How Many Sell-Outs Does It Take To Change A Music Business?
I am sure by now you have already heard or read the NPR piece on how much it costs to make a hit record. And whereas the exact numbers may be debatable (they say 1 million for Rhianna's "Man Down"), it really doesn’t matter; what should be paramount in the debate is the principle of the thing. Surely this just confirms that for any self-respecting artist, the old music industry is completely dead.
I have often written about the need for a change in people’s perception of the industry. Many seem to have a twisted faith that the majors are the ones who still hold the key to success. They will argue that any talk of the old industry being an ailing dinosaur, is mere hyperbole led by a bunch of jealous indie musicians who can’t get a deal.
Surely the way the majors conduct business these days is making sure the old 5% success rate, found through the channels of the major music industry, is fast approaching a big fat zero. To throw millions of dollars at an ever-shrinking wall, with the hope that something might stick, is not a business model built to succeed. They are bypassing the quality of product, and sacrificing it for something that they can control and mold into what they believe is a sure thing. Trouble is, people are making their voices heard loud and clear. They no longer support the judgment of the labels, they tire of the music that the major label machine focus group thinks will click with the majority. They make their sentiment heard by simply not buying product.
It’s not a case that people don’t want to buy product from artists they love. It’s just that most of what they are exposed to is unlovable. Because it is made by committee and channeled through a puppet willing to expose as much of their body as needed. Not as an artistic statement, but purely because they know a pair of tits will probably get a mention on TMZ and a feature in the Huff Post’s entertainment section.
On the other hand, for the amount of money a successful indie musician puts into their craft, it is possible to get good returns. Without the ridiculous overheads of paying a team of writers, bribing radio and saturating whatever outlets they can with advertizing, an independent can, with a pretty basic plan, get results.
The key is of course good product and hard work. If you are good, people will share your video, like your page and tell their friends about you. They will sign up to your mailing list, they will come and see your show and they will buy product. You may no longer be able to sell a million records, but if you sell 1000 albums, then that’s roughly 10,000 bucks – now that is good business with good return. Couple that with shows, and if you can pull 50 – 100 paying customers, then there is money to be made there too. It’s not going to happen over night, but it can happen pretty rapidly once you get the formula right.
If you are a band or musician building your career, do you really want to be part of this type mass-produced music machine? Rhianna has obviously had torrid experiences in her life, the Chris Brown incident should itself spawn a plethora of influence for song writing. However, the only influence that comes out in the music is when the label exploits it for publicity purposes, like in a music video designed purely for grabbing headlines and devoid of any real content.
If you want to chase a major deal then you go ahead, and you can argue me till you hearts content. The only way the majors think they can save their asses is to not care about you or your craft, but by doing this they just run their own business into the ground in the process.
How many sell-outs does it take to ruin the music industry? Doesn’t matter – it’s already too late. The real question is how many true artists will it take to save it?
Hypebot contributer Robin Davey is an independent musician and Head of Music & Film Development at GROWvision.
Great write up Robin! I couldn’t agree with you more. Fans don’t care what label their favorite artist is on. They care about quality music. Once artists understand that their focus needs to be writing quality music and mastering their instrument, the rest will fall into place with a solid strategy (obviously much easier said than done). Another revenue generator that artists can utilize for their careers to help keep them on tour and recording…http://www.likezebra.com/backbeat
You’re spot on with “It’s not a case that people don’t want to buy product from artists they love. It’s just that most of what they are exposed to is unlovable.” Keeping that in mind along with shifting one’s ideas of what success looks like, a decent income versus a mansion on an island, is part of a new and beautiful but perhaps overwhelming landscape where anything is possible.
I agree with every single word in this article. GREAT job!
Sorry Robin, reads nice – won’t work.
It won’t work because despite what we’d like to believe, people are mostly buying the “unlovable” stuff, if at all.
This isn’t to say that you cannot carve out a niche career, but it’s incredibly difficult. Our business has high overheads and the margins are tumbling down. The reason for low success rates is simply this: only a few artists are in a position to succeed. That’s not going to change. No matter how much we like bashing the industry.
this has nothing to do with bashing the industry. its about recognizing a system due to many factors, some in there control and some out of there control is no longer working. its better and more realistic for an artist to work on a new business model then to try an be that (1) one artist that pays for the rest of the label. that model is DEAD and no matter what people like you say, ITS NOT COMING BACK! deal with it.
god
Faza, it all depends on what you consider “success”. I know a lot of people who make a living doing what they love; writing and performing music. Do they own mansions? No. Do they own extravagant cars? No. But they have a good roof over their heads, pay their bills and are doing something that they love every day of their lives. THAT to me, is success. You CAN make music and make a living out of it and be successful; it just depends on what you decide is successful; true happiness, or money and material things.
@faza To carve out any career in music is incredibly difficult, but it can be done. You don’t have to have high overheads if you have real talent!!! You just got to start small and naturally build it. Too many people don’t realize a career starts in a bar to 2 men and a dog (or something of equivalent size). If you try and leap in any higher then it’s gonna cost a lot more and you are not going to be ready.
I find it extremely interesting that the NPR article focused on Rihanna, the one so called “musician” who I consistently use as an example to how screwed up the music industry is. It’s been stated here and other news outlets before that her tours have been experiencing great difficulty selling tickets and that certain scheduled performances had to be cancelled even. I have thought for a long time that she is not very talented, has poorly produced and written music, and that she is just rather bland altogether. All of the information that comes out about her supports this fact. So why do the labels keep investing in her? Why SO much? Why don’t they see that trying to cater to the largest common denominator they are also producing the most bland and worthless product possible which hurts them AND the entire industry? This all goes to show, though, that:
1 – Major labels don’t find talent anymore, they make talent.
2 – Making talent is not the same (and worth less) than real talent.
3 – The majors are still hogging up a lot of the media by throwing their wallets around.
4 – How much longer can the majors retain their dominance and sales figures under these circumstances and still stay in business?
Free album download at http://www.facebook.com/chancius
Umbrella is a good song. But anyone could have made that a hit.
Robin – you don’t even need to start in clubs. We started in house concerts, defining “success” as getting 11 people to listen to us in a house concert for two whole sets.
Eventually we built enough audience to “crowd source” our recordings (long before the term came to be and WAY before Kickstarter) and the hired studio players backed us up in larger, almost always self produced rooms.
The best we ever did was 285 people at $15 – $20 ticket, with our now eight piece band. It’s never been about the money, but it pays for itself.
We’ve done exactly one club gig in since 1997 when we started. (Did lots of clubs as a solo before then – with very limited success.)
Totally agree Chris, if you have something worthwhile it will gain traction no matter where you start.
“yes ” the music Business is changing!!! it is natural that 20% of musicains that create music to add value to our musical culture take the risk to Exspress themselfs on this beautiful blue planet we call earth, we have absolutly nothin to lose but everthing to gain even if we crash and burn the exsperience is worth it.I believe any form of music should benifit man kind.So “yes” why not surport your local band, be a friend and hopefully together you can transform everyones perspective of whats gonna happen NEXT ??
Rihanna is a brilliant singer with a series of outstanding hits. Whatever the system is that created those hits, long may it continue.
She doesn’t write her own material but she does attract the best songs because she’s so compelling (like Sinatra, Elvis, TLC…).
She has sold tens of millions of downloads, not just in the USA but around the world. Her inability to sell 20,000 tickets in Auburn doesn’t make her a failure.
Because on average, Rihanna delivers. My kids love pop music, and Rihanna is one of their favorites. She has hit after hit after hit. Yeah, a few miss, but overall, she is dominant on radio and her songs sell well on iTunes. What amazes me is how people are positively SHOCKED that these songs are written as committee. Well, that is nothing new. In fact it’s an old tradition, best described in a recent podcast of Sound Opinions. Show #291:
http://www.soundopinions.org/archive/2011/june.html
As to her tour, pop music is a lot tougher to sell as a live show. Lady Gaga has found a way, but in general, guitar bands, while selling far less records, seem to do better on tour.
The music industry is very complicated and what it comes down to now are who makes $ v.s. who has talent. Rhianna may not be the best singer but she can sell albums. It’s really a sad situation for those artists that truly have a unique gift.
I’m not saying that she’s never sold ANY music and I’m sure her sales are decent for the current state of the music sales in general, but when a superstar (which she has been referred to numerous times) has to cancel multiple shows due to poor ticket sales, that is NOT an artist that delivers.
Just because you may be a fan, the numbers don’t agree that most people are. Also, you’re kids liking a certain musician is not a standard to be held to when deciding whether something is quality or not. Children have the most passing and general tastes of all listeners and consumers. That’s why the major labels market to them so heavily.
I think many are missing one of my main points. By utilizing this system, the record industry is running itself into the ground, because they are spending more money and getting less returns. It has nothing to do with Rhianna as an individual artist, it is about the structure of the industry.
I have NO idea what some of these commentors are on… I guess they’ve just sipped the kool-aid…
The fact that the industry is throwing that kind of money around and not seeing the returns that they want to see, used to see, or need to see is very sad. They believe that they can just fabricate art (even if it’s just pop art) and people will want it. True art comes from the heart… the mind… the soul. But that’s the biggest problem. The biggest shift the music industry ever saw was when the majors were purchased by the same people who owned the food industry and assumed that it sold itself like food, but they are two very different products. They believe that you can make them the same way… by creating them via conveyor belts and over spending on advertising. NOT the same PRODUCTS!!!
Free album download at http://www.facebook.com/chancius
You know, as mich as if like to agree with you…
I reckon that there is enough idiots out there. Common folk who just eat up whstever they are served.
The major labels will continue to find success due to the working man listening to the radio & going out to clubs where they play all the same pop shit (as described in your post).
Don’t get me wrong, it makes me sick. But hey, many people who are devoid of artistic abilitty as well as knowledge of the difference between organically created music & major label ‘team of writers’ ‘focus group’ music seem to make up the bulk of the population.
Have you ever looked at wikipedia page for rhanna’s ‘rude boy’? It boggles the mind when you look at the number of writers.
The truth is, this is depressing me because I have a self funded record being tracked in October with the best of the 60 or so songs I’ve written in the last two years.
Buy my record & stop your ANALyzing.
I have to agree a bit with Stanmore Phoenix to an extent. The majority of music buyers cannot discern quality from familiarity. They are paying for familiarity – and NOT quality. They will gobble anything that over-the-air radio offers them. To them music is good as long as it is on over-the-air radio. Apparently, if it is not on there, it isn’t worthy of listening. That is one part of the problem. Record labels, on the other hand, are at the mercy of over-the-air radio since it stimulates the largest sales. Record labels want immediate returns or at least the prospect of it so investing in acts and organic songwriting processes such that returns are generated in the long-run does not even cross their mind anymore. I don’t blame record labels entirely. I feel like they are at the mercy of terrestrial radio. Terrestrial Radio has convinced the masses that their playlists are based on extensive market research (which is absolute bullshit in my humble opinion). I personally think internet and satellite radio stations are the only solution to this problem. They need to really step up their marketing game and beat terrestrial radio at their own game. Record labels are better off being at the mercy of satellite/internet radio stations that are controlled by those who can discern quality from garbage – as opposed to being at the mercy of corporate stooges that claim to create playlists from extensive market research.
Robin…there was one point you made that got me rethinking an idea I have held on to for a long time. I still truly believe that artists need a major label record label to break the big leagues – but breaking the big leagues does not necessarily mean money is being made – unless the artists becomes highly sought after for product endorsements. You reframed this whole “big record deals vs not” to a ROI angle, and that is actually starting to make sense to me. I never thought of it before. That being said, this is a GREAT article that you have written. Everyone ought to read it!
Rihanna is a huge success financially and musically.
There is no doubt that the old system is changing. That is not to say that the pure Indie, DIY systems work or are really scale-able past the regional level. Brian Levine is right Rihanna is making a fortune and will continue to be economically relevant for years to come grossing probably more than most of the indie artists combined.
There is a need for a hybrid system that reduces overhead while still allowing for national and international success.
Touring nationally is very expensive and internationally even more so. If the music is not the product being sold, as we keep hearing in this blog over and over, then what is and how do you get it to the willing fans with the cash?
If the worlds operated by Insomniac and their Nocturnal and Electric Daisy Carnivals show us, it is that real money must be invested to become a true power in the music business. The question is what is that model.
Brian my point is how sustainable is the system that put her where she is? It’s a dying business yet they are still operating with such high costs without the return on product.
Whatever..Lets get real. She BLOWS and so do most of the manufactured pop artists and ESPECIALLY the bland pop country Nashville puts out…CRAP, utter CRAP. If you can’t hear this you have no ears.