Not a day goes by that the Music Industry is not somehow finding it's way into the press. Whether it's trying to sue college students, crying how people aren't buying CDs anymore (48% of teens bought CDs in Canada last year, not terrible given the archaic medium) or the 'progressive' labels trying to figure out a new business model, you're guaranteed to hear about them over your morning coffee and toast (do people still do that?)Today i see there is a little article taking on the branding of the label / artist.
But it seems to always come down to those age old Record Label Execs trying to continually make the big bucks for being the now, unnecessary middle-man.
For the marketers, check out this article from MiC (Media in Canada). Nothing groundbreaking, but its a step in the right direct for the masses to finally start understanding the relationship between the customer/listener and the bands. More for the from the industry execs in this StrategyMag article.
"Quite frankly, a lot of the challenges the music industry is going through are about changing their traditional revenue streams. How do we create new models of accessing content in a way that makes sense for the brand? By 'access,' I really mean 'pay' for the content. You can use content in a way that makes sense for the brand and its customers."
For those of you that are die hard music fans or really interested in what the majority of pirates (read: music lovers) think, check this October article from Demon Baby. It is long, but it is complete. It comes down to the fact that the record label industry is run by people stuck in the past that have been making a fortune by being the middle man. The industry changed, they did not adapt. You cannot feel sorry for those that r*aped and pillaged their artists with bad record contracts to keep all the profits for themselves. The second article goes into the details of the extravagant waste (essentially open face coke buffets).
Standard business practice is to cut unnecessary costs and keep up-to-date with the environment and your competitors. If only these high school drop out Record Industry Execs actually look a business 101 class, the would know to to their PEST analysis.
So if you're so smart, what do you suggest?
Along with most of what's in the demon baby article makes great sense, the whole premise for my suggestion is that you should pay the artists for their music.
Earth shattering isn't it?
How?
Well, support their shows when they tour in your area.
Recording studios are becoming so cheap and the technology is available for most middle income kids to have a professional sounding studio in their basement, so what do musicians need Labels for?
Distribution? No.
Studios? No.
Marketing? Maybe.
If the labels want to stay in business, they should shift from being the middle men, to being the marketing managers for the bands organizing all the promotions for putting their artists music in media (commercials, doing promotions, sponsored tours).
Really, the bands can do this themselves, but of course the economies of scale are on the record label's side.
Will they make the same stupid amount of money as before? NO.
Should they? NO.
They had their hay day, where they were in control of the industry; now it's their turn to turn in their coke mirrors and $1000 daily 'business' lunches and take a collaborative approach.
I would love to discuss this for days (gee, can you tell?), but this is long enough for now.
There will be more mentions of this, that is inevitable. Next up, maybe DRM and iTunes Plus (DRM free music at acceptable quality 256kbps)
But that's for another day.
Cheers,
Standard blah blah blah, I don't endorse piracy.
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