Meet the new boss

[Manu]

I just think the average music buyer and the distributing tech giants seem to be oblivious of the work and costs it takes to create musical content. Recordings are sounding every day worse because people don't have the capital to record properly and home recording doesn't really cut it. Add to this that your average buyer thinks that an album doesn't cost anything to be made so they feel is perfectly fine to download it for free, you have the result that music sounds every day worse and has less value.

If musicians have to write and record their own music, take care of printing the copies of their albums themselves, distribute and promote it themselves,and all this while working full time to pay it all, to NOT even recover the initial investment and usually end up with a mediocre sounding product which no one values.......why continue to do music at all?

[Gaddabout]

Typical musician logic:

- "If it works for me, it's a universal truth."

- "If it doesn't work for me, it doesn't work for anybody."

- "If it works for him and it doesn't work for me, he's got some shady thing going on."

Observations on the music industry today:

- The absence of big labels and the slow, leaking boat of radio has greatly reduced the number of "big acts." We are down to just a handful "MEGA" acts. We have, instead, achieved what I thought the indies wanted back in the 90s ... thousands of sub-niches, few of them having a lot of crossover audiences. You can be a surf punkabilly and never leave your genre. And maybe it's just a scene happening on your street corner, but there are three bands that play that music and they all draw the same 500 people who buy all of their stuff. That's exactly the opposite of the 50s, when it wasn't happening until you were on American Bandstand or got national radio play as part of a supporting act on a major label. It's like the whole thing has concaved on itself. It's still there, but in a million different pieces, and no one can see the whole.

- Music tastes have gradually moved beyond traditional stage bands. People still love singers, but electronica has expanded into everything to the point that you're not a teenage outcast if you don't have a single stage act on your iPod. Rock in general seems to be slowly dying. I'm beginning to wonder if there's even a future in pop music the next 20 years for guitar/bass/drums/keys. This is not an anti-sampling message. Just an observation. It can happen. How many horn sections do you see working these days?

- Consumers have no clue about life as a musician beyond the marketing message they receive. Rockers and rappers have spent 40 years singing about the good times and the fast life. I don't blame the consumers for not understanding how much work all of it is. They see working as a professional musician as a PRIVELEGE, and it still probably is, but probably not in the way they see it.

- Music as a mass consumption commodity ... seems to be a uniquely 20th Century sentiment. Before that, musicians were commissioned by governments, religious organizations, and the wealthy. And before that, musician was a secondary job someone had in a community -- or it's something they did as part of a religious ceremony. If your goal is to make a good living playing 3-chord pop and it doesn't work out, I guess I don't have much sympathy for you. If your goal is to make music that interests you, then you've already succeeded by trying it, because ultimately, music is its own reward.

[Manu]

music is its own reward.

Unfortunately, as global economy spirals down for the worse and people are less able to have enough time and money to write and record music, that statement will become less and less acceptable.

[circh bustom]

^^^ I have to disagree. I think because of the economic troubles we will see only those that truly do it for the music rise to the top. It's when it becomes all about the dollars that we get a decline in real talent. Those that really want to play and create music will do so no matter what the cost.

[Manu]

^^^^not when you can't afford it. And honestly if you have no money to produce good sounding material, no one is gonna pay any mind to it anyway.

[DSOP]

^^^ I have to disagree. I think because of the economic troubles we will see only those that truly do it for the music rise to the top.

The "top" gets lower and lower each day, because to truly excel and push art, you need to be doing it FULL TIME, for many years. The ability to do it full time will be reserved for the affluent from here on out.

[DSOP]

Observations on the music industry today:

- The absence of big labels and the slow, leaking boat of radio ....

- Music tastes have gradually moved beyond traditional stage bands. People still love singers, but electronica ....

- Consumers have no clue about life as a musician beyond ...

- Music as a mass consumption commodity ....

This isn't about record labels and John Doe's ability to understand what it takes to be a musician. This is about several big corporations making a shit load of money off of content that they do not want to pay for, and pretending it's about protecting your freedom. If you want to list your opinions as fact, please show me the research that backs it up. While I don't necessarily disagree completely with your points, some of them are way off, and borderline insulting in their assumptions. Your view of the history of making a living in music is seriously one dimensional.

[circh bustom]

Most of the super to mega stars we have had for the last 25-35 years have just about all been rags to riches stories. How many rich people have become rock stars? U2, Madonna, Springsteen, Prince, Dave Matthews, Sting, and countless others all were born with nothing. Also, after working in an independant shop for so long, there are legions of people who prefer low-fi recordings. One would argue it is the content and not the package. I know for years there has been an argument about "the mix", and I for one appreciate a good quality recording, but does that mean that Material Girl wouldnt have been still considered a great song? Purple Rain? Born to Run? I asked earlier if anyone had a solution, and I got no takers. If this is going to continue, then we need to look at the silver lining. The silver lining is that more posers will be weeded out. This is only my opinion and should not be taken as fact. I think at this point and time the only thing that will effectively stop piracy is to either-stop putting your music on the internet. At all. Or have someone police the internet which was the basis for another thread, which everyone seems to agree is not the answer.
Gaddabout noted that up until the 20th century, music was secondary. Maybe the 20th century was the high point in terms of a music career. Just the same as artists rise up, reach a peak and then come back down, it could just be that music as a full time career, may only be reserved for an even smaller group. Im not saying its great, but that may just be how things are. Look at the film world. Film is a thing of the past. So is developing pictures. Evolution. The catalyst may not always be a good thing, and change is not always going to please everyone.

[DSOP]

I asked earlier if anyone had a solution, and I got no takers.

The solution exists, as do the laws, but the big tech companies are doing all they can to see that they don't have to share in the profits. Once they're forced to pay up, everything will (or should) be fine. Then we can go after the Live Nation and Ticketmaster calamity.

Does anyone think that Apple should be making more money, per song, than the artist? Does Apple spend any money developing talent?

[circh bustom]

Of course the artists feel they should make more than the companies, but then the companies are offering a service that the artist can not easily do themselves. No one is forcing the artist to put their songs on iTunes. I agree Apple is not the savior company that people are brainwashed into thinking it is. I have stopped drinking the Apple kool-aid, but they are the new CD shop. The only way to stop them really is to not put your music up for sale there. I would love to see how many new songs are uploaded for sale daily, weekly and/or monthly. It's probably staggering. As long as people keep buying MP3's. buying concert tickets, baseball tickets, concessions at the movies blah blah blah, the companies are going to keep charging what they want. Yes, it is taking advantage, and in some cases it's price gouging, but besides boycotting, nothing will really do the trick in my opinion. Realistically anyway.