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Music industry keeps on spinning


VinylFan

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Nothing there that hasn't been raked over in here numerous times. The old ways are gone...and as many will tell you, life on the road is hell after a few weeks. Having to make one's nut performing in a different city every few days will take the paint off of you fast. Eventually, the word will get out that rock stardom is no longer the way to go....and then watch the factories in the far east shut down (or switch over to making coffemakers/skateboards/mobilephones) when there is no longer a huge introductory market to pander to. This will also impact the big brick and mortars like GC and SA, as well as the e-tailers, since the business they've grown on for the last 50 years was fueled by the dream... and then, well, Gibson may shut down Epiphone, Fender will shut down Squier...and little by little the music industry as a whole will shrink back to what it was before rock lit the fuse. And once that dust settles, we will be stuck with the Ga-Gas and Katie Perrys and the Justin Biebers until the next big thing comes along...

"Demand for music hasn't gone down one iota. It's actually increased. But it's been effectively devalued," [Dan]Navarro said from his California home as he prepares for a swing through the Midwest this week. "To make it viable (has meant) a return to an old system, the oldest part of which is to do it yourself."

Yephir, we knew that...and the fact that people who used to be signed are able to get $1.2 million from Kickstarter [like Amanda Palmer did] does not mean that unknowns will succeed by trying that route; if her fan base had not been previously bolstered during her time with Dresden Dolls, she would be just another songwriter looking for a break...it is really unfortunate that people who were beneficiaries of the old system can make the new 'systems' look like they work.

The industry is spinning all right, in a downward spiral, with no one at teh controls who knows how to fly the plane anymore.

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Quote Originally Posted by daddymack View Post
and little by little the music industry as a whole will shrink back to what it was before rock lit the fuse.
Yep. Music has traditionally ALWAYS been a lifestyle of struggle and starvation for all but a very few who, at best, eek a decent living out of it. Beethoven, Mozart and Stephen Foster were not among the richest men in the world during their time.

I believe that when the history of music is written many centuries from now, the 2nd half of the 20th century will stand as an anomoly as a brief period in time where so many people were able to be ridiculously successful simply because they wrote, performed and/or recorded a few successful songs.
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I tell singer songwriters I meet here in Nashville ALL THE TIME that if they want to have a career, it's in their hands now. They HAVE to get out there and build and audience and that's a huge investment in time and gas money until it pays off. You have to be insane to want to be in this business!!

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Quote Originally Posted by sventvkg

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I tell singer songwriters I meet here in Nashville ALL THE TIME that if they want to have a career, it's in their hands now. They HAVE to get out there and build and audience and that's a huge investment in time and gas money until it pays off. You have to be insane to want to be in this business!!

 

May I ask what line of business you are in. My daughter is an artist and the first thing I told her when she wanted to go to college in the US is that she should take a business class, a computer class and an English class. Everything else will come from within, like daddymack said.
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Quote Originally Posted by guitarville

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May I ask what line of business you are in. My daughter is an artist and the first thing I told her when she wanted to go to college in the US is that she should take a business class, a computer class and an English class. Everything else will come from within, like daddymack said.

 

I'm in the music business. Songwriter and producer. Also an artist. My view on school is that everything you can learn there is available online or at a public library for free and education is VASTLY overpriced. If you're not self motivated and need a curriculum to get you going, than go. You can't learn to be an artist in school. You can refine concepts that's all. One really needs to hit the ground running in this business if that's what you want to do. The sooner the better.
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Well actually my high school had a two year music program where I learned how to read, write, arrange, sight sing- all kinds of great theory and technical knowledge every day FOR FREE!

I knew plenty of guitarists that paid to go to Berkely or GIT or other music schools when I had already gotten that education.
Does it make you an "artist", no, but it sure helped me become a much better musician.

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Quote Originally Posted by guido61 View Post
Yep. Music has traditionally ALWAYS been a lifestyle of struggle and starvation for all but a very few who, at best, eek a decent living out of it. Beethoven, Mozart and Stephen Foster were not among the richest men in the world during their time.
Huh what!? Beethoven was at best middle class, and died poor. His family was poor, and he had to take care of his brother and that cost him a lot of money. Since he was deaf, he couln't perform and only had royalties for his compositions. He was FAR from rich.

Mozart did better, being able to do concerts, and his father was a musician with contacts... But since he had more expenses, he probably died poor too.
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Quote Originally Posted by Poker99 View Post
Huh what!? Beethoven was at best middle class, and died poor. His family was poor, and he had to take care of his brother and that cost him a lot of money. Since he was deaf, he couln't perform and only had royalties for his compositions. He was FAR from rich.

Mozart did better, being able to do concerts, and his father was a musician with contacts... But since he had more expenses, he probably died poor too.
I think you misread my post.
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Listen: It's hard to make a living doing anything. Try stocking grocery store shelves for a {censored}ing living. Why music artists think they are {censored}ing special and entitled to some {censored} is beyond me. You don't hear grocery store clerks {censored}ing whining all the time. And each and every one of them actually does something that adds value to the world. There are people with concrete skills in home-building that can't make {censored}ing living anymore. We have too many houses - we aren't building as many houses any more. That's a {censored}ing serious problem. PEople not paying for CD's because of the internet: Not much of a problem. In fact - that's probably a good thing cause a good chunk of the people that work with their hands that don't have jobs any more... don't have to pay for music anymore. Music is one of the few free things that still make them feel good... They got that going for them.

But People that know how to build houses actually know how to do something. Artists make art to make themselves feel good about {censored}. Being good at guitar is not a very useful skill. The ones that get paid to do that are lottery winners. If you think your art is worth money ... just because you think it's worth money.... you are not connected to reality. Markets are not fair. They are {censored}ing brutal. That's how they work. Like Evolution.

The {censored}ing music business. The music business was a weed that grew up around a special set of circumstances. The {censored}ing weed is dead cause them circumstances changed. People are always scraping at the corners of the entertainment business. It's a tough racket.

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Quote Originally Posted by guido61

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The 2nd half of the 20th century will stand as an anomoly as a brief period in time where so many people were able to be ridiculously successful simply because they wrote, performed and/or recorded a few successful songs.

 

Actually, I'm pretty sure the 2nd half of the 20th century will be an anomaly because there were HUNDREDS of ways to be ridiculously successful without much real effort or truly special talent. "Rock star" was just one of those.
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I think daddymack makes a good (and scary) point that's worth reiterating...that the reason why there are so many cheap instruments and tools for aspiring (or financially strapped) musicians to really practice their craft is because the dreams of the old music business are still very much alive. If the demand for these products weren't still there, manufacturers could no longer afford to make them affordable, causing the barrier of entry for musicians to become much higher. I mean, in one sense, it's good in that it may cut down on all the noise. But that sucks for those struggling artists not aspiring for rock stardom who have been making music for quite a while, but eventually may not be able to afford to do what they love.

Then again, in my neck of the woods, there does not appear to be any shortage of artists in visual mediums. I suppose some people still dream of becoming the next Picasso, but for the most part, it's understood that the time when people who could paint pretty pictures were revered and lavished with attention have long since passed. Yet people continue to do it, and I don't tend to hear them complaining about not being able to afford art supplies anymore.

Though I can't say I'm totally comfortable with the idea of rock music being "art"...I think Bob Dylan once made the remark that museums are like cemeteries, and I sort of agree...it's where everything goes that is no longer relevant. It's why the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame seems like such a joke. It does seem like music in general is sort of heading in that direction...which is why I suppose I don't mind the music industry flailing about trying to preserve its own legacy. As long as the industry can keep the masses believing music is still relevant, the more of an audience for it there will be. When everyone just stops caring is when we have to worry.

That said, if a smaller, more niche audience for music is the price to pay for cutting down on the vast sea of aspiring musicians out there trying to make it, it might not be such a bad thing. Being a big fish in a small pond does have its advantages. But I'm not sure music will ever have as niche an audience as the visual arts do...you don't simply stare at it on a wall. There have been a significant number of books written on the subject of how the brain processes music, how it is sort of wired into us. That is why I don't think the demand for music will ever completely go away.

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It's never been a better time to not be in the music business. I mean, the whole idea of the "Business" to me is a moot point. Being an artist, I make all my own investment decisions, all my own artistic content decisions and all my distribution/marketing decisions. So, the upside is with all these electronic advancements the truly able artists with imagination tools and skill can make relevant statements/content that doesn't take a fortune to produce. The bottom line is the ego is no longer the deciding or limiting factor about who wins or loses.
The field has not only been leveled , but moreso eliminated. I don't envy The Mac, or the Springsteen's or the the Swift's obligation of having touring obligations to stay in the lime, and or/the black. All these artists have huge overhead and constrictions/control's placed on their writing/performances and content. So if you are a serious musician do what you need to do to do for yourself, by yourself, and let the work carry you along. If you truly have anything to say that is worth hearing someone will hear it and life will you reward you in it's own funny way. We all still need to eat, pay rent, take care of our loved ones, to love, but this never gets in the way of really living life which is the inspiration for all real art. Take what you need and leave the rest, the world belongs to those who have no fear of it.

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