Frank makes very valid points. If it wasn't for the indies, I wonder how music could be anything but the same predictable sound with a surprise every once in a while. I think about all the different things I've heard and/or watched just as a member of this forum. At least half if not more bypasses the traditonal ways (Record companies album/CDs) music got to our ears. Music has become one of our largest cottage industries. Walter Tores probably has the best grasp of what music can be when artists and musicians are also the producers, engineers, promoters, etc. of their art. "The times, they are a changin'."
I'm jus' glad that the young kids are still playin' music and coming up with new ideas. I heard a band of 30-somethings playin' pop rock a few weeks ago, and their lineup included a cello player, electric uke, accordian, bass and drums. And, they were rehearsed tight and kicked ass; all original tunes.
I'll be honest: if by "music business" you mean the business of making a living as a musician, then things right now are, in many ways, infinitely better than they've ever been. Although live music venues are shrinking in number, and that is NOT good, it's much easier for smaller and midlevel artists to connect and keep in touch with fans; create and market their own music; and, most importantly, get paid exactly what they're owed for their recordings, in a timely way.
Guys like me have the power now. I've got garage band if I'm too cheap to go into a studio; I can put my music out there on iTunes, deal with Harry Fox and BMI online, instead of the old model of filling out forms by hand, mailing them in, and hoping everything went through. I can check regularly on my songwriting catalog at BMI.com. I'm paid once a month by CD Baby for my sales on iTunes and Amazon, and the accounting is clear, incredibly detailed, and--as far as I can tell--scrupulously honest.
Things have never been better for somebody in my shoes. I don't need a record deal. Unless you're a major pop star, I see no reason to deal with one.
In other words: the Music Business is dead, and I'm happy to see it go.
Decline in the music business? Something tells me that, thanks to itunes and the like, more music is sold now than was ten years ago when you had to pay $13 to $20 for a CD that, at best, had 3 good songs. ----------
There are major differences in what is happening today and what was happening when Frank made this video. The internet is the answer to most of these issues. Yes, you still have the fat cat record label pushing bubble gum and cotton candy, but only the dummies and kiddies eat it up. Most of the real music lovers are finding music on Youtube, Facebook, Bandcamp, Tumblr, and other "open" sites etc. etc.
IMHO the REAL problem today isn't the way people find new music, but the lack of support fans give local music. When was the last time you went to see a show? Any show?..... ok so we are bad examples, but ask your normal brother in law or normal co-worker. The interest in going out to support local music is dwindling. People don't need to "go out" anymore. They just want to sit and watch TV, Netflix, or Youtube. They don't listen to music on the radio anymore, because they would rather listen to talk radio. Video games -vs- Record player... Video games FTW.
If you want to use the internet to promote yourself then you need to change with the times to get noticed. Forget going on tour, or playing 6 nights a week. Buy a camera and a mic and make content for the internet. That is where your audience is.
Check out this band of twenty somethings down here in my home town near Sydney..... ---------- Rubes's band DadsinSpace-MySpace
Last Edited by on Oct 07, 2011 4:54 AM
"the decline of the music business began with the disco era,which I hated,and turned the channel when it came on-the rap or hip hop is even more nauseating but to each his own"
I use to think this as well. But when disco was coming out I was hanging out with Roy Smeck. He was known as the wizard of the strings and counted Segovia amoung his close friends. I learned a lot of fancy looking stuff from him. check out some of his youtube vidoes to see what a musician he was! This one features him on lap steel (dig the amp) guitar, banjo, and uke. Anyway, I was telling him that these guys were walking in the clubs we played with a record player and albums, charging $100 instead of our 3-500 and putting us out of work. He laughed and went on to tell me about when the radio and record came to be. It put 90% of musicians out of business. Up till then it all had to be live. I deduced that since man has been tinkering with musical technology, he has been inspired to make live music extinct and I think we are getting closer all the time...... Walter
I found the zappa video interesting. I use to play bike spokes all the time as a kid because my parents wouldn't let me have a real instrument. It never ceases to confuse me as to why anyone who can have real instruments would play on stuff like this and cigar box guitars. Maybe because I came from having to make/play such things to make musicial sounds it confuses me. Now that I can afford good stuff I would never go back to that primative homemade stuff. It is kind of like one night when I was playing with Lightning Hopkins. The opening band was dressed ala Kieth Richards. Lightning asked me if they were on hard times. I said their bands make more in a week than he makes in a year. He just shook his head speechless. Those old guys dressed to the nines because they grew up having to wear clothes that were raggidy. There was no choice for them but to "dress down" so when they made some money they dressed up as big as they could.
---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
There's some pretty good money being made in the high-end club circuit, casinos, and the small to mid-size theatre venue circuits. Some of my friends are getting $20 covers playing small regional arts centers, etc. Part of the problem is the lack of quality & rehearsal time with working bands. Many guys I know are playing with 2-3 bands, and they're not as tight as they could be 'cuz everybody's spread too thin.
Oh man, highly entertaining thread, on so many levels, probably because Frank is such an original (cue the 54 forum members now posting videos to show that he stole..er borrowed every piece of art he ever created or idea that he had); and because the question of how internet/computer technology has/will change the music business is so fascinating.
On the subject of Zappa, I was never really a fan of his music, but how can you not love the guy after listening to that short interview? As an aside, the funniest moment was not anything you heard from him, but what they didn't want you to hear. They bleeped the word masturbation? What the hell channel was that? The bookburners broadcasting association of America?
On the subject of technology/music business, to me it's a "the technology giveth and the technology taketh away" situation. It's hard to argue that the ability to illegally download and burn music has not contributed in a major way to the decline in CD sales, technology groups protests/studies to the contrary not withstanding. And what about youtube's ubiquitous presence? There's no doubt in my mind that the ability to compile playlists and then use the PC as a stereo for the evening, has contributed to my buying less music.
Stickman asks an interesting question. On balance, has more or less music been sold as a result of technology like itunes? The initial studies/articles I've seen, mostly in the business/financial press have said less.. much less. Probably partly for the very reason he mentioned. Paying $0.99 each for the two tunes you wanted, does not make up for the $14.99 you would have spent had you been forced to buy the whole CD. Read another way, one could conclude there weren't a huge number of fans, prior to the creation of itunes, who looked at a CD and said, "there's really only two songs on here I want, screw it, I ain't buying it." Most people just forked over the $$$.
But a great thing happened on the way to Bono not being able to afford his third island, and Lady Gaga having to settle for the Gulfsteam II instead of the Gulfstream III. Artists like kudzurunner and waltertore can now get their music produced (with high quality production values) and published...and get paid for it. prior to today's technology, that wouldn't have been possible without a record label or a "patron of the arts / sugardaddy" type individual being involved.
I tend to view the change as the great egalitarian-ization of the music business. Well sort of, the talented people, in both creating and marketing the art, will still make more than those less talented (and that's the way it should be, right?), but things will flatten out somewhat as we move forward.
I guess I'm agreeing with Mr.V above. Well, except for that part about disco.
Disco sucks.
Last Edited by on Oct 07, 2011 11:26 AM
Adam: Great post. I've got some friends. Very dear friends who've been trying and trying to make it. They've done some amazing sessions. One for a posthumous Eva Cassidy album and last week one of them recorded with Boy George of Culture Club.
They're really good, have a great fan base and deserve every good thing. Stardom on a Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga level? No. But they are great and deserve recompense. I think the record industry has been a negative thing. It's made for mass production and exposure without allowing the individual to shine.
Many artists over the years have been signed in order to be stifled as they are too similar to the record company's latest thing. I applaud the modern age for allowing artists of all shapes and sizes to be heard, make a living and be appreciated by people who would otherwise never hear of them under the old way of doing things.
