The Big Record Labels' Not-So-Big Future

[jaguarr]

Strikes me that the korean guy has nailed the model. everything, from the music, to the artwork, to the ringtone, bought directly from him.

Next step, imo, will be for internet cafe's offering onsite burn and print facilities (assuming they dont at the moment) for those that dont have a computer.

But you know what? there will still be people that would justify file sharing it and getting it free, as though its a right.

I agree, the Korean pop star is also innovating new business models. But....and there's always a big BUT....the record companies still have their fingers in the middle of his pie. However, with the technology of today and the availability of marketing techniques that are all but free, not to mention the availability of companies that are basically just marketing machines (like the one Madonna is inking her giant deal with), there's still no reason for the current record companies to be in the middle of all of it, siphoning off the lion's share of the profits. THAT is what I am excited to see happening; the slow dismantling of their outdated business model. It's a relic and so are the people who try to support it.

And lest anyone misunderstand me, I'm NOT advocating stealing music in any way shape or form in my position or what I have stated here. As a musician myself, I am just VERY pro-artist. I want the people who actually create this music and art to get the very most return for their efforts, not a bunch of bean counters who screw those same artists over every chance they get. To me, that means changing the status quo in the industry and seeing business models develop that give the artist the advantage and NOT the record companies. We're just starting to see these types of things develop right now, and they'll continue to evolve and develop as technology continues to advance which will make them even more pervasive and available to other artists who aren't established like some of the high profile ones we see doing these things. Already, unsigned bands are garnering international followings through the internet and other self-promotional tools. Pandora is out of the box and she's never going back. The game is changing, and it's about time if you ask me. Anyone who complains that the status quo of the record industry is being messed with and that it shouldn't be isn't in support of the artists who create this music and that's really a shame.

jag

 

[jaguarr]

true but the public wasn't being given the chance to hear different artists because of big labels monopoly on radio stations, tv, press coverage ect.

Thanks to the Internet its putting some of that power back into the hands of the people. They go online and find the artists they want to hear instead of being spoon fed what the record execs want them to hear.

You only have to look at all the music threads on these boards with all the posters saying modern music is crap. Most of them haven't even heard of half the good artists out at the moment because they haven't gotten the chance.

Another reason the record exec's are sh1tting their pants over new technology and the ability for bands to basically record and promote themselves. They lose the control of dictating what gets heard and what doesn't get heard. They no longer control the market. It really brings the whole thing back to a true free market where people can choose just about anything they like as opposed to whatever is being crammed down their throats by the media. As an example of bands using technology, I know of several bands that create torrent files of their albums, at a semi-decent bit rate, that includes a bunch of promotional info (websites, myspace, promo-packs, bio's, merchandise purchasing, concert calendars) and contact and booking information and then seed them all over hell and back on every torrent site they can find. They understand that they get new listeners and even new bookings that way and it's been very successful for some of them. I even know of one band that landed a touring gig in Japan by doing that. The tools are there, and they work when they're used properly.

jag

 

[logansoldcigar]

cant remember the last time i saw aban dthat was signed to a major. i go to all the small local pubs n clubs, and found sopme gems that way. rather see someone play 4 songs in the upstairs room of a bar and give them 5 quid than pay 45 to see someone esablished, if the truth be known

 

[Shuley]

I'm still waiting for the next Elvis Presley,Bob Dylan,Springsteen,The Doors,The Beatles,Jimi Hendrix or Led Zepplin ect... to come down the pike,but I really don't think that's going to happen in my lifetime.

 

[Shuley]

Record Companies have had a free ride for the last 15-20 years or so,Record Companies make their money on the CD,Vinyl,Cassette Tapes ect...The musicain makes their money on touring and merchandise.So with the recordings going digital downloads,they had to do something (MP3 players,IPods) But what comes after ipods say 10 or 15 years from now?

 

[Docker2.0]

I'm glad this is happening! Now hopefully rappers would stop using that half a$$ excuse about the record label making them carry these dumb images.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

I'm still waiting for the next Elvis Presley,Bob Dylan,Springsteen,The Doors,The Beatles,Jimi Hendrix or Led Zepplin ect... to come down the pike,but I really don't think that's going to happen in my lifetime.

non-possible. They were all products of their time. Before they came along, someone might say, "I'm still waiting for the next Al Jolson." but there is no next Al Jolson, there is Bob Dylan.

 

[Erzengel]

When's the next Rick Astley going to come along?

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

I'm waiting for the next "I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt".
Where is that?

 

[jaguarr]

non-possible. They were all products of their time. Before they came along, someone might say, "I'm still waiting for the next Al Jolson." but there is no next Al Jolson, there is Bob Dylan.

Just wait until Justin Timberlake starts his "I'm Bringing Blackface Back" tour next Fall.

jag

 

[Man-Thing]

CD's are luxury items...

you aren't entitled to get them at the price you want unless you actually set the prices...

Get over it! People argue this like it's food. It's not, if you can't afford the CD, get a better job.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

CD's are luxury items...

you aren't entitled to get them at the price you want unless you actually set the prices...

Get over it! People argue this like it's food. It's not, if you can't afford the CD, get a better job.

A-****ing-Men.

People are just cowards.
If they could anonymously download a fur coat, or a stereo system, or a BMW, they'd be doing that too.

They're cowardly thieves who lack the skills required to get away with stealing tangible items, so they're taking advantage of the intangible nature of music and film.

As a musician and artist, I hope there's a special nightmare world in Hell set aside for these disgusting people...a sensory deprivation kind of Hell, no sights, no sounds, so they can come to understand how valuable sights and sounds are.

 

[jaguarr]

This thread isn't about downloading music. It's about how artists are changing the business model of the music industry.

jag

 

[chamber-music]

I'm still waiting for the next Elvis Presley,Bob Dylan,Springsteen,The Doors,The Beatles,Jimi Hendrix or Led Zepplin ect... to come down the pike,but I really don't think that's going to happen in my lifetime.

there won't be another one of those artists because that music has already been done. Also you gotta remmeber that at the time those artists where around the type of music people where listening to. Those artists where standed out because no one at that time was doing that type of thing. Each where pioneers in their own style.

I know the whole music press are standing around waiting for the next musician to come out who is totally gonna change music but its more likely knowhere days that the musician is gonna sneak up on them and they won't even notice or probabley write them off on one single.

There are still creative people in music anyway. Look at Patrick Wolf there isn't a single artist his music sounds like. His the modern of Bowie in some peoples eyes.

 

[amazingfantasy15]

I'm still waiting for the next Elvis Presley,Bob Dylan,Springsteen,The Doors,The Beatles,Jimi Hendrix or Led Zepplin ect... to come down the pike,but I really don't think that's going to happen in my lifetime.

It won't happen because those artists came along at such a special time in history where that the music they created had meaning, the '60s and '70s, during the civil rights movement, the sexual revolution, vietnam, it was during a time where the world was changing so much and music was reflecting that change and I doubt I time like that will ever come again.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

This thread isn't about downloading music. It's about how artists are changing the business model of the music industry.

jag

It's also about "F*** the record companies. I'm so glad they're finally getting theirs."
A huge chunk of the reason for the failure of the antiquated model is the widespread distribution of affordable hi-technology and the general acceptance by the public of theft via internet anonymity.

Also, what I'm hearing a lot cheers about is Radiohead, Prince and Trent Reznor.


The New Business Model......work your ass off to write and record music, and then give it away for FREE.
What progress.
That works just GREAT for multi-millionaires. If I didn't have to pay my rent and save up for months just to get a decent computer and Cubase for recording, maybe I'd be more impressed with this new Musical Philanthropy.

 

[jaguarr]

It's also about "F*** the record companies. I'm so glad they're finally getting theirs."
A huge chunk of the reason for the failure of the antiquated model is the widespread distribution of affordable hi-technology and the general acceptance by the public of theft via internet anonymity.

Also, what I'm hearing a lot cheers about is Radiohead, Prince and Trent Reznor.


The New Business Model......work your ass off to write and record music, and then give it away for FREE.
What progress.
That works just GREAT for multi-millionaires. If I didn't have to pay my rent and save up for months just to get a decent computer and Cubase for recording, maybe I'd be more impressed with this new Musical Philanthropy.

Dude, there are so many unsigned artists right now that are getting all kinds of international listeners because they're working with the technology; and they're making MONEY doing it, too! A lot of them are using the "crack dealer" marketing method; here's a taste for free, but the next one will cost you. A lot of them are making money off their live shows and merchandise sales, as well as selling their own CD pressings. They're finding new ways to use technology to promote themselves AND make money, and that's what I'm applauding. It's not just the multi-millionaire artist making an impact, here, though they tend to get the most coverage because they're rich and famous already. But their speaking out against the current state of the record industry is important and has great impact BECAUSE they are powerful artists already; it helps to further change the game in the favor of EVERYONE, including these lesser known or unsigned artists. The record companies have F**KED their artists for years and years, taking far more than a middle-man ever should be allowed to because they could; they were the only game in town. Now the game has changed and they are no longer in control of the industry like they once were.

jag

 

[PLAS]

It won't happen because those artists came along at such a special time in history where that the music they created had meaning, the '60s and '70s, during the civil rights movement, the sexual revolution, vietnam, it was during a time where the world was changing so much and music was reflecting that change and I doubt I time like that will ever come again.

actually, we are living in times of great change too, just look around you

 

[chamber-music]

^
There are quite a few bands out there doing the Do It Yourself route. I brought a CD of a canadian band I like who aren't signed and has independent record stores sell their CDs and stores are selling out. The band can't even book venues in their own home town but thanks to myspace and getting support slots with like minded bands they have managed to tour and gain a lot of intrest from some labels.

 

[jaguarr]

Here's some good articles to help people understand how unsigned artists are changing the game from their side:

http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_8/pfahl/

http://www.emedialive.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=10894

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-03-31-diy_x.htm

http://tunecore.typepad.com/tunecorner/2006/05/sell_your_music.html

http://visualizemusicgroup.com/visualize/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35&Itemid=51

http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/archives/2006/01/unsigned_artist.html

And there is a TON more where that came from. If you're an unsigned artist, you can start making money off of your work with an international fanbase and not have to share the profits with anyone. This was incredibly difficult if not impossible in the past. Not anymore. Power to the artists.

jag

 

[jaguarr]

Wow.

jag

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

How many of these bands have played Conan O'Brien, had their songs in major Hollywood movies, been on Mtv and every major radio station in the nation and had members that got to date Tom Cruise's wife?

'Cause in my experience, what I know is, my friends the Flys are all super-talented and good-looking guys who wrote mega-catchy, cool songs, and played at bars and festivals in L.A., and Utah, and Wyoming for 15 years, barely scraping by, sleeping on my floor and stealing burritos from the super market to stay alive.

Then, suddenly I'm watching them on Conan and Mtv, hearing their song on the radio when I walk into random 7-11's, and I'm hanging out on their massive tour bus watching movies on their big screen TV while we all party for free, drowning in hot chicks and palling around with the Offspring and Rancid and tons of famous people that up to that point we'd only read about in magazines.

The change, in their personal lives, and their standard of living, and the almost obscene increase in their exposure, from playing for 50 people in a bar to playing outdoor festivals for 20,000 people was all due to one thing...
A "big record company", taking them on and deciding to push them.


They didn't have the resources (takes money to make money), the business acumen or the connections to influential/powerful people that the record company had.

They went from sleeping on floors and scrounging change for a candy bar, to getting a ridiculous $500 a day allowance that they could either blow each day, or save up, while they were being paid to tour and have a ****ing blast.

I like that model where you fight to get the ear of this powerful advocate and once you get it, *b00m*, Rock and Roll Fantasy come true.
At that point, it's up to you to deal with it correctly and live up to it all.
My friends couldn't do that, but it was no fault of the big, drooling, evil, baby-eating record company that gave them opportunities they are not currently enjoying as they're struggling to make something and get heard in this DIY with internet world.
I can't even remember the names of their current projects, but I have heard them on their little Myspace pages where their ex-groupies and Grandmas and Aunts leave little "Ooh! You guys still Rawk! lol" messages of encouragement.

 

[jaguarr]

And what happened to the Fly's once the record company was done with them, Wil?

jag

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

And what happened to the Fly's once the record company was done with them, Wil?

jag

That's what I was talking about at the end there.
If anything, the Flys ****ed the record company over.
They were another in the long, long line of "Bands who Take Off, Can't Deal With Success, Destroy themselves."

'Cause the singer was such an ambitious ego-maniac, right after they "finished" their second album with the label, he was more concerned with getting his memoirs published (he even forgot his manuscript once, left it on a plane, had to get a private plane to go chase down the manuscript, on, you guessed it, the label's money. ) , and getting a movie made and also, he became addicted to the success and started ****ing with the "vision" and sound of the band, like a ******, trying to go for even bigger bucks by focus grouping and tailoring s*** to "what the kids are into" (such folly).

Then, the Rapper just started doing mega-drugs drugs drugs at all times, every day, till he became a paranoid, delusional freak, alienated all of his friends and family and was kicked out of the band......which led to conflict with "Wait a minute, YOU can't decree that he's out of the band! We're a democracy!"/ "No we're not. I am the "Leader"." s***, which cut the band in half and then the drummer quit.


So basically, after getting all this success and exciting opportunity and wish fulfillment handed to them after struggling for decades, the first thing they did was change everything and start kicking people out and started abusing drugs and losing their minds.

It wasn't the Evil Record Company that ****ed them. the Record Company WANTS them to succeed, for selfish reasons, but still, they gave them every shot imaginable.

 

[jaguarr]

That's what I was talking about at the end there.
If anything, the Flys ****ed the record company over.
They were another in the long, long line of "Bands who Take Off, Can't Deal With Success, Destroy themselves."

'Cause the singer was such an ambitious ego-maniac, right after they "finished" their second album with the label, he was more concerned with getting his memoirs published (he even forgot his manuscript once, left it on a plane, had to get a private plane to go chase down the manuscript, on, you guessed it, the label's money. ) , and getting a movie made and also, he became addicted to the success and started ****ing with the "vision" and sound of the band, like a ******, trying to go for even bigger bucks by focus grouping and tailoring s*** to "what the kids are into" (such folly).

Then, the Rapper just started doing mega-drugs drugs drugs at all times, every day, till he became a paranoid, delusional freak, alienated all of his friends and family and was kicked out of the band......which led to conflict with "Wait a minute, YOU can't decree that he's out of the band! We're a democracy!"/ "No we're not. I am the "Leader"." s***, which cut the band in half and then the drummer quit.


So basically, after getting all this success and exciting opportunity and wish fulfillment handed to them after struggling for decades, the first thing they did was change everything and start kicking people out and started abusing drugs and losing their minds.

It wasn't the Evil Record Company that ****ed them. the Record Company WANTS them to succeed, for selfish reasons, but still, they gave them every shot imaginable.

True, it doesn't take the record company's help for a band to self-destruct. For some of their artists, they do try to step in and mediate and help resolve some of the issues, though. Sounds like they didn't do that for your friends, which is a shame. They got no consolation prize from the record company for f**king up, I'm sure. The point is, though, that it doesn't necessarily take a record company's help to make a band successful, either, though. Marillion is an example of a band that found their own success by using the 'net as part of their own business strategy when their record company wasn't doing jack to really help or promote them.

jag