February 21 2010
Oy!
Woe is me.
Aaaaaagh!!
Howl. Howl. Howl.
We hear these cries made by the species of foul (sic) Recordingus Industrialis Executivissimus, in its natural habitat, the Channel of Clueless on the Isle of Discord.
The Pianobabbler often finds himself asked about the crisis in the music industry. Illegal downloading (Oy!). Illicit duplicating (Woe is me.) 24/7 streaming (Aaaaaagh!! ) What am I doing about it? How threatened do I feel?
Well, Pianobabblees. nothing and not at all, to answer the two questions.
Huh? Should the Pianobabbler not have frothed lips and unfurled fangs at the mere whisper of bittorrent?
Fortified in part by an A-1 Times Online blog entry Do music artists fare better in a world with illegal file-sharing? (link below), but more by my own experience and beliefs. the Pianobabbler wishes to reassure one and all that the music sky is not falling; rather, we are all rising in the oceanic tide of harmonious change.
The Times Online piece shows revenues declining for major labels. Conversely, live revenue and royalties have risen. More money is ending up in artists' hands. Overall music revenues have increased.
Wait, sputters Recordingus Industrialis Executivissimus, Objection!. The Times Online data apply only to UK. They lack precision. And... and... and....
I know.
Forget those nano-details. The basic premise of the Times Online piece holds: we musicians can thrive in the new Music Biz model, perhaps more so than in the past.
Remember: the last 100 years stand as an anomaly in music history. Until the early 1900's. music meant, by and large, performance. If you were hearing music, you were hearing what we now call (oddly, I've always thought) live music.
Then recording came along. And radio. A record industry arose. Performance took a back seat to reproduced sound. The former became what you did to support the latter. Centuries of music history stood inverted on their head.
With the Net, a reset is upon us. Recordings now promote performance. (Did someone say Live Nation Artists?) The money lies in the box office, not the record store. Which no longer exists anyway.
Some big guys have suffered. Sure. I have as little sympathy for them as they did for the small labels and indie artists they bigfooted in the past. And not all are in agony. Naxos exemplifies the thriving label in this new era.
A few smaller labels have backflopped. Regrettable. Inevitable casualties, nevertheless regrettable.
Overall, though, we've never had it so good. ArtistShare, CDBaby, and Nimbit, for example. They do for the indie musician what not so long ago would have needed the infrastructure and know-how of the big guys. Marketing, merch, distribution, metrics, logistics, coaching.
All of these tools, all of this presence, and yes, even the downloading, drive people to performances. And in performance lies the fun and money.
King Performance has reascended the throne it occupied for so long until Recording the Usurper came along.
Long live the King. And please don't take that as an Elvis reference.
The Pianobabbler has babbled.
- Link: The Times Online: Do music artists fare better in a world with illegal file-sharing?
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