Music Business In Flux

[LittleJeff]

love the word flux.

I was having a chat with a pal in the pub the other night and we got onto how the internet has affected the music industry. What I wanted to know from you guys is where you think the music industry is heading. There's been alot of larger labels laying people off due to financial and management restructuring. So is the future in things like I-Tunes or perhaps online communities like myspace on so on? Is there a place for the record shop for anything other than music enthusiats.

More importantly is where this leaves the artist. The trend would suggest self-releasing and smaller independent labels taking the stage more. If this is the case then where do the pr people come in, would it be expected that an artist should self-promote without any experts to help them out? Will this change the nature of what it means being a musician?

[Roflcopter]

Ultimately I think the music and movie industry will become subsidiaries for the gaming industry. It's already bigger than both, and you see LOTS of musicians and ex-musicians taking the sound-designer/fx producer/soundtrack creator route.

Dave Menta, Junkie XL, Mike Patton - all into doing something quite different on the side, all game or movie stuff - on a regular basis.

[neoism]

i love the phenomena "megnatic flux"....."electric flux"....and few more flux...lol

[Steve]

i love the phenomena "megnatic flux"....."electric flux"....and few more flux...lol

What the flux?

I think we have seen the days of superstar musicians pass by! Only those willing to tour the world constantly are making it big time! I quite like the idea of MySpace taking a front seat position. It gives the likes of me a huge choice! I have just purchased a cd from a MySpace artist! Listening to it now! Top quality songwriter, great voice, great songs! A real find as far as I'm concerned!

[Roflcopter]

I don't agree with this. There are a few gaming companies that make an obscene amount of money, but as an industry? The reason why musicians do game scoring, sound designing, etc. is because there is a lot of money in that. The amount of money you can make as an independent artist pales in comparison. What I do think will happen is that as the DIY industry grows, there'll be more competition for distribution and then naturally the bigger companies will swallow the smaller ones. It's a shifting of power, to be sure, but I don't think the record industry will ever be subsumed. Artists still need the media / promotion engines of companies that can offer the full package. And let's face it, just getting a name known is the difficult part. Distribution is only part of the package, but that's where I see this industry (music) heading, which will empower the individual artist and smaller labels and level the playing field somewhat. But let's not kid ourselves, there is still no way, yet, that even a well-oiled small machine can truly compete with a big machine.

I didn't make it up exactly:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...MNGUOAE36I1.DTL

(article is a bit older, but anyway)

With games around 50 bucks apiece, and the average gamer being close to 30 (!) and supposedly affluent, not some kid without money and a carstealing drughabit (violent youth crime has gone down as much as games sales have gone up - no coincidence IMO) - it's an entirely new ballgame.

Music makers will go where the money is.

With subsidiaries I mean they will be relegated to 2nd tier. Just a little shift in the pecking-order of the slogan 'Play the game, see the movie, buy the cd, read the book (remember those?)'

[Roflcopter]

I'm sorry if I jumped the gun by a small margin, the margins are pretty close ATM.

The gaming industry is overtaking BOTH rapidly, and will surely be much bigger than both by 2011.

According to a study from ABI Research, the video game industry is expected to double in sales from 2005's $32.6 billion to $65.9 billion in 2011. The research firm indicates that the growth will take place as a result of online and mobile gaming becoming more popular.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=8205

Music industry is 33 billion dollars worldwide, a decline of 3 percent.

How well downloads will cushion that in future, is still to be seen, I think, but indeed they will probably need to focus on it.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Music-Indus...ads-22021.shtml

[Steve]

I wonder how long it will be before everybody notices they are playing the same game over and over!

[Roflcopter]

Seems the music industry is slowly waking up to the new facts, and begins to take notice. Wakey, wakey....

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/08/warner-threaten.html

[MisterT]

Record company execs are just plain stupid. Their insistence on licensing fees essentially destroyed MTV, when yes, videos were promotional tools for albums. Except now the videos show up on Yahoo and You Tube, because the execs say they *are* promotional tools. The difference was someone else was making money too. The Warner exec was formerly an exec of Seagate -- yeah, he really cares about music. What the record company owners don't get is the concept of exposure. With so much music available, how do people know what to buy if it's not forced down their throats through radio and traditional advertising? Most people have a conscience. They'll pay for music they believe in. If they did more to lower the cost of digital music and provide incentives for loyal fans they wouldn't have to worry about piracy. The whole f*cking industry is losing its mind. I mean, Jesus, I paid nearly two hundred bucks to see Dave Matthews last year. The sound was shitty (because of the venue) and it was a bad experience. I saw Children of Bodom, on other hand, for 25 bucks in a small club and it totally kicked ass.

I think there is a real shot that independents can start making a foothold. Yeah, record companies are so lily-white and clean. They've never ripped off music from their musicians, giving them, in effect, less than 1 percent profit on product that they create. Hell if it weren't for musicians, they'd not have an industry. The more musicians and independent entities start partnering, the more control they'll have over their destiny. Frankly, I'd like to see the big companies go down. There is a lot of profit available, and it is spread unevenly.

Hi Smueske, I agree with everything you have written. I've had the view of it is time for indies to change the power structure for a number of years now.

It is time for innovation and thinking out side of the box.

Tell me, would you like to do an interview on your thoughts? I have a subscriber list of people that are trying to start and or run record labels and I think that your observations will be very valuable for you and for my subscribers.

If so, you can hit me up at independentmusicstartup@gmail.com where I'll break down the details.

Trevor

[Roflcopter]

Maybe check this one too, apparently David Bowie had some precognitive mood back in 2002:

http://juggernautbrew.blogspot.com/2008/08...ive-market.html

[Roflcopter]

For alternative and mostly indie news I always check wired's listening post, they have good stuff always, and since they also keep tabs on other blogs, I tend to get lazy.

OTOH, there *aren't* many good and informative blogs that aren't totally sucking up to the stars or the glamour or the big money.

[Roflcopter]

Here's another independent alternative, BTW - maybe an idea for your next CD?

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/08/sellaband.html

[MusicKing]

I would like to know how exactly independent artists stand to loose against the big companies?

Even if we don't like the state of the industry, the fact that the industry exists in the first place is pretty much owed to the big companies.

Before the companies came in, no one was even thinking about selling recordings.

On the other hand, yes people would rather buy what they see on TV and hear on Radio. Do you think they would rather buy your music if the was no mainstream media?

Nobody holds a gun to anyone in a CD store. You cannot say music is shoved down anyone's throat. People buy whatever they believe in, as Smueske said.

If musicians want to make money from their music, they need to educate themselves on how to do it.

Complaining about record labels will not help anyone.

A quick question to Smueske; How did you arrive at the 1% figure?

Edited October 7, 2008 by MusicKing