music industry - is it dying?

[dabbler]

A brave new world: the music biz at the dawn of 2008: Page 1

An anecdote in a recent Economist perfectly summed up the problems facing the major music labels. After EMI, the smallest of the Big Four, invited a teen focus group to its London headquarters in 2006, it wanted to give the teens something for their time. The response is worth quoting in full.

At the end of the session the EMI bosses thanked them for their comments and told them to help themselves to a big pile of CDs sitting on a table. But none of the teens took any of the CDs, even though they were free. "That was the moment we realised the game was completely up," says a person who was there."


^^ lol

[cubed]

Now if there were flash drives on the table chocked full of music, they'd probably grab them.

Most of these kids probably don't have a cd player that isn't attached to their computers.

[dabbler]

^^ precisely

[esoter1c]

More and more artists are striking innovative deals to sell their music -- and leaving the traditional record industry contract behind. The Wall Street Journal reports that once Madonna's contract with Warner Music is up, she will link up with concert-promoter Live Nation. While not as revolutionary as Radiohead's pay-what-you-want plan, or Prince's free-music-with-newspaper deal, Live Nation is a concert production company, not a record label. Madonna's deal will bring album production and distribution, concerts, merchandise and publicity under one company. In an attempt to counter Live Nation's concert/album/merchandise bid, Warner got Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp involved. IAC owns Ticketmaster, whose ticketing deal with Live Nation expired in August. Even so, the money was too much for Madonna to refuse. Under the new deal, Madonna will collect $120 million over 10 years plus 90 percent of tour revenue.
Madonna's albums will still be distributed through normal retail channels. Live Nation doesn't have a distribution arm, so it will contract, instead, with another label. Also unusual for the industry is a term under which ownership of the three albums to be recorded will revert to Madonna after a certain period of time.
Other big groups will be watching Madonna, Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead to see how their ventures work out. The fact that players like Live Nation are getting in the business tells us that middlemen will continue to play a role in connecting musicians with listeners. It just won't be the same middlemen as before.

[tiedye]

Not to mention the effects the internet has on the indie scene. Myspace has turned into a common means of getting your music out there without having spend time and money on demo packages. Nor will a band have to pray that they don't fuck up at the odd gig that an A&R Rep shows up to.

[-evil-duerr-]

<--- musician who is in utter disbelief that people can make so much money HAVING FUN


the music industry is just changing. wannabe rockstars are going to have to find a new avenue, because it's just not working the way it was even 10 years ago.

[tiedye]

I should mention that I have no idea if the change is for better or for worse.

[-evil-duerr-]

the only people who suffer are the ones creating artwork for money.

it's karma getting back at humanity for bastardizing just one of most sacred blessings the world offers us.

boo fricken hoo, you cant get paid to play in the sand box anymore. go cry about it, while I jam out with a smile on my face because the music isnt changing.

[j3rk]

Support a Local project trying to be the middle man and providing the Artists a way to sell their music directly to their audience.

Your local music community: music, events, and people where you live; free music hosting and playlists | Project Opus . It's run by the Donat Group who works out of GasTown.

I've sat down the guy who runs Project Opus and discussed the future of the music industry.
IMHO he's a visionary.

Project Opus also runs on Open Source software (Drupal) and they've committed a lot of it's work back in to the community.

Project Opus also has a very cool facebook music application you guys should install. It allows you friends to add songs to a theme'd album you create. Nifty stuff.

[ebbomega]

The music industry is shrinking, I'll give it that much.

But it's been in need of a shrink since the 80s. I mean really, how many cocaine lunches does the general public need to pay for? CDs cost pennies to make, they were selling them for $20 (until the last half-decade) and getting away with it.

Insiders are starting to come out of the woodwork now and are calling out the recording industry for its overconsumption and corruption, and talking about how digital media is essentially just putting the industry in its place.

Simon Napier-Bell on the music industry | OMM | The Observer
^^ Reznor linked to this on the Nine Inch Nails website
demonbaby: When Pigs Fly: The Death of Oink, the Birth of Dissent, and a Brief History of Record Industry Suicide.
^^ Thrown up on the oink homepage after they got taken down

The industry isn't dying. The major players just don't know how to properly and ethically do business, and so they're losing money.

[rawb]

[Gusto]

ahah ghostface is so hard done by.

[ebbomega]

It sounds like he's pleading with a girlfriend trying to break up with him.

"I thought y'all loved me!"

[-evil-duerr-]

wow. i'm at a loss for words.

[j3rk]

he keeps winking at me all creepy like.


Ghost just wants to shine and yo *****s are trying to hold him back. Those eagle bracelets are not cheap.

[Senior]

Originally Posted by dabbler

At the end of the session the EMI bosses thanked them for their comments and told them to help themselves to a big pile of CDs sitting on a table. But none of the teens took any of the CDs, even though they were free. "That was the moment we realised the game was completely up," says a person who was there."


^^ lol

mad lols!!!

[JadoreJDM]

I can barely understand a fuckin' word coming out of that dudes mouth haha...speak proper English damnit.

[RochesterSS]

Mainstream music sucks now a days and its basically the record labels fault. Not gonna get into a huge rant about it though.

and lmao @ Ghost "I thought yall loved me"

[gnosis]

~ahem~
*back to thread*

The music industry was worried, way back when pUnK started, late '70's/early '80's.

The DIY spirit was working, and proved you did NOT need big labels to do what you wanna do.

For those pompous fat-asses, it was downhill from there.

CD's made them panic.

MP3's made them spasm.

So, to answer the question posed: is the music industry dying?

Hell, no!

Just the old version of it.

We're just lucky to be the generation to watch the massive morphing of it....

Frosty
(*click*~munches popcorn~*click*...*click*)

[P.A.R.T.Y]

" For real, real; one." What an assclown.

[RochesterSS]

Originally Posted by P.A.R.T.Y

" For real, real; one." What an assclown.

Ghostface >>>>>> your favourite artist

[ebbomega]

Regardless of how good he is, he's being a little whiny bitch.

Welcome to capitalism, bitch. Adapt or die.

[RochesterSS]

He went from selling 1 million + (platinum) records in the 90's to selling 40k in '07

I'd be pissed too

Big Doe Rehab was a good album. It definately deserved better numbers than that

[ebbomega]

My point is that the economy of music distribution is no longer what it was in the 90s. CD sales were high there because that was the most efficient means of obtaining the music. That means is no longer the easiest nor the cheapest. The companies can either embrace this and adapt, or fight it and die. They decided nearly a decade ago to opt for the latter.

It's a shame that record sales aren't what they were in the 90s, but frankly the companies have known this was coming for a long time and did nothing except start suing their customers.

[dabbler]

Originally Posted by RochesterSS

He went from selling 1 million + (platinum) records in the 90's to selling 40k in '07

I'd be pissed too

Big Doe Rehab was a good album. It definately deserved better numbers than that

that's cuz in the 90's hip hop ruled everything.