I'm a business man. I own a recording studio, am in business school, and am working on artistic endeavors with two projects designed to make money off of music that I was involved in creating.
I used to be a "slave to the record industry", wanting nothing more than to be signed to a label and "make it big"! But the more I learn about the music business the more jaded I get at the thought of someone else controlling my art and making money off of me, while I get the scraps.
Napster changed the way we consume music forever. I'm not getting into a discussion about piracy here, I'd be flattered if my songs were being shared on a P2P system. But I bring up Napster because it shows the power of the internet. Music consumers decided they no longer wanted to pay $20 for a CD of 12 songs, opting instead to bypass the music industry and just take the music! Again, I'm not getting into whether or not P2P is a good thing or bad thing, but no one can argue that Napster didn't help change things forever.
Now the consumer is in control, and it's all thanks to the internet! The consumer could turn to myspace (before it turned to myspam) to find new music that wasn't being approved by the corporate music industry structure. They could turn to youtube to watch Julia Nunes strumming her ukelele and sing her quirky songs, or watch Pomplamoose's infectious covers and originals. They can now network with other musicians across the country to book shows without the label telling them who they can or can't play with or what to wear on stage. They can now sell their music directly to their fans without pandering to the labels for a measly $0.15 for each record sold. They can, and have, become famous in their own right without playing a single show!
So now that the internet has broken the old industry model of corporate control and given the power back to the musician, it's hard for me to fathom giving my art to someone else to make money off of when I can just sell it directly to my fans and keep the fruits of my labors! The business man in me knows that I now have the power to get my music to a worldwide audience, and aside from not wanting to give up the control of my artistic choices, I also don't think it's a wise business decision for me to give up most of the revenues my art brings in just for the sake of being on Mtv and local radio!
The thing that artists need to understand is that they are not only artists, but they are a small business. According to economic theory, the goal of any business is to maximize profits. 15 years ago, the best thing for an artist to do would be to get signed to a label, as the label would provide the financial backing to produce an awesome album and promote the tour of the artist. This in tern would help the artist gain exposure. Basically, the label was a way of exposing your art to a massive audience. But the problem is that labels wanted to control what was being shown. This is understandable, they want to make money (they ARE a business first and foremost). But now that the internet has provided a way of providing mass exposure for an artist without the use of a record label, the record label is now a dinosaur that will be soon extinct.
With regards to a label providing funding for an album to be produced……..even though I own a recording studio and want everyone to pay me to record their music, I realize that a lot of people are now generating the skills of an audio engineer and are building cost effective home studios that are more than capable of producing top notch recordings. This puts the creative control and budgetary concerns back in the hands of the musician, because the musician no longer needs to seek out a huge loan from a label to hire a top notch producer to record a top notch album for them. If the album flops, the band members are in debt for the rest of their days! Why would anyone take that risk when much more sensible and cost effective solutions are available today?!
This is sort of a rant, and I realize that. It's not very organized, but I hope that the thoughts I portray in it are conveyed well enough for all to understand. The internet has given us the power back. We should take that power and use it to the best of our ability to build our careers on our own terms.
Thanks for reading.
In closing.....here's Julia Nunes on CNN, followed by my very first Videosong!
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