Worldwide Impact of the Digital Revolution January 31, 2007
Posted by tycohen in Music.add a comment
I am not Japanese but the article I saw about jazz houses in Japan starting to shut down raised my awareness of how pervasive the new music culture has become not just in western countries, but worldwide. It’s a bit sad that an old institution such as the jazz club discussed in the article in the link had to close up. So that one side of me does sigh along with the old-timers and say “ain’t it a shame.”
Another side of me looks at something like this and thinks, why didn’t you change when the times changed? They speak in the article about carefully creating an atmosphere that is reverent of the culture so people could take up residence there and enjoy the jazz. Well when the culture changes, you make adjustments. That is what the owners of this jazz shop did in World War II and they survived the cultural shifts of those decades. You have to wonder if they just did not feel well informed enough or to have sufficient creativity to change the jazz club to be a place where a new generation of music lovers would hang out and soak up the jazz.
But that is what is going to have to happen in every venue and institution that is dedicated to serving the music loving community. Serving is the key word here. If we keep that idea in our minds, we will find out what it takes to keep fans coming to us whether its in a club, at a show or on our MySpace web space. “Whatever it Takes” seems to be a good motto for the current music industry learning the culture in this decade and this century, not one that was vibrant decades ago.
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Russ Solomon Interview on the Rise and Fall of Tower Records January 30, 2007
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I wanted to share with you a video out on YouTube that is an interview with Russ Solomon on the rise and fall of Tower Records. I think as you watch this interview, particularly with our perspective on the death of the music industry, it brings up a lot of interesting reactions and issues. My first thought when I got the link from a friend was that I would be going “oh boo hoo” about Mr. Solomon crying about the downfall of old music industry icons. But after giving the interview a fair viewing, I got mixed feelings.
Part of it is nostalgia because of some of the events he mentions. He talks about how much more social and fun going to a record store can be compared to shopping online. While I doubt if he knows how social MySpace can be, yeah, I like that experience we had that was similar to the scene in High Fidelity when John Cusack gets everybody in the record store rocking to a new sound.
But even more interesting was the take Mr. Solomon had on why music sales tanked in the late nineties. While he gives a nod of the head to downloading as an impact, he much more attributes the contrasting forces of free music plus record companies withdrawing singles from the market so you had to buy a whole album. He talks about eh greed of music companies refusing to let the consumer have the product they wanted in the format they wanted and then jacking up the prices of both CDs and concerts to the average music fan could not afford to participate.
Mr. Solomon observes that the biggest mistake made by the music industry was that they turned their backs on the kids and in doing so they lost a generation. The results is that today there is very little for kids to buy in record stores so kids don’t go in. You have to wonder that if the people making the decisions to rip apart the msuic marketplace like this had listened to Mr. Solomon, we might be living in an entirely different industry than we know today.
It’s a facinating interveiw – enjoy
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDpk74TX6fU
What We Got January 28, 2007
Posted by tycohen in Music.2 comments
A big part of why the Indie movement has been successful is that we know how to adapt and use the internet and up to date methods of file distribution and communication with our fans much better than older music institutions know how to do. But there is something that we have that also keeps the fans in our court. That is culture. The Indie movement by its very nature is more connected to the street and to what is breaking fast. We can adjust and cash in on something that springs to life in an instant and book it, distribute it and be coming around for new sessions with the newest and the best before the big record labels even get out of bed the next day.
And there was always something very cool and cultural about hanging out in a record store that is social in such a way that cannot really be recreated, even on MySpace. So when an Indie decides to recreate some of that fun with a Midnight Sale such as Sub Pop did with the new Shins album recently.
This is good to see. Sure, we are on top of how our fans love to interact online with the bands, with us as producers and booking agents and with each other. But every now and then, its time to turn off the computer and get out and do something cool. That is what Sub Pop is looking to recreate here and we applaud the movement.
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Infighting a Sign of Change January 28, 2007
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Sometimes I get a little flippant here talking about the death of the music industry. The big changes in the music industry have created a lot of upheaval in an industry that we all have called our home for a lot of years. Sure, its easy to be mad at “the man” and at the business side of the business that sometimes is more about money than art. But a lot of good people, and wonderfully talented artists have been wrapped up in this upheaval and that has caused some long hard times for some musicians.
Now we see that the music industry is really starting to change, even at the top. Finally we see the powers that be starting to doubt themselves and debate whether the best way to handle the changes in the industry was to fight them or if they should have gone with the old “can’t beat em, join em” approach.
This is a good debate for everybody in the music industry to engage in. And the fact is that the people of power and influence are starting to think that cooperating with the Indies and starting to work with the people and artists to create new ways to distribute and communicate within the industry. That debate may get a little heated but the outcome will be a smoother path to change than we have had for the last few years. And that’s a welcome prospect for all of us.
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Good News Even in Bad News January 28, 2007
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We hate to see bad news about independent labels having to merge such as the one we saw a few days ago about two tropical labels MP and J&N. But to only discuss the good and not the difficulties Indies go through sometimes is not being honest to the kinds of ups and downs that are the stuff of life in the music industry.
But this is one of the strengths of an independent label. By their very nature, independents are more flexible, more able to adapt to market changes, both good and bad and able to make adjustments to refocus their energies and resources. That is what we see MP and J&N doing here. Unlike a big powerhouse record label which, when faced with the kinds of market pressures these labels faced, have to resort to dumping artists or shutting down in other ways to survive, these labels made their adjustments to continue to serve their artists, even in a reduced market.
Maybe we are being overly ”positive thinking” oriented but we see good even in bad news like this. We see musicians doing what they have to do to survive. But the great we see here is that they were able to do it because of the strength and flexibility that the Indie movement has given them. And while we regret seeing fellow musicians struggle, its inspiring to us in one way. All of us have to work and struggle to make it in the music industry. Seeing the great success stories do help us continue reaching for the ring. Btu seeing how musicians adapt to trouble, market downturns and trouble can help us as well because it shows us that there are ways to change and morph without giving up on our dream of being independent musicians.
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Download That to My Yugo January 25, 2007
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Maybe Music City needs to drive across town to talk to the capital of the US car industry since they drink in the and bars and eat in the same restaurants. If Music City had any ideas about stopping the spread of new music formats, downloading and the spread of music to virtually any device that takes power, it looks like Detroit is in no position to stand in the way.
We have always known that the music industry is an integral part of every aspect of people’s lives. We are far from a fringe industry in this culture. So it makes sense that as our customers and fans have gotten more used to being able to access their music virtually anywhere, that the next frontier would be the automobile.
Well Detroit may be a bit slow sometimes but the automakers are not fools. They see a trend and they go with it. Now they are equipping new cars with the ability to integrate with virtually all of the newest formats and devices we use to take our music with us. So the next round of cars coming out of Detroit will be equipped with MP3 player connectivity. With this new technology, music lovers will not only have support for Ipods and MP3 players, they will be able to use music downloaded from Itunes and potentially stream internet radio directly through mobile phones into the car stereo system.
It may seem a bit like “Buck Rogers of the 21st century” to some of us. But lets face it, the 21st century is here and this new technology is not going to dry up and go away. Now that the automotive industry recognizes it, maybe everybody in the music industry will too.
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Clout January 25, 2007
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When you are in a war, the last thing you want to see is your enemy start to get organized and gain clout. So if the big music industry giants are in a war with the independents and the new music industry “upstarts”, as it appears they are with all the lawsuits and attacks they are using to stop anything new from taking over, then seeing the Indie movement get organized is a disaster.
Well its Disaster Reel Part I for the big music powerhouses because that is just what is happening. The one thing being big gives you is bargaining power. And if anything has been a hold back for the Indie movement, it has been not being able to swing some influence in the marketplace. That is the purpose of a new consortium of independent labels and music businesses called “Merlin”.
Its about time. What with independent labels being responsible for a third of music sold worldwide, being a second cousin to the majors is just dumb. As the Merlin’s new CEO, Charles Caldas, put it…
“The form of copyright apartheid currently being applied to the value of independent rights is unacceptable. Merlin will enable independents around the world to participate in new licensing and revenue models on competitive terms.”
This is yet another big breakthrough for independent musicians and record labels and worth looking into if you are running an Indie or are or are thinking of signing with one. The poor cousin if the music industry isn’t going to just lay there and keep taking second best. We are coming into our own.
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Epitath January 22, 2007
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Thinking about starting your own record label? You are probably thinking this blog will be here to discourage you. Nope! If anything the ability of independent record labels to make it big is a good reason to take a look at starting your own. So when one of our own makes good, we want to shout out about it. And Epitaph Records made history this week by celebrating twenty five years in business. Pretty phenomenal. Started by the members of Bad Religion, this label prospered by recruiting and representing truly innovated acts and through smart alliances with other Indie labels.
I think a statement by Andy Kaulkin who runs the sister label to Epitaph – Anti-, pretty much sums it up on why these labels have been successful…
“The label is for artists who are not trying to do something that’s trendy. They’re following their own path, and they have an understanding of music history without being beholden to it. It doesn’t matter what genre it is. You can do that in any genre, and you can do that at any age.”
Wow, we could make that statement the banner for this blog and just about any blog or publication dedicated to supporting the rise of independent music as we are. And its encouraging to see that the market for independent music is strong and growing even as the market for the corporate, instututional version of modern music is falling away.
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The Freight Train January 20, 2007
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The numbers keep coming in. We already knew that the new modes of communication and commerce between musicians and the music buying public was in the middle of a tsunami of change. I guess it takes the hard numbers to get the attention of the big guys in the old music industry. Well they are in and the outcome eclipses anybody’s prediction. The headline reads – Global Digital Music Sales Nearly Doubled in 2006.
What we are seeing and have been seeing even in the last few months is the “revolution” is more than a few funky musicians playing around in the basement with new technology. The movement is becoming a freight train barreling right through the middle of the music industry and its either get on board or get mowed down.
This article gives you a pretty accurate insight into how the conventional music industry is grasping the new paradigm, which is to say, not very well. When you see a quote from the leader of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) that they have not found the “holy grail” of how to capitalize on this trend, you can tell they are still trying to figure out how to empty the ocean with a teaspoon.
There is one statement in this article that really got my attention when it said, “Overall music sales were down 4 percent in the first half of 2006 due to piracy and competition for consumer spending.”
Here is a concept. Overall sales are NOT down due to piracy or competition. They are down due to CRAPPY QUALITY of music that the institutional music companies are trying to ram down our throats on their corporate run radio networks. If they would step back and let the true artists, the independents who are creating the truly creative and interesting music these days, do their stuff, sales would climb right back up again. Now that means learning how to do business in a new market place which means being flexible, willing to learn and adaptable, not the watchwords of corporate America. But with articles like this flowing in virtually daily, something tells me they might figure it out, eventually.
Koopa and the Arctic Monkeys January 18, 2007
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The commission we have given ourselves in this blog is to cover and discuss the big changes in the music industry and to celebrate the victories or (or bemoan defeats if they come) for Independent musicians, singers and others in the music industry. Between you and me, I never in a million years thought I would be writing an online blog that started with the title “Koopa and the Arctic Monkeys”.
But both of these bands are just the kind of success stories we are celebrating here. You have to see it as the chicken or the egg. We discussed a few days ago how the UK lead the way in breaking open the ratings system to include sales of music via digital mediums. Will this lead to even greater proliferation of the new music industry in England and worldwide? You know it.
But at the same time, the Brit’s decision is no doubt more of a reaction to the huge success of bands like The Arctic Monkeys who “before securing a record label deal, and went on to have the fastest selling debut album in the country’s history.” These successes are starting to get some attention at the top of the food chain, in the big paneled offices of music industries biggest organizations and we will see them become more and more open and responsive to the new ways that people and bands are getting together. That is more than just a beginning of the year prediction too. If they don’t become more responsive, they may very well go the way of the dinosaur and we don’t mean Jurassic Park.
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