The collapse of the music industry

[xfaehunterx]

Dinosaurs will slowly die, and I do believe no one will cry... I'm just fucking glad I'm gonna be, here to watch them fall.
--- "Dinosaurs Will Die", NOFX

The signs are all around us.. the industry is dying. 2nd quarter sales of 2007 show a 15 percent drop in album sales and a 49 percent increase in digital sales. This 49 percent is a notable drop from 2005's 250% increase and 2006's doubling in sales. Only four major labels exist. Tower Records, a long standing music industry establishment, has gone bankrupt and no longer exists. The message of doom that was first prophesied in the 70s is coming to fruition; the music industry is virtually collapsing. The question that matters, though, is what next? In an age where songs and entire albums are just a click away, how can music survive as a profitable art form? It would seem at first that it can't, and that this eventual breakdown of the music industry should be looked on with fear, as if we are living in the end times of creative expression.

I, for one, do not hold this pessimistic viewpoint. Instead, I see a brighter future ahead for music. The internet is a great tool… a tool that, even as we speak, is being used to inadvertently destroy the established music industry. At the same time, though, I believe the internet will be the means of rebirth for the doomed music industry. Myspace, Youtube, Wikipedia… these are common household names, sites well known for the degree by which ordinary people can edit and access them. Bands can now be heard by individuals who are thousands of miles away who have never even heard of them. With the internet at their disposal, along with clever independent business and marketing, garage bands and other independent and local bands may be able to achieve great success without even being signed. Fans may be able to purchase music from bands they support directly, without record labels acting as middlemen, and thus bands could thrive on smaller, thinly spread fan bases. This could lead to a renaissance of music; no longer will media supported music be dominant, no longer will “the man” control the hits. In this way, I see the collapse of the music industry as what may be a great step forward for music.

What do you think? ^ ^

[HurricaneBob]

Great points! I see it coming too, anyone can be a giant on the Net. if you put your mind too it. After the industry giants fall i can see a rebirth.
I wonder if they thought about what the net could do back when, probably not. Just how big of hold do the the giants have on the net right now?
CD sales have to greatly outweigh the net sales for the company's. Thus giving indies the chance to shine.

I for one am happy with what im doing, any bigger than Altoona and i'd piss my pants anyways.

[bassist_25]

I'm for anything that lets artists retain control and rights over their music. If the industry fat cats' archiac business model doesn't lead them into the 21st Century, then let them sink. The creative and evolved will use the new medium to benefit. I just listened to two CDs today that I bought off of CDBaby. They're just as well written, performed, and produced than what's being put out by major labels.

BTW, the OP's avatar cracks me up.

[Bic & Que]

Case in point....

We just bought Stipwired's latest cd directly from the band, after listening to a few tunes on their myspace site.

Funds directly to the band.....music to us.....no middleman bullshit.....

Another case in point.....Warner Brothers just pulled all the music vids that they are aware of....off youtube.....some crap about posting them on a site to be named later where folks will have a pay-per-view option...

Yeah right

[Colton]

I for one am happy with what im doing, any bigger than Altoona and i'd piss my pants anyways.

Thats why you dont drink turkey on road trips

[sixstringdrop]

yea its collapsing cause there IS SO MUCH BULLSHIT MUSIC OUT THERE... i think that once people start to actually be honest to people... and tell them the truth about there music we will see alot of bands drop... and there will be fewer bands but really good ones instead of having a bunch of shitty ones and a few good ones... and economics has alot to do with what is gonna happen.. i dunno thats just my opinion im sure someone can justify what i said ...i dunno tho i wonder what is gonna happen

[RobTheDrummer]

yea its collapsing cause there IS SO MUCH BULLSHIT MUSIC OUT THERE... i think that once people start to actually be honest to people... and tell them the truth about there music we will see alot of bands drop... and there will be fewer bands but really good ones instead of having a bunch of shitty ones and a few good ones... and economics has alot to do with what is gonna happen.. i dunno thats just my opinion im sure someone can justify what i said ...i dunno tho i wonder what is gonna happen

I disagree with ya man, every style of music has it's place. I don't think the music industry is collapsing. It's just taking a different form. CD sales are dropping because we are in a transitional period. The almighty Ipod is the new format, the web page is the new record cover...I don't like the fact that you can't have something physical with a digital download, but hey whatever, the times, they be a changin'!

[DirtySanchez]

Yeah, there have always been shitty bands. Back in the cave man days there was prolly that one dude bangin on his drum all off time as fuck. It's actually a good thing they are around, cuz it sort of helps you appreciate talent.

[tornandfrayed]

If someone told you they didn't like your music would you stop playing?

The music industry will die, problem is that in a world filled with humans most won't pay for music if they can steal it. Too bad, that old illusion of making it big is going to change!

Fallout Boy did millions of hits but didn't make a cent till they were given distribution through the majors. Then they made a little cash. Same with My Chemical Romance, you don't have to like them, millions of other people do....

So would it be cool to get millions of hits and the adoration of a generation and still have to work 40 hours a week? Without the distribution of the majors that could happen, unless mankind is suddenly enlightened and we as a whole decide that dishonesty will not be tolerated. Fat chance of that though...

I tend to go the other way, I don't give a rats ass about the adoration but I don't want to have to do some shitty job that I don't like.

So if the only way you can make money from music if through the honesty of mankind what do you think your chances are?

Just curious.....

[bassist_25]

If someone told you they didn't like your music would you stop playing?

The music industry will die, problem is that in a world filled with humans most won't pay for music if they can steal it. Too bad, that old illusion of making it big is going to change!

Fallout Boy did millions of hits but didn't make a cent till they were given distribution through the majors. Then they made a little cash. Same with My Chemical Romance, you don't have to like them, millions of other people do....

So would it be cool to get millions of hits and the adoration of a generation and still have to work 40 hours a week? Without the distribution of the majors that could happen, unless mankind is suddenly enlightened and we as a whole decide that dishonesty will not be tolerated. Fat chance of that though...

I tend to go the other way, I don't give a rats ass about the adoration but I don't want to have to do some shitty job that I don't like.

So if the only way you can make money from music if through the honesty of mankind what do you think your chances are?

Just curious.....

I suppose those would be problems if your goal is to be a rockstar and move a million units. The number of artists who are actually making serious money off of record sales is a lot lower than people think. Remember, it's actually the artist who gets paid last in the musical hierarchy when signed, after everyone else who has their hands in the cookie jar takes their points.

I'm not advocating that people steal music, and that's a legitimate concern. Still, signing with a record company won't guarantee that you won't get screwed (Jim Croce, anyone?). I guess it's not a big issue with me because I doubt that Elektra Records is going to be flying down to Houtzdale next week with a contract for me to sign. On the other hand, recording a professional sounding album, distrubuting it through the Internet, shows, and local businesses, then making enough money to at least cover production costs and a little profit is a very realistic and attainable goal.

[Banned]

This is a horrible thing for a musician to say, but music just costs too much.

It's the age of the iPod; people can carry a whole record store in their pocket. It doesn't make any sense to push something as high volume if it's not also low cost. For example, Apple advertises that the 80GB iPod holds 20,000 songs. If you buy them from iTunes for 99 cents each, that's $19,800 to fill your iPod. And they wonder why people steal music?

People are willing to pay for something if they think the price is fair. They love sales and bargains. Put everything on iTunes for sale at 10 cents a song, and people will buy extra iPods to carry it all. Allofmp3 was proof of that.

[metalchurch]

Good point Jimi, I agree.

[xfaehunterx]

This is a horrible thing for a musician to say, but music just costs too much.

It's the age of the iPod; people can carry a whole record store in their pocket. It doesn't make any sense to push something as high volume if it's not also low cost. For example, Apple advertises that the 80GB iPod holds 20,000 songs. If you buy them from iTunes for 99 cents each, that's $19,800 to fill your iPod. And they wonder why people steal music?

People are willing to pay for something if they think the price is fair. They love sales and bargains. Put everything on iTunes for sale at 10 cents a song, and people will buy extra iPods to carry it all. Allofmp3 was proof of that.

According to the major spokespeople for the music industry, though, it is more profitable for the industry to sell albums at around 10-14$ each then digital songs for $.99 each... whether or not it's true, I doubt we'll see a price drop that considerable at any point.