Is the democratization of the music business a complete failure?
I grew up in the 1980s. That was the era of big labels, big tours and long hair! A lot of $$$ was made. Bands from the ’60s and early ’70s were talking about how they got screwed but these ’80s bands were killing it. Go back and watch “Behind the Music” episodes by Billy Joel or John Fogarty. Bands were being fucked left and right by everyone including promoters, managers and record labels. The attitude among the ruling elite of the music business was, “These are hippies. Keep them high and make sure they have lots of groupies and they’ll be happy. They don’t know how to handle money. So we’ll take care of it for them.” That’s why so many artists in the late ’60s and early ’70s ended up penniless once the ringing in everyone’s ears faded.
Fortunately, by the late 1970s things were changing and by the 1980s with the arrival of MTV, smarter artists, and a legacy of horror stories from a decade before the musical artist ruled the planet. Artists from that area were some of the most influential people in the world and some of the most financially successful. Some of the artists of the ’70s and ’60s also enjoyed huge comebacks and financial success during that period. The image of the musical artist. Exactly the opposite of today.
So what the hell happened?
Gene Simmons and many others would like to blame grunge for the current state of affairs. In the early 1990s, rock music underwent a sea change. From an artistic point of view, it seems to have been necessary. Grunge was a kind of reset button and while some artists in that movement were very low-key in their performances, bands like Rage Against the Machine had crowds gathering in mosh pits. Not all were dark stages, depression and looking at your shoes. Keep in mind that whenever there has been a major change in the world, there are always several motivating factors. For example, the Vietnam War, the Kennedy assassination, psychedelic drug experimentation, and Watergate all went into the pot that created the hippy movement. It wasn’t just one factor. With that in mind, let’s go back to the “glory days” of the late ’70s and ’80s.
In the 80s it was very expensive to record an album, master it, make a video and promote it. Record labels would spend thousands before the song or album was released and not knowing what kind of return on investment they could expect. Why was it so expensive? Actually, it takes a town to record, videotape, and promote a band. Many of you reading this now have learned this the hard way. We’ll get back to that in a minute. Albums like Purple Rain and Born in the USA had dozens of people making sure everything was done and done right. This was still no guarantee of financial success, but the records were really well done. The artist focused on writing good music. The band concentrated on perfectly playing that music live and in the studio. The video director and his team gave the video their full attention and the people at the label worked very hard to get the record and play the video and support (pay for) the tour. He was a good role model. Quite expensive but it worked, and it gave many artists of that time a lot of financial and social capital. Then someone had a “better” idea…
Winy crybaby whining…
So we’ve got this machine well oiled, but still some people weren’t happy. Many artists felt that the major labels controlled the business. The big evil corporations were crushing the real artists. Many shouted “It’s not fair!” That was his right to do so. The war dragged on for about 10 to 15 years and when the smoke cleared. The tag system was dead. The independent artists had won. The music business was now completely “democratic”. We wanted a “fair” system… and guess what? We got our wish. The business is completely democratic. You can record a great sound record at home. There are mastering services that will master your disc very well for a very low price or you can even do it yourself. The technology also makes creating a video very cheap and fast, and there are literally HUNDREDS of marketing services geared towards the independent musician’s price point. The Internet allows you to promote yourself day and night practically for free. Now everyone can be a rock star!
Where are all these rock stars?
With all this technology and free promotion, why isn’t EVERYONE a rock star? If you’re a musician reading this, you’ve probably noticed that while all this democracy sounds good… I mean democracy HAS to be good, right? Why am I not having the success that I feel I should or even feel I deserve? About 20 years ago something disturbing began to happen. You would buy a CD by your favorite artist only to realize that the only good song was the one you heard on the radio. This is REALLY what happened to the music business. The drive to do more, spend less, and get that ROI faster leads to albums being produced with perhaps one good song, rather than a worthwhile album for great material. Fans began to become skeptical. I’m not making this up. This became a big topic in the music press in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Bands like Hootie and the Blowfish would put out an album full of great material. They sold millions and in an effort to duplicate that success they rushed to make another record. The second album flopped. This happened with many artists of that time. You can’t pull a hook and turn on your customers. You will lose EVERY TIME!
Album sales were falling. Internet downloads were on the rise. People thought… “Hey, his last album was pretty weak. Why should I spend $14.99 on his CD just to disappoint me when I can get it for free on the web?” I’m going to digress here for a minute. Did you find the price of $14.99 for a CD too high in the last sentence? That was actually a bargain price for a CD at the time. Many CDs were selling for $17.99 and some as high as $19.99. It’s hard to imagine people these days spending that kind of money on a CD, if they would buy one at all. That’s how bad things really are. The combination of weaker material, customer disappointment, internet downloading, money running out, and more options for people to spend their entertainment money on non-music related stuff is what got us to where we are today. .
Democracy in action!
So… fast forward and it’s 2014. The business is very segmented. Most of the music that comes out on the radio doesn’t translate well live unless you’re the original artist. So even the cover bands are struggling. Hip-hop and country have often surpassed the success of rock. Now that everything is democratic, the artist has too much on her plate. She needs to write, record, produce, mix and master her own album. she book her own shows, do her own promotion, shoot her own video and wear her own gear. Most record labels are just that “labels”. They are nothing more than the business structure that the artist herself must set up. There is a lot of freedom these days, but with freedom comes responsibility. That’s why not everyone is an indie sensation. Very few can maintain this work ethic. It’s a bitch to do it all yourself. Remember you STILL need to keep the lights on and feed yourself. A lot of people get excited when they see how open the business really is. It’s wide open. There is a lot of really unique, interesting, fun, catchy and downright great music out there. Many artists who couldn’t find a platform 5 years ago are touring and making a living from it. But they worked their asses off to get there. They partnered with other artists and companies. They learned to outsource many of their promotional costs. They barter. They find a way. They have learned that a village is really needed.
louis lombardi
http://loulombardi.com