music biz's future

[lurch70]

Very interesting (but long) read about the music biz and Rick Rubin's involvement as now co-head of Columbia Records.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/magazine/02rubin.t.html?hp

An excerpt ....

Rubin has a bigger idea. To combat the devastating impact of file sharing, he, like others in the music business (Doug Morris and Jimmy Iovine at Universal, for instance), says that the future of the industry is a subscription model, much like paid cable on a television set. "You would subscribe to music," Rubin explained, as he settled on the velvet couch in his library. "You'd pay, say, $19.95 a month, and the music will come anywhere you'd like. In this new world, there will be a virtual library that will be accessible from your car, from your cellphone, from your computer, from your television. Anywhere. The iPod will be obsolete, but there would be a Walkman-like device you could plug into speakers at home. You'll say, 'Today I want to listen to ... Simon and Garfunkel,' and there they are. The service can have demos, bootlegs, concerts, whatever context the artist wants to put out. And once that model is put into place, the industry will grow 10 times the size it is now."

i personally cannot begin to fathom where the industry is going, but I noticed one thing in the NY Area ... a lot more live music venues are popping up. Is the industry dumping more money on sending bands on the road and doing promotions that way rather than dumping money into CD promotions? ... possibly ...

 

[Evil?]

I am really quite concerned with the way this industry is headed. EVERYONE seems to be leaning towards making it a completely digital medium. People seem to have an aversion to actually buying an album they can hold in there hands. I do not want to buy mp3's or subscribe to anything. ARG!! It pisses me off. The new generation(my generation ) makes me fucking sick. The way things are going, artists are going to stop releasing albums and just start releasing singles all the fucking time. Most people I speak to have no concept of an album outside of a bunch of random songs anyway. God I hate people.

I am in a shitty mood and just feel like attacking people. Maybe I will make a post with more insight later.

 

[skeptik]

I am really quite concerned with the way this industry is headed. EVERYONE seems to be leaning towards making it a completely digital medium. People seem to have an aversion to actually buying an album they can hold in there hands. I do not want to buy mp3's or subscribe to anything. ARG!! It pisses me off. The new generation(my generation ) makes me fucking sick. The way things are going, artists are going to stop releasing albums and just start releasing singles all the fucking time. Most people I speak to have no concept of an album outside of a bunch of random songs anyway. God I hate people.

.

 

[Reign in Acai]

I'm in such a vile mood at the moment, this thread certainly doesn't help matters. Evil? said my peace for me.

 

[lurch70]

I think artists in EVERY genre are just as much at fault as the industry. Most cd's you touch are filled with 1-3 good tracks and the rest are filler.
The buying public is disillusioned with the artist first and foremost ... its rare that you find amazing gems anymore.

 

[J.]

if this happens, i quit music

 

[Reign in Acai]

if this happens, i quit music

Same here. I will not subscribe to this bullshit. I'll buy 3-4 high quality stereos to last me a lifetime, back every cd I have on cd-r, and do a haul that would send Rick Ruben on his ass.

 

[Captain Beard]

It'll never work, and the artists will make even less. And I'll save more money by not having to buy CDs anymore. I wil never go on a subscription system for half assed quality music. OR good music, for that matter. I don't do virtual libraries.

 

[Nate The Great]

It seems like the small, independent labels have strong followings. I hope this trend continues.

 

[General Zod]

I don't think I'm clear on how this model is going to work. The problem now is that the younger generation, which is historically the music industry's most important demographic, would prefer to download digital music for free, rather than pay for physical CDs. So the record industry has decided to put everything into digital format (making it ripe for theft)? And after they've put everything into a nice, neat digital format for the people who are ripping them off, they're going the thieves to:

A. Pay money for a new device (to replace their iPod)
B. Pay $240 a year, to download what they now download for free

Yeah... that's brilliant.

Zod

 

[Demonspell]

It seems like the small, independent labels have strong followings. I hope this trend continues.

Don't forget the independent retailers who have the same small but intensely loyal customer base, I'm sure that will help keep the CD alive and well...one thing that gets overlooked in all this "death of the album" hype is whether the musicians themselves will accept mp3 as the dominant format, and I haven't seen much evidence to suggest that they will yet (at least those not in the clutches of major labels).

 

[lurch70]

A. Pay money for a new device (to replace their iPod)
B. Pay $240 a year, to download what they now download for free

Yeah... that's brilliant.

Zod

If you read the entire article you will find that the labels ARE hesitant of this model as if it does not work 100% it WILL BE the final nail in their coffin.

But also, they are afraid of the Apple and Microsoft's of the computer world because if they don't do anything to change their dinosaur business model, these behemots are literally waiting for the majors to die so they can pick them up for pennies on the dollar.

I don't know what to think because amidst all this alleged fiasco it seems to me that there are more bands out there than ever and all seem to be doing somewhat OK. For example, the metal scene has not been as thriving as it is now since the 80's ... despite all the downloading.

As bad as downloading might be ... the Internet's positive aspect is that it can bring a band into the spotlight much faster than 20 years ago. And really the rest is up to the band putting out quality releases.

 

[lurch70]

The Eagles new CD just debuted this week with 700K copies sold ... with it only being sold at Walmart as they had an exclusive deal with them.
This is definetelly something new for the music biz and HUGE numbers!

More HERE