The returns are in, and, according to this article from Reuters,
the music industry has hit an eight year low for sales. Among
corporate labels, there is much fretting and wringing of hands.
Reuters,
however, fail to recognize the non-major label music industry, who
don't seem to be pissing and moaning.
Major labels are a dying breed due to their own avarice, and nobody's
gonna cry when they die.
The four major labels (there were six when we started banning major
labels on Brainwashed: two down, four to go!) haven't woken up to the new reality: more
and more people don't want to pay for shitty corporate music and shitty
corporate tactics. Why should they? The money isn't going
to the artists and it isn't going to hard working employees: it's going to
computer companies who develop malicious spyware that destroys your computer, payola, and RIAA lawyers, who continue to sue mothers who have nothing to
do with any illegal operations.
The majors don't even respect their product as an art form: pick up a
major label new release in
any store some time and look at the big FBI WARNING that occupies a
large percentage of the artwork! Do bands even realize this is
happening? Do these people even exist as artists or is the major
label world slowly transforming all human beings into business
executives with an eye for money and money alone? Shouldn't the
FBI spend their time investigating the CIA for faulty terrorist
intelligence or "protecting the country?" We all know they failed
at least once, but that's no reason to quit and shoot for smaller
fish... like your best friend's mom.
The independent labels might have taken a financial hit but that is
mostly related and limited to independent distributors' increased
difficulty with placing
product
in stores—I haven't heard anybody complain about online sales and
touring merch. Many bands in the independent music world came to
terms years ago with the fact that album sales don't bring in much
anyhow—it's actually the touring that ends up paying the most.
The downside is that it's tough to live in an urban area where the rent
is
high and time on the road doesn't stop bills from accumulating. Of
course, recording "artists" like those found on any Now, That's What I Call Crap
compilation haven't had to worry about that for a long
time, if they ever had to worry about it to begin with. RIAA members
are going to have to learn that they are only choking themselves by
fighting the same battles over and over again. Call it Musical
Darwinism, but labels cannot possibly survive by trying to change the
environment they exist in.
Many lessons can be learned from this, and the major ones are taught in
every Business 101: listen to your customers and know your
market. Consolidation and merging with large corporations only
distances the consumers and the market from the decision-makers.
It also has effectively destroyed the identity of labels started by
visionaries with dreams in mind by putting the control into
stockholders' hands and not into the hands of artists or music
enthusiasts.
The major labels need to take this trend as a warning: their days are
numbered if they continue to feed consumers crap, destroy their
computers, and sue them. How many people would you support who
rape your mom then piss all over her?
Crap Your Pants, Say "Waaah!"
- Written by: Staff
- Parent Category: Opinions & Editorials
- Category: Deep Thoughts
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