and had no time for his people. I lost respect for the Minute Manager within the first page into the book."
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HTTP://MEGAXBRAND.COM (WEBSIGHT AS ART)
REGARDING NELSON MANDELA AND MR. FROST...MUSICALLY CAN BE EXPRESSED "...HEY JUDE, THE MOVEMENT YOU NEED IS ON YER SHOULDERS..."
PEACE OUT.
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Wonderful article, and a great tool for explaining to people the salient points of this revolution. check out my publishing company...
www.melodianpro.com
www.cdbaby.com/paradaem
be well,
MPL
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HATS OFF TO PETER AND DEREK. THE ARTICLE WAS GREAT. INFORMATIVE AND WELL WRITTEN AND THOUGHT OUT. REMINDS ME OF THE BOOK 'THE THIRD WAVE' WHICH GAVE AN EXCELLANT VIEW ON INDUSTRY AND THE WAVES OF INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE. WHILE READING THE ARTICLE, I REMEMBERED TLC, THE THREE VERY GIFTED SISTERS WHOM HAD SEVERAL GREAT HITS, TONS OF VIDEOS AND PACKED OUT AUDIENCES BUT WERE BROKE, AND OWNED THE IRS MONEY AND HAD TO GO CHAPTER 13 AND START ALL OVER. WE LEARNED HOW THE RECORD INDUSTRY SPENDS TONS OF MONEY TO PROMOTE AND DO ALL THE PR WORK AND MARKETING CREATING AND PUSHING THE HITS, HOWEVER, THEY ALSO DEDUCT ALL THEIR EXPENSES FROM THE ARTISTS LEAVING THEM A BALANCE THAT DOES NOT MATCH THE MILLIONS SOLD.
THERE ARE SUCCESS STORIES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE FENCE, AND THE INDIE MARKET IS RIGHT NOW GOING THROUGH A TRANSFORMATION AND TRANSLATION CHANGES.
THOSE THAT ENDURED TIL THE END WILL BE SAVED. MEANING, YOU MUST USE EVERY TOOL, AND BE STEADFAST IN YOUR VISION AND MISSION. EVERYBODY HAS A NICHE, THAT THEY MUST SEARCH AND PENETRATE AND STAY FOCUS. THE BOTTOM LINE IS, HARD WORK WILL PAY OFF... WHEN? IS THE QUESTION... PRESENTLY I HAVE 11 CDS ON CDBABY.COM IN VARIOUS STYLES, TWO LANGUAGES, VARIOUS GENRE'S, AND COMPILATIONS FROM MANY OF MY LONG TIME FRIENDS.AUTHOR/SPEAKER DR BARRY JAMES LALONDE 'MAXIOMS OF THE MILLENNIUM' IS A SERIES OF CDS TO BE RELEASED IN 2003. MY VISION, MY MISSION, MY COMMISSION IS TO RELEASE 10 MORE CD'S WITH ALL SORTS OF SOUNDS AND STYLES IN TWO LANGUAGES PROVIDING A QUALITY WELL WRITTEN, ENCOURAGING PRODUCT WITH GREAT MUSICAL BEATS AND DIFFERENT SOURCES OF SOUND. I AM DETERMINED TO MAKE THIS WORK NOT FOR THE MONEY BUT FOR THE MINISTRY.
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A FANTASTIC article! That sums up the situation PERFECTLY! Musicians are the true FREE AGENTS!
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I loved the article!! You are 100% on the money.
The people who want to be sucessful should listen up. They should also have their own unique business plan for success. Niches work! However, you need a creative/artistic mind and a smart business head to make it in this business. Thanks for the advice. It only inspired me more in my career. Cherylyn Hynes - Vice President
Controversial Records
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I must tell you, I've been in the Martial Arts for a few years now and it's a very introspecitive, philosophical form of self-help - as well as the physical. Peter's article is "self-help for musicians and musical artists". I'm amazed at the the simplicity behind the analysis. It's all so obvious yet it's difficult to veer our focus from the here and now, look past all the "blur and fuzz" and see the BIG PICTURE! Thank you for the perspective! A little reminder that I, among many, am on the right path by putting more into my artistic vision than postage on press packages that will surely end up at the bottom of an expensive barrel. Being Me!
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Finally! An article that proves that I'm not so crazy after all.
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Right on! Sing it from the rooftops and bring the bloodless bastards to their knees!
www.zerojack.com
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I am bored. If you want to make money, go and get a job in the local slophouse. Don't bore me with this corporate suck-up shit on an indie music board. Is everyone's idea of 'success' being on MTV, doing interviews and getting corporately screwed up the back passage? You want to be famous? Tell everyone that you are going to jump off a skyscraper and land in a glass of water. Make flyers and really go for it. Really do it. Nobody wants to buy records form a major anymore because none of the 'artists' can play a tune. The albums don't recoup. Without the video airtime, the 'pop' music just won't hold up simply by listening.
If you want to sell 100K records and enter the charts at #1, BUY THE RECORDS YOURSELF!!! They do.
Sincerely,
Dave in the garden.
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Thanks Derek at CDbaby for directing me to
this article. It is rejuvenating to, from time to
time, read an article that pumps you up and
keeps you going in what it is you love doing.
I've played in bands all of my life and now
have settled in to writing / producing my own
material as well as local artists at my studio.
Just recently signed with a record company in
Sweden , which distributes throughout
Europe. I think the main thing to keep in mind
is that , if this is what you "do" , and would still
be doing it , regardless of $$$$$ , than what's
the sense of urgency..............Enjoy yourself,
and keep making your music.........It's "your"
Baby not "theirs".
Jeff Cannata
www.arcangel-cannata.com
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Wow!!! A lot of thought went into this article. It was definitely worth taking the time to read. The music business is certainly a tough one. But, like anything else, if you work your butt off and support your product, you will succeed.
My view is: "When you're a 'nobody', you have to work from the bottom up". I know bands who want money for EVERYTHING. It just doesn't work that way. When I released my first CD, I was appreciative of the attention. Do whatever it takes to get your music heard. It's not all about money.
The article was very informative. Thank you, Derek!
-Rick Adams
http://www.spearheadentertainment.com/
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The magic of believing in the power of visualization and creating your own destiny...tapping into that 90% brainpower...
I'm so inspired!
I just got a publishing deal in Nashville and am working with a publisher that may want to sign me as an artist!
I also play at the Syracuse Blues Festival, and R&B Festival with a kick-butt blues band, selling lots of cds! People say there's a buzz around town about me!
I record and produce myself at home, do all graphics, duplicate, everything... I got tired of waiting to be discovered, so I discovered myself!
Please check out my site and tell me what'cha think!!!
Carolyn Owen
www.cdbaby.com/carolynowen
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Hello all,
I just read Peter's excellent article, and every entry up to this point -- very interesting. It was a great collection of ideas, insights, and various attitudes. The sheer volume of posts was remarkable.
Whatever the future actually holds, you can be sure that our beliefs of today have the power to lead or mislead us. It is important that we don't let today’s situation misguide our futures. For example the comment about Anthony Robbins and “motivational BS.”
The fact is, that Anthony Robbins "motivational BS" isn't just for capitalists... it's good for this indie. I never throw the baby out with the bath water. After 20 years of trying, I quit biting my nails in 15 minutes after using one of his techniques. This indie needs every advantage he can get – no matter the source.
My dad worked on Guidance and Navigation during the Apollo program -- he helped to safely put the man on the moon. He always told me, “it doesn’t take courage to be a cynic.” Nuff said.
As an indie artist and mechanical engineer, I work to keep my mind open to technology, to writing my best music, to reaching people the best way I know how, and simply let the chips fall where they may. Wherever that place is, profitable or not, will be a place I can live in. I wish the same for you.
I hope all of you find your best place of contribution and success. Distraction is the greatest threat to success… it is important to that we focus on what’s important, and put the rest of it in “time out.”
CDBABY and other Indie support systems should be highly commended for their efforts to forge out new tools for our mutual success!
All’s well that plays well,
Dan Keenan
Indie Artist from the Space Coast
www.dankeenan.com
www.cdbaby.com/dankeenan
P.S. “D-minor. It’s the saddest of all keys.” From Spinal Tap – rent it, laugh out loud, and appreciate life as an Indie…
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So.....I read the article. Hmmm...well...I'm 24, female, and I’ve been singing/songwriting my whole life.
I couldn't agree more about public education. It tries to suck the heart and soul out of everyone. I quit school at the age of 16 and looking back on it now, this was probably one of the best decisions I ever made. I went on to rediscover my love for learning and creativity by teaching myself. I am an avid reader and now posses a myriad of skills.
I can still hear my fathers advice when I become frustrated at the world. "Stephanie, I want you to take a large black marker and write LIFE IS NOT FAIR across you ceiling. My dad is one of those people that can lose everything and just take a deep breath, look for a new direction, take it and come out on top, so I try very hard to take his wisdom for my own. I wonder where I ever got the notion that life was fair in the first place.
I have always thought Indie or yourself was the best way to go. My experiences have made me a bit less optimistic about the future of the music biz and a lot more self motivated. I have started 6 bands, but the band I am in right now is showing the most promise. We are doing very well for the 8 months we have been together. We have had 2 label offers and were smart enough to se a shark for a shark. Man...you can't trust some people huh?
What makes this band so cool for me is that we each have unique skills above and beyond musical ability we can offer the band. Paul, the bass player, found he had a talent for recording and mixing music. Now we have a studio in our house and produce our own music. Chrissy, the guitarist, has a good eye for design and talent at web designing. Our website is created and managed by her, as well as, our fan mail and mailing lists. I have a way of getting what I want from people and am very organized. I do the booking and promoting for the band. Ryan, the drummer, is a good dose of comic relief and can put up a few dollars for the band when were runnin low.
I have a few questions that I would love to hear you responses to.
1. Popular Science just released an article that tells of XM radio becoming standard in just a few years. What is that going to do?? Good and bad. MTV and VH1 radio stations?? Opportunities for more creative stations?? Or is it going to be like cable. 200 channels of crap with even more commercials.?
2. I would like to create a word for my own genre of music...If you have a sec, check out my web site www.enjoyklik.com and help me think of a name for the style of music it is. Someone has to think up the silly names right?? grunge-hip hop-metal-alternative etc. So any feedback would be greatly appreciated and put to good use.
Thanks
Stephanie
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Derek,
Yeah, kind of. I take it more as "I just want to be married no matter what the cost."
Dag,
I know it seems like a comfort, and I used to think the same thing. But once you've been there, you have a completely different perspective. It's like having a brand-spankin' new girlfriend. Example: "Dude! I just got signed! Life is wonderful!!!!" <---It's always going to be great at the beginning!
Remember, about 2% of the artists on a labels roster actually make the label any money. So if the label signs you at the same time they sign 9 other bands, and a couple of the other bands are making more money for the label than you are, you're left in the dust.
Let me give you real-life example: I was fortunate enough to be in the band that got focused on at the labels. My first CD w/the band (they recorded 8 others before I was a member including one that won a Grammy) was nominated for a Grammy, and along with the the 2nd and 3rd CD they sold about 100,000 copies combined.
That was '92-'95. Currently, the first 2 CDs are shelved (meaning, they are unavailable for sale.) And as an artist, God, that hurts! All that work, and I can't even convince the label to let me LICENSE the damn CDs to sell here or anywhere else! They'd rather sit on them and do nothing (typical label mentality).
And remember, I'm one of the lucky ones because these albums were actually, recorded AND released. I have about 10 friends that have been signed to major labels over the past 15 years. Only a couple of them are making a living at music. The others are managing restaurants, plumbers, working in an electronics store, working as a nurse in a hospital, computer programmer, etc. Ages range from 30s to 50s.
They all put their career in the hands of the label and lost.
Getting "signed" can be great thing. It was for me. But I'm much happier now. I own my own music. I'm making the same amount of money selling 10,000 CDs myself compared to a label selling 50,000. Actually, I'm probably making more.
I've been living what Peter is saying in his article. Basically, be your own boss, figure out what works for you and focus on that - but be flexible, cuz it will probably change. Learn as much as you can take in without compromising your art.
There's no destination. The whole damn thing is a ride, and right now there's only a little bit of visibility. Good luck!
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Damn! I was trying to reply to Derek and Dag King's post on 2/20.
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The highest value of Peter's excellent article, to me, was in the scores of captivating reader's comments. Fine reading, and I discovered Annie Sidley to boot!
I'm an indie guy, too. wwww.sologuitar.com. My CD's of solo guitar music sell (sort of) at Amazon, via my web site, and mostly at shows. The fact that few released CD's sell more than a 1,000 units (a well known statistic in the biz) was the very one that prompted me to give it a try. I reasoned that I could sell a thousand CD's even if I had to work the streets to do it. I have since sold a few thousand over several years and released seven titles of solo guitar music.
Along the way I wrote a book about performing (ex-corporate TV producer) "The Art of the Solo Performer" that now far outsells my CD's with just on-line distribution. This lends credence to the idea that success in music is more likely if base your business on telling others how to succeed in music.
What we want is often not what we get. But if we stay in the game we usually get more than we expected. Especially if we have nmodest expectations.
Rock on!
Steve Rapson
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Given that "Of the 35,000 albums released last year by the recording industry, less than 5000 sold over 1000 units" -- meaning 1 out of every 7 released that are "known" or tracked, what I would like to know is more detail. Of those 5000, how many sold between 1000 and 5000 units, between 5000 and 15,000, between 15,000 and 50,000 units, and over 50,000 units.
Actually, since the 5000/35,000 ratio is a convenient 1/7 figure, I'm wondering if we can have stats for breakpoints for each 5000 upward (or for those tied to decimal thinking, where are the breakpoints ofr every 10% across the board for sales?
My guess is we'll see some spikes in the curve if we look at graphs of how many albums sold how many thousands in increments of thousands. Ok, we have ca 5000 that sold less than 1000 units (within in the year) so how many sold between 1000 and 2000? Sold between 49,000 and 50,000.
I also have to consider the question about how month of release affects total sales in the calendar year (2002); will a release in October overtly sell less units "last year" than a CD released in January? (Would sales numbers in the 12 months after release be more accurate yardstick? Say, October 2002 through September 2003?) What about sales in a second or third year, as would be more likely the scenario with a "classical" or "world" album than a "pop" album? (Or not?)
I like the article, now I want to dig a lot more into the subject if the relevant stats are available. Anyone got a good lead on those?
(Are these 5000/35,000 figures "US only" numbers or worldwide numbers?)
--Mark Gresham
Lux Nova Press
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An unfortunate typo in my response should have said:
"Ok, we have ca 5000 that sold more than 1000 units (within in the year)" instead of "less" --sorry. :) But you know what I meant to say.
--Mark Gresham
Lux Nova Press
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Hugh Prestwood
hprestw@optonline.net
A Response to "The Future of Music Careers: Quantum Career Development in a Transforming Industry", by Peter Spellman
Peter Spellman's "The Future of Music Careers" seems to be founded on several assumptions I question:
(1) that nothing can or should be done to stop file-sharing
(2) that the corporate music business is inherently bad for artists who would be better off with direct access to global audiences
(3) that making a "sufficient income" as Mr. Spellman puts it -- is a reasonable goal for someone desiring a career in music.
I thought perhaps the best way to respond to the optimistic (and very vague) picture Mr. Spellman paints of the future "musician business" would be to imagine a mid-1980s music biz quest by Joe Blow and a future-quest by Jane Doe in the better world Mr. Spellman envisions - one free of "corporate owners driven by rigid corporate imperatives" -- where Jane can "be in charge of her own destiny" and have "direct access to global audiences". I will try to show there are some major tradeoffs for Jane that Mr. Spellman may not have considered. (Let us assume Joe and Jane are both "winners" -- exceptionally gifted and motivated. I also want to assume Joe and Jane have great ambitions of hitting the "big time".)
First and foremost, if I am reading Mr. Spellman correctly, Jane Doe's 21st century quest will be in a world without a huge incentive enjoyed by Joe Blow - the possibility of striking gold. In Joe's dreams of a career in popular music, fame and fortune are entwined. As for Jane, however, Mr. Spellman suggests she think more along the lines of "making enough money to go on making music". He points out that with the Internet "musicians are capable of . . . building support models to help them earn a sufficient living."
How much are we taking about here? What is sufficient -- enough for Jane to live her life in a rat-hole apartment -- enough to buy a decent used car every few years? Well, how about enough to support a family and have a reasonably good lifestyle for a few decades and comfortably retire? Isn't that what careers are supposed to be able to do? That's what the old business model did for a lot more artists, songwriters, engineers, producers etc. than you may think.
Anyway, in Joe's 80's quest - to put it as briefly as possible - he leaves Podunk and kicks around, say, NYC for a few years, performing and pitching demos and networking, and finally gets discovered by someone in the music industry. This leads to a recording deal. Long story short, Joes does all right. He releases a few albums, hits it big and stays on top for a few years. Then it's over -- but not entirely. He can still make money performing, although this income will likely shrink fast, and get more and more unreliable as years go by. Lucky for Joe, his career is taking place in a world where copyrights are protected. His CDs and especially the copyrights on his songs may continue to generate income for many years - even decades beyond his death. And, down the line, new acts may cover some of his songs. Additionally, if he is talented as a songwriter, he could generate new income (via copyrights) writing with -- or for -- other acts. He also might move into producing acts. Of course, all this non-performing income materializes only in a world where the public is willing to pay for recorded music.
Although Mr. Spellman may find this amazing, Joe does not get screwed over by the industry, and neither do the great majority of people he comes to know during his active career. He finds his successful peers to be a motivated, hip, and intelligent bunch of folks who love being in the business. But, like athletics or acting, most careers are short - not because the industry is unscrupulous but because it is a brutally competitive business. But all in all, during Joe's era people with genuine talent, motivation, perseverance, a reasonable amount of brains, and copyright protection, can do very well in this profit-driven industry.
Now let's look at Jane's imaginary quest in the future-world portrayed by Mr. Spellman - one in which we"ll assume there is no corporate music industry - none of those slime-ball "corporate owners itchy for corporate-size profits" -- and also very few of those copyright royalties. I don't suppose she'd have to move to NYC (or LA or Nashville) - that's a plus. Also, she can certainly get - without too much investment -- fairly good recordings of her songs and post them on her website for the "global audience".
Of course, this is also what her competition will be doing. Millions of acts will have made their music available - for free -- to the world. Also on the downside, there will be no star-making machinery. It will have been dismantled. How, exactly, is Jane's global audience, sitting down at their computers, going to find her little golden needle in the vast Jupiter-sized haystack of millions of websites? I will make another assumption here: her global audience isn't even going to try. The percentage of citizens willing to spend endless hours sifting through countless unknown amateurs' websites before finding Jane's music will be about zero.
Somehow Jane will have to find a way to publicize herself and her music pretty much on her own. (In the old business model, a label would have gone to a great deal of trouble and expense to get her noticed. They would also have given her - at least initially -- a great deal of support - everything from publicity to showing up at her gigs to tour-support money to giving her radio and TV exposure.)
Probably playing live gigs will be her best shot -- try to get some word-of-mouth going. This could happen, but I think it will be very tough. But let's assume she gets over that hurdle and the world begins to download and enjoy her music. The problem is, of course, that she still has no income beyond live performing - and that means no reliable income off the road. If she wants to have a child or just take a year off the grind, her income instantly stops. There may be those fans who will buy her CDs even though they can get her music for free, but realistically, as high-speed connectivity and downloading become commonplace, I think this will be more and more unlikely. Perhaps any real income beyond live performing will come, as Mr. Spellman suggests, from making an "alliance" with some company or by finding "patrons" paying "30-40/year".
Let me here address these two suggestions. I think it highly unlikely Jane can align herself with some company that doesn't attach big strings to their support - strings regarding the content of her music. Since nearly all companies are terribly concerned about their image, I think Jane will be far more constricted by these kinds of strings than by the strings of traditional labels - which typically give an artist a lot of artistic freedom.
As for mini-patrons, I can imagine Jane on the net or phone conducting her annual pledge drive. To make a cool hundred grand a year she only needs about 3,000 patrons to sign up -- each year. Of course, she'll need to be one hell of a bookkeeper, and she'll have to hope these patrons don't love too many other acts. Assuming a typical patron loves, say, 10 acts, this fan will need to cough up roughly $350 (a year) to have "first call for all new tracks, and extra values like discounted tickets, fully-packaged recordings, posters and exposure to any other works of the artist". Or, after thinking it over, would-be patrons might simply prefer to spend nada and get all the music for free - minus, of course, the posters and discounted tiks, etc.
Also, good luck if Jane ever goes down to the bank and applies for a loan or credit card based upon some patron income plan. In the old business model, she could at least predict her income for a few years. This chip-in patron plan strikes me as comparable to playing the horses.
Moreover, when the public's possibly brief love affair with Jane is over, she may have very little to show for it -- not even her old CDs lying around someone's attic waiting to be re-discovered. The only remnants of her songs may be on peoples' million-files-of-chaos hard-drives or crudely labeled mix-n-match home-burned CDs.
Another big tradeoff is she will have largely lost the ability to make overarching musical statements via collections of songs - like the traditional record album often did. After she has posted, say, 2 CDs onto her website, someone venturing onto her site is unlikely to see her songs as 2 collections. To the downloader it will simply be 20 something songs. Her "blue period" album or her "rock" album will be sliced and diced. Moreover, rather than really listening to each song, the downloader/browsers are more likely to taste a few seconds of her wares and download only those songs that instantly grab them.
Which leads me to another overlooked but terribly important trade-off: The "grow-on-you" factor. Fairly early in my record buying youth I realized it was a mistake for me to buy a bunch of albums at one time. This was because invariably I didn't listen to any one of them with the same patience and focus as when I brought home a single album. I would listen to the first album of the bunch one time and move on to next and then the next. When I was finished listening to all my new albums I often found I didn't care that much for any of them. However, when I came home with a single album my tendency was to give it several spins. This - particularly with music that had any complexity and depth - could be vital to my appreciating the music. It was often on that 3rd or 4th listening that certain songs began to work their deep magic in ways that were far more powerful than the immediate cotton-candy appeal of the more radio-friendly songs.
So, would-be artists, imagine giving away your music - via the web - to a fan that has coincidentally picked up several dozen other free songs that same day. Even though you may have reached this unknown fan, getting his or her attention long enough to get truly involved in your music - especially if it has any complexity -- could be very, very, tough.
To conclude:
Mr. Spellman makes much of the "global restructuring of the economy". "Business worlds are deconstructing and reconstructing," he writes. He gives a naturalistic spin to this transformation, stating: "Like humans, industries pass through developmental stages: birth, youth, maturity and death (or transformation)". Of course, the truth is that most industries are doing business as usual. Many are, of course, evolving - or dying or growing -- as a result of competition, or technology that improves products or improves the manufacturing of products, etc. etc. The looming death of the traditional music business has nothing to do with improved goods or better manufacturing processes. It has to do with technology that allows citizens to easily duplicate and give away its products -- it has to do with the impossibility of competing with "free". And like nearly all proponents of free music, Mr. Spellman prefers to believe that it's too late to do anything about it. "The train has already left the station" is how I often hear it put.
Well, the train has been forced back into the station many times. Smoking in public places is a good example. When I was a child the majority of adults smoked, and they did it with impunity just about anywhere and everywhere. Students today may find this hard to believe, but when I was in college in the '60s, smoking was allowed in class - and was a common practice. How did this train get forced back? First, the pubic realized that it was in their best interests to reverse it. Second, the public decided the way to back the train up was to go after - via law enforcement -- those who practiced the behavior. The only difference between you, downloader, willingly going along with a smoking ban, and you being indignant at the music industries' attempts to curtail file-sharing, is that you can see the harm in the former but not in the latter.
Right now, free-downloading enthusiasts truly don't see any harm in the practice. They are convinced the benefits of having any and all music available for free far outweigh any other considerations -- considerations such as artists, songwriters and publishers being paid for the works they have created. I disagree. I believe in the long-term our society will be much the worse for it. There is an old bit of business wisdom that goes: "Free is the most expensive thing there is." I predict free music is going to be very expensive, indeed. And the dearest price will be paid by recording artists, songwriters, and publishers seeking to make a living in a world that believes their copyrights are meaningless. Likewise, a world that prefers to pay nothing for its music will soon be receiving a quality of product entirely consistent with that price.
Hugh Prestwood
hprestw@optonline.net
PS One passage in Mr. Spellman's piece particularly bothered me. He writes: "by reacting with lawsuits instead of evaluating the validity of their current business models, by focusing their efforts on how to prevent piracy through content protection schemes rather than remove the motive to pirate instead, record companies are indeed teaching a generation of consumers that music is free." Anyone who can"t see this is pure guilt-absolving, blame-the-victim dreck should seriously consider a career in burger flipping.
If Mr. Spellman doesn't want labels to use content protection schemes or lawsuits, then let him offer up the labels a concrete solution. Telling them to "Evaluate the validity of their current business models," and to "remove the motive to pirate" is beyond meaningless. Let him spell out exactly how record companies can turn a profit in a world where their entire catalogs are available on-line -- for free.
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Dear Mr. Prestwood,
I appreciate your taking the time to respond to my essay. You certainly deserve a response as well but, alas, I am out of town (and away from writing) for a spell.
For now let me say you have indeed "read" me wrong on a number of counts and appear to have made several assumptions of your own that skew the picture. I'll try and provide some feedback sometime next week.
For now let me leave you with some words that indicate my feelings about copyright and song protection, from an interview conducted last year with About.com:
JS: With the advent of an essentially free exchange of all recorded music, how are major artists going to make money five, ten, twenty years from now? Live pay-per-view performances on the web? Merchandise sales? Or will the market for recorded music survive?
PS: When we start discussing the "free exchange of all recorded music," I think we need to be clear about one very important thing: the rights and revenues our civilization won for musical creators deserve special respect and repeated mention.
I think it is laudable that people at different times during this century were able to discern and dignify several rights in a single song: a performance right, a mechanical right, a synchronization right, a publication right, and several other miscellaneous rights. Each right is a revenue stream. This revenue has supported composers and performers for many years now and, by extension, enriched our own lives too.
I see very little understanding of these hard-won battles in the present discussions of music file sharing. I think organizations like the Future of Music Coalition are a welcomed addition and I hope it and other groups begin to shed light on all matters pertaining to song rights in a global electronic environment.
Source: http://musicians.about.com/library/weekly/aa021501c.htm
stay cool,
Peter Spellman
***********
I suppose when someone has an axe to grind clear sight can become the victim.
For the record, I personally have never downloaded a song illegally from the Net and do not plan to. I teach my own children about the meaning and importance of copyright, and of who gets hurt by illegal downloads. ‘Nuff said.
But let’s move on...
Let's look at the additional assumptions I am assigned of "inherently bad music corporations" and the reasonable musician goal of a "sufficient living".
On the first, I think it is clear from industry record sales stats, anti-artist contracts, numerous RIAA-instigated PR black-eyes, and the simple dynamics that flow from the 90-day glasses corporate accountants must wear, that corporations are no place for artists looking to build long-term careers.
Artist rights groups are popping up everywhere, exposing the charade for what is is (and has been for over 75 years). And we ARE going to see more and more artists abandon the corporate ship (along with their fans email addresses) for more enlightened indie ways.
Sure, there are plenty of music- and artist-loving people working in the musical industrial complex but when push comes to shove, "corporate imperatives" dictate behavior.
For plenty more on corporate imperative and how they act in an art-destroying way, please see a piece a wrote several years ago, called "The REAL Reason Major Record Companies Suck"
http://www.mbsolutions.com/articles/companies_suck.html
To conclude: I stick to my assertion that today it's no less risky to "go indie" than to "get signed".
On the other issue of a musician's "sufficient" living you seem to have conveniently defined the word "sufficient" for your own purposes, to wit, “the starving artist”. By "sufficient" I'm thinking a basic middle-class living where the bills are paid and there's enough left over for composing a life. Determining sufficiency is of course subjective, but most musicians I know aren't after limos and Club Med memberships. Indeed, they just want to make a “sufficient” living in order to do the work they feel compelled to do.
As I stated in my essay, MY intent was to provide navigational guidance for how to set one’s sails in this transitioning entertainment business.
Inventing scenarios to fit your angle is cute but hardly tells the whole (evolving and, yes, vague) story.
stayin' cool,
Peter Spellman
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When I feel like giving up, I think of Ani Defranco. I haven't heard much of her music, but her story is amazing. Also, leaving the RockrGrl conference in 2000 left me stunned. Having to hear the DIY speech every session I went to scared me. But,after a lot of thinking and pulling myself together, I committed. Now, it scares me to think of who I would be if I gave up. The DIY road I've been traveling on has made me a stronger person, and is feeding my ego. Now, I don't dream of just one destination, but many. Each goal I set that is achieved, empowers me. I swear, that's how I feel. It's a drug and I'm addicted! Music will never leave me, so I'll be doing as much as I possibly can with it. Chins up!
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At first, I thought I was reading the chapter in my autobiography entitled "philosophy".
One hundred per-cent indie equals one hundred per cent ownership.
This is my formula, and all that is needed otherwise is creativity, hard work...and luck.
Tom "Wildman" Wirtanen
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Nice piece, putting it all together relative to the state of being for our economically challenged state of music and the musician. I have to agree with Mr. Wirtanen and add that it is a frightening world of opportunity, but at the high cost of being ultimately autonomous and lonely. We are all now striving to be in control of our own little world and in the mix of learning all the avenues we can master, pursue, or overcome, we find that our sense of community and loyalty to anything or anyone (i.e., a band)has been completely lost. This is where I lose perspective, in the masses of all these opinions based on philosophical premises we all inherently possess. The art is being able to keep "it" together, whatever that "it" is and this is where my niche is. I can sort through your insanity from multitasking and help you gain your sense of organization and control back. I can't do it for myself, but I can certainly help others do it for themselves. Now, how do I put a figure to that so I can survive as a musician? So this is what being a musician is all about. I chose musicianship over becoming a lawyer. I am analytically fighting the black hole of "how and why". Should I quit my day job with benefits and steady income to feed my creative side so that I can do the writing and recording I long for? People like me who never could identify with the concept of working for themself will forever struggle to find that niche where we are comfortable with the unknown. I'm still searching for that source (or person) who can communicate concretely how this transition (or leap) to the other side can be made so that the musician in me can survive independently. Perhaps I ought to invest in more education! Now there's a concept. Berklee perhaps??? I only say this because I continue to further my education for the pursuit of my music, however, I still do not understand the lesson. I'm going to be dead before the new template of rules and order arrive. Any more insight in this area would be great if covered in more depth in your books. You got me thinking Mr. Spellman.
BC
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Your very stimulating article focuses on composers
and groups. Can you please be more specific about what a niche is? Today, few record companies will invest money in an unknown. so how can an unknown ,talented but economically poor performer, get a start in this type of business.
If the vast number of recorded products is actually shrinking the marketplace for the new performer, where is the way around the historically difficult address?
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I own a small independant label .The problem is no different here.A.MCOS is having trouble keeping up with tecnology. We have a hostile
media to deal with...At present i have a new
c.d due out in a fortnight time. Our problem is
My c.d.sells for $8.OO SINGLE .c>dLP IS $20. AUS $. yet chain stores can sell c.ds l.ps for $2.00.
Aus .
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I own a small independant label .The problem is no different here.A.MCOS is having trouble keeping up with tecnology. We have a hostile
media to deal with...At present i have a new
c.d due out in a fortnight time. Our problem is
My c.d.sells for $8.OO SINGLE .c>dLP IS $20. AUS $. yet chain stores can sell c.ds l.ps for $2.00.
Aus .
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It looks asd if the changes we're seeing are actually cultural, rather than structural. These changes aree forcing people to look at themselves in totally new ways. I'm also entering the job market and a lot of what I read in this article can be applied there as well; the bottom line is to be flexible.
However, I also think that in some cases, building a market base for your music can be a difficult undertaking requiring lots of patience and skill. I play in a band where I wound up playing all my own instruments, so touring for me right now is simply playing acoustic versions of my songs. Now that's not neccessarily a bad thing, but it changes the tone of each of the songs. This is great for people who like to hear new things--the live version will surely be different from the studio version! I also have most of my fan base on the Internet, although I'm trying to get more people interested locally. What I'm saying is that the "build it and they will come" philosophy doesn't always work.
There are way too many people on the Internet for anyone to truly stand out without the massive promotional kick needed to get the music into the ears of potential fans. So, the indie road is the hard road--it is also the most satisfying, creatively.
No one is telling you how to sound and you have complete control over the content of the music. Many major-label artists would kill for that kind of control! Most importantly, we're living the dream. Before my first record came out, they were forgotten demos living in my desk drawer. Now, they've seen the light of day and people have heard them. To me, that's what music is really all about. Otherwise, what's the point?
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i was thoroghly pleased that someone took the time to actually try and explain the present climate of the music industry.
i am a music business major at SIUE,and the market is so different than it's ever been before.
thank you for the tools to attack the job market with confidence and a new sense of assurance.
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Hey all,
Ok... the article was a bit long-winded and a bit more "Rah Rah go team" than I usually listen to, but it makes some very interesting speculations about the future of the indie musician and the business of music. The essay cares little for what is good in the actual music, but rather examines what positive changes can and will take place on the industry side in order to decentralize control of product placement and distribution to a music-devouring populace. In other words, he's saying bust your A** and good things will happen cause the avenues which used to be dead ends are now being reconstructed.
However, I believe we are a few years from this boon of technology being applied in other ways besides international distribution (which has been a big help in getting indie artists more support without the major label fat-ass dollar) and will be accessible and viable for the average consumer soon. Web based radio is cool...and will branch off into your cars, planes, trains, watches and cell phones soon enough...a la XM satellite/WiFi avenues. But until then, commercial radio is still king. Aside from the essay's rally cry for indie artists to "keep working," some avenues are not yet reconstructed.
Here's the meat of the matter though...It is now the task of the indie artist to help reconstruct those closed avenues, via new medias, technology, and elbow grease.
Something to look for in the future...indie video. Cheap enough to do (with some hard work and knowledge), and allows another creative aspect to your music with a new media. Plus certain web sites are jumping on this already...such as MP4.com and a few others.
I myself recently started a production company based on this...providing high quality, affordable music videos (live and staged) to indie artists. Video as everyone knows were only for the major labels, and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. But now, computer editing, and DVD quality cameras are accessible as well as books on direction, editing, lighting and so forth.
Its a slow process, but as the technology becomes more accesable, and affordable...and people will be easily able to stream video, and yes soon we'll even have streaming video channels on the web...with indie artists in mind...allowing the user to freely choose what videos to stream. Laying the groundwork now is the key...and thats where this article is really pointing.
I'm an indie artist myself, new to the scene, but hard working as everyone else on this post. And seeing the necessity for competition in video production for the indie artist as well as music has led me to a new path. Now...we're in final mix and edit of our first high quality LIVE DVD...which is something indie artists could only dream of a few years ago. Of course getting it to the consumer is still a hard part, but that will ALWAYS be the hard part in anything. Its an over-saturated marketplace...good product is the key...if you make great music or videos, the public will eat it up! Please feel free to visit my video production co. and check it out. Video is here for the indie artist as a vehicle to help define one's music and give another aspect of creativity to the artist.
www.aethermusic.com
Hey, would love to hear your thoughts.
Jeremy Manjorin
www.JeremyManjorin.com
www.aethermusic.com
jeremy@aethermusic.com
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hey!! its ok but yeah...its too long and to be honest with u guys....i didnt really read any of it. i kinda hate reading now...sorry..no offense..anyways...i dont really know wat i says but yeah...just going with the flow....ahahahahaha......hope u guys dont mind and oh!! e-mail me anytime u like!! im always hea for ya!!! hahahaha ok ba-byes!!!
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hello everybody i'm Meflyn i'm artistic i've got scripts 100 of them to give out for any artiste/musician and i assure u hit songs they are if anyone is interested mail me to tell me or call +23408023407067 thanks a whole lot i'm waiting for y'all
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Great article. I am an older musician and understand the position the writer takes. I would like to learn more about using the inter net to sell my music. Also the corporation of one is a great way to really get things going. Great info thanks
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Hello,
My name is Briona Nelson from Omaha Nebraska. Anyway I am a African-American 11 year old looking for a good music industry and a good producer. I am wanting to do Hip-Hop or R&B because I am really good at them. So if you think you are interested in me, then hit me on my e-mail at brionanelson44@yahoo.com
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Praise the Lord!!
I am a highly gifted singer/songwriter who is looking for a highly gifted management company to assist me producing a high quality demo. I have gone through many trajedies and deaths. God has given me an awesome ministry and a testimony to share with the world. In March '06, I was diagnosed wht a bloodclot in my lungs and actually died for five minutes. I want to be able to share that experience. I died again in April while at rehearsal at church. I've been evicted one time this year. I am on disability but I am sooned to get off with the help of a gifted management company. I am looking to form my own Indie. I have written several songs which I know are hits. I am originally from Mississippi but now live in Georgia. I plan to return to Mississippi to rebuild my community which is in desperate need of restoring. Homes, the church, and lives need rebuilding. There is no store or recreation. I plan to one day with the help of a good team become one of the world's most noted gospel singer/songwriter/entreprenuer. If you are interested in investing time and funds, please call me at 229.928.0042 or email me at heavenzgiftnd21c@aol.com
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| NOTE: If you need a reply you should email CD Baby directly instead of posting here. We don't often read old message board postings, and have no way of replying to them!
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