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You know the music industry is in trouble when MTV is preparing for the autopsy. Maybe there should be a rule against that kind of thing – like, yr not allowed to diagnose the music industry if yr major contribution to music these days is Laguna Beach, My Super Sweet 16 and A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila. But you know, freedom of speech and all.
Anyway, this is still a nice summary of what will probably go down as a major turning point in the music industry as we know it. Universal Music chief Doug Morris has already admitted in front of God and everybody that he – and pretty much all of the other labels – were clueless about digital music and the Internets, and now even big-name artists have decided they’re sick of the labels’ collective crap.
Paul McCartney (of all people) gave testimony to The Times last week about why he left EMI – they were so boring and bureaucratic that they needed a six-month lead time to figure out how to market a song that Paul wanted to release. To which Paul said, “Bugger this, mate” and decided he was better off with a coffee shop chain.
Interesting times.
But how much difference will this really make in terms of mainstream music consumption? Probably not much. The major labels will always exist in some form, and in any case, we’ve already seen that, at least for now, mainstream product tops the charts in CD or digital dowload form. Whether yr on Sony BMG or Hear Music, mass-market is still mass-market, and mainstream music remains a pretty tame, non-innovative, product-driven affair.
Which is ironic, given that discoverability of new music is easier than ever (at least if you have a broadband connection), thanks to MySpace, Last.fm, Rhapsody, Lala.com, etc. You don’t HAVE to put up with whatever the ever-growing Clear Channel cartel puts on its playlist. The music you REALLY want to hear is out there if you want it, and available for online purchase or download.
But when I was in Singapore a couple of weeks back, a guy I know at MTV (again, the irony!) was talking about how one of the interesting downsides of spoiling music fans for choice is that they end up being too overwhelmed. As a result, he says, most people will stick to Top 10 lists the way many YouTube viewers stick to the Top 10 Most Popular Videos list rather than dig around.
If that’s true, maybe it suggests that most people have sort of been groomed by the mass market approach to music to just take what’s handed to them rather than make the effort to find something else.
In theory that could also include mixtapes yr friends make for you, which is how a lot of underground music gets heard. On the Internets, that’s called viral marketing, and it’s a proven and highly effective technique. Too bad the RIAA has declared ripping CDs that you’ve paid for a felony. Too bad the Bush Admin agrees.
Which, of course, is why the music business is dying in the first place.
Yr gonna get what you deserve,
This is dF
Anyway, this is still a nice summary of what will probably go down as a major turning point in the music industry as we know it. Universal Music chief Doug Morris has already admitted in front of God and everybody that he – and pretty much all of the other labels – were clueless about digital music and the Internets, and now even big-name artists have decided they’re sick of the labels’ collective crap.
Paul McCartney (of all people) gave testimony to The Times last week about why he left EMI – they were so boring and bureaucratic that they needed a six-month lead time to figure out how to market a song that Paul wanted to release. To which Paul said, “Bugger this, mate” and decided he was better off with a coffee shop chain.
Interesting times.
But how much difference will this really make in terms of mainstream music consumption? Probably not much. The major labels will always exist in some form, and in any case, we’ve already seen that, at least for now, mainstream product tops the charts in CD or digital dowload form. Whether yr on Sony BMG or Hear Music, mass-market is still mass-market, and mainstream music remains a pretty tame, non-innovative, product-driven affair.
Which is ironic, given that discoverability of new music is easier than ever (at least if you have a broadband connection), thanks to MySpace, Last.fm, Rhapsody, Lala.com, etc. You don’t HAVE to put up with whatever the ever-growing Clear Channel cartel puts on its playlist. The music you REALLY want to hear is out there if you want it, and available for online purchase or download.
But when I was in Singapore a couple of weeks back, a guy I know at MTV (again, the irony!) was talking about how one of the interesting downsides of spoiling music fans for choice is that they end up being too overwhelmed. As a result, he says, most people will stick to Top 10 lists the way many YouTube viewers stick to the Top 10 Most Popular Videos list rather than dig around.
If that’s true, maybe it suggests that most people have sort of been groomed by the mass market approach to music to just take what’s handed to them rather than make the effort to find something else.
In theory that could also include mixtapes yr friends make for you, which is how a lot of underground music gets heard. On the Internets, that’s called viral marketing, and it’s a proven and highly effective technique. Too bad the RIAA has declared ripping CDs that you’ve paid for a felony. Too bad the Bush Admin agrees.
Which, of course, is why the music business is dying in the first place.
Yr gonna get what you deserve,
This is dF
