I am an avid reader of what's happening in the music industry, and from what I read, it looks very bleak. Record sales will be down about 13% again this 2009 year. If I'm not mistaken, that makes 9 years in a row that the industry has failed to show a profit. Of course the usual suspect is to blame, piracy. I don't think it's piracy alone that's causing the decline in sales. I think the main reason is because a lot, I MEAN A LOT of the music that's out there is GARBAGE. You would never catch me spending my hard earned money on that crap! I also think the music creation process is so accessible that anybody can make a song and post it on the web in a very short period of time. This floods the market by independent artists and bands, and make it hard for major artists to sell their songs.
What are your thoughts on the subject guys?
Tim
I agree with you on the fact that most of anything that is played on the radio in this day and age is garbage. Any song you hear is practically a dime a dozen. i also believe it's because of the fact that record labels dont take risks anymore. once they find whats "hot", all they do is market that and kind of push other people out of the picture that may be doing something innovative and revolutionary.
ReplyDeleteI also think that with the advancements of the home computer and the World Wide Web, music is more easilay accesible through the artists blogs and leak sites.
Exactly. Labels don't take risks anymore. They are playing it safe. I hope music gets back to what music used to be, GOOD!
ReplyDeleteWe need a massive change in leadership at labels is what I think. we need diverse minds and risk takers. But honestly, they dont care about the quality of music. its all about the money for them. They tell the artist what to play and they take all of the money from the artists work. that also needs to change. Which is why i respect what Radiohead did with their In Rainbows CD. they made it a digital release only for a certain amount of time, and you could pay from 1 cent to like 100 dollars i think. they didnt really make that much money, but it was an admirable risk.
ReplyDeletethe days of the record labels have changed drastically thanks to the technology available today. I believe it's a good thing and a bad thing... Good thing because it levels the playing field for us who are legit and making music as career not a hobby.. Bad because there are a lot of new cats depeleting the market with talentless amature music.. All of a sudden we have bedroom beatmakers with free software, CEO's that live with their mom and rappers talking bout things and places they never been, had,seen or touched... But the major labels still have one thing that can still work for the new industry and upcoming independent legit artist, and that is major distribution to venues and stores that matter like walmart, films ect...let's see what happenes... See u on the charts!
ReplyDeleteYeah Rick. Distribution an marketing is the big issue in my opinion. Sure independent artists have access to things like, Myspace, Facebook, etc., but they don't have easy access to television and radio. If that ever happens, the majors will lose total control.
ReplyDelete