Fodder for ppl who despise major labels

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Typo Szar
Member Since: Jul 04, 2002


This is from a guy in a band called Too Much Joy which i have to admit ive never heard of, but a pretty amusing blog on how his major label is to a sense shafting his band over their download revenues

www.toomuchjoy.com/?p=1397

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Pinnipedal Czar (: 3=
Member
Since: Apr 11, 2004

Dec 02, 2009 09:41 am

It really is a shame.

So many peeps in that guys shoes, too.

Tisk, tisk...


It seems to me that with buisness practices as such, major labels will someday be a thing of the past... probably sooner than they would ever like to be.

Typo Szar
Member
Since: Jul 04, 2002

Dec 02, 2009 09:55 am

I know the policy here on downloading, and i in no way endorse the pirating of music but i dont have any illusions about the whole "it hurts the artist" part of the argument

as far as im concerned it hurts the labels and they take it out on the artists, but that doesnt negate the fact that labels have been hurting artists for decades

http://www.unitedmusicians.info
Contributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007

Dec 02, 2009 11:17 am

Definitely agree that labels are taking frustrations out on artists.

I think the key going forward is to accept responsibility for operating a group like it's a business. I don't think there's a huge market for exclusively creative people anymore...but I do think there are many more niche markets than ever before, and since digital distribution is/can be free that's one big piece of the pie labels can't get in on.

So lets break down this label service mumbo jumbo for fun:
1.) Recording services
2.) Marketing
3.) Management/tour
4.) Distribution
5.) Legal guidance

Those are pretty much the basic benefits a label has to offer an artist, right?

1.) $2000, practice and HRC is all a guy REALLY needs.
2.) Topspin does some great direct to fan marketing for cheap
3.) Perhaps a missing link here, maybe something like LinkedIn will emerge as a way for artists to cut out the label when planning cross country tours.
4.) P2P...or if you just HAVE to get paid, the Zune Marketplace is the only perfect subscription service out there that I know of. When Spotify is released out of beta I think it will be the Zune's only contender for a true subscription model. My point is that distribution is free or cheap.
5.) creativecommons.org has all the info anyone needs to secure music for the business models of the future.

I don't HATE labels...but I think their frustration is pretty hilarious. They've been making huge profits selling the same recordings in different formats every few years until Mp3 became the listeners format of choice. When you're selling your back catalog as fast as you're selling your new releases, that's bound to inflate your value. Now they have a completely intangible and portable medium to deal with, and an obnoxious standard for profitability.

If I were a major label executive, I would sell my big building and separate the services traditionally offered in a package deal, you know, the "You're gonna get boned and like it if we can hide the details" package. I would target the artists as the audience for the individual services and offer managers as consultants rather than agents. I would abandon the label names in favor of newer, more descriptive business names describing the services provided by the individual new companies...and maybe more importantly ditching the name artists are sure to associate with getting boned.

The moral of the story can be summarized by this pseudo quote from a source I can't remember...Janis Ian I think?

"Major labels are either going to smarten up their business practices, or technology companies will wait until their stock prices sink to an acceptably low price and re-model for them."

Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002

Dec 02, 2009 11:26 am

I really can see both sides of the issue...I mean, the pirating aspect, really, I think the labels went totally the wrong direction and totally went off the deep end in much the same way PETA, ACLU, and many other groups (not to get political, just examples) that have a good basic premise get WAY too caught up and go nuts making a joke of themselves.

At the same time tho, whether the pirating hurts anyone or not, it is stealing. You could come into my house and steal a fork from my silverware drawer, would it hurt me, no, I have a few others, but it's still stealing.

Artists often times, at least in the past, have had to go with labels cuz labels had the money to fund them, and they were broke..."starving artist" is a cliche for a reason.

The entertainment industry has yet to keep up with this new generation of users. I've said it before, I'll say it again, they need to embrace and work with the technology generation, not sue it.

http://www.unitedmusicians.info
Contributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007

Dec 02, 2009 11:54 am

I see your point regarding theft, but there's really no point in trying to slow down usenet groups/p2p. I also agree that it is counterproductive to sue my generation of download-crazy music collectors.

I think what the behavior is showing is that as consumers we feel like we deserve a large pool of music to choose from...regardless of whether it's paid for or not. And we also feel that music is too expensive.

The Zune Marketplace is the only service I know of that has a perfect business model to transition my generation from being illegal download collectors to being legitimate contributors to music culture.

Zune charges $15 a month for unlimited access to almost any artist, you can download them, stream them, or use a music recommendation engine to discover new music. If you have a 180 GB Zune, you can download 180 GB of content every day for the whole month...but the cost is still $15. Microsoft pays a group to track downloads and distributes money to the artists accordingly. The question becomes...how much music do people REALLY listen to, and will they switch out music often enough that artists end up earning a worthless gain?

Hard to speak for the general population, but I downloaded 30GB of music on my 30 GB zune 6 months ago, and I'm just now considering switching out my library for new material. I've paid $90 in the past 6 months for the OPTION to download as much music as I want. That's more money than I've spent on recorded music in the previous 5 years combined. My generation downloads. It's what we do, hah.

I think people feel like music is a service more than a product, even if its subconsciously. I think getting away from thinking of music as a plastic object is a better vantage for expression in general.


Typo Szar
Member
Since: Jul 04, 2002

Dec 02, 2009 09:06 pm

I totally agree with pirating as stealing, and ofcourse i dont endorse stealing but my next idea in that dilemma is totally y my band has decided to offer our albums for free from the get go. ppl cant steal stuff that ur giving away

ofcourse a major label with a tight business plan would see that as ridiculous but that is exactly y i think majors r on the outs. when u keep the operation down to a few ppl that have a large "emotional" investment than financial investment with teh product they r willing to make the monetary sacrifices it needs

its much easier for my band to recoup wat we lost making our CD by touring and selling merch and all that stuff and we would probalby turn a profit MUCH sooner than if we were on a label that immediately ascribed tens of thousands of dollars to our name and said that we owed them that money

pirating of software and movies n such im not even touching on, i think this is a phenomena strictly for music becoz of the nature of its audience and creators. if i make a great song, im only validated when ppl hear that song and enjoy it and if no one can enjoy it coz they cant pay for it im the only one who loses.

http://www.unitedmusicians.info
Contributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007

Dec 02, 2009 09:59 pm

I've never been a rock star...but I've heard rumors that royalty checks have always been a small piece of the pie for most groups.

I think of albums as a tool to create buzz rather than an item to be sold. It's a tool to promote a service...the service of rocking your socks off.

If someone ELSE is making money on recordings that you created...then that's a whole different can of worms.

> > > Fodder for ppl who despise major labels

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