Your Predictions for the Music Industry in 2015

[sventvkg]

In the mainstream more mediocre music will be made. No commercial albums will compare in quality to the likes of Born In The USA, Reckless, Yes 90125, Prince Purple Rain, Peter Gabriel SO, etc..I will still shred every Mainstream "Country" artist out. F#%^ the music business:) Stick a fork in its sorry joke ass

[Ernest Buckley]

F#%^ the music business:) Stick a fork in its sorry joke ass

 

 

[Etienne Rambert]

Everything is going to get much better and much more equitable. Record companies will be back in the saddle. It will be like "Jersey Boys" again. The pre-baby boomers who got all the breaks will die off. That will give a real shot to middle-aged border-line obese metal head bands.

 

Everybody - Soccer Moms, and everyone else, will really start to dig Death Metal BTW. Country and Nashville will be utterly forgotten, as will church music. And with Clearchannel Inc. out of the picture, local bands will get lots of free airplay.

 

Middle-aged guitarists who made music videos sitting on their beds in T-shirts and stocking feet playing along with "Free Bird", will be celebrated world-wide. They'll be rich beyond anybody's dreams. They'll be popping the corks of Moët and Dom Perignon every morning.

 

Why? Because they deserve it - that's why. They've suffered enough. And so have we. If there is justice in the universe - this has to happen. And it starts with us.

----

Mind you, I'm just an observer, a neutral observer. I'm in the gumbo trade now. I long ago decided the fastest way to fame and fortune was making roux - not music. And that's what I do. I make roux.

[Ernest Buckley]

Everything is going to get much better and much more equitable. Record companies will be back in the saddle. It will be like "Jersey Boys" again. The pre-baby boomers who got all the breaks will die off. That will give a real shot to middle-aged border-line obese metal head bands.

 

Everybody - Soccer Moms, and everyone else, will really start to dig Death Metal BTW. Country and Nashville will be utterly forgotten, as will church music. And with Clearchannel Inc. out of the picture, local bands will get lots of free airplay.

 

Middle-aged guitarists who made music videos sitting on their beds in T-shirts and stocking feet playing along with "Free Bird", will be celebrated world-wide. They'll be rich beyond anybody's dreams. They'll be popping the corks of Moët and Dom Perignon every morning.

 

Why? Because they deserve it - that's why. They've suffered enough. And so have we. If there is justice in the universe - this has to happen. And it starts with us.

 

I rather stare at Rihanna.

[gtoledo]

Even though I did put forth the idea that I think more artists will have apps, I will add that I also think one of the reasons they tend to be so universally lame, is that the artists often have little to do with the making of them…and certainly are not typically savvy about programming interactive art. When the generation of people that *can* do both naturally - create music and coded visual art - gets more into the spotlight, or gets some promotional backing, is when we will finally see music/app products that don't feel like lame cd-roms from 20+ years ago. There is a burgeoning scene of people that understand both sides of things, it's just getting little attention…other than elements of their art being absconded with for major label promotions of bands that can't do that.

[UstadKhanAli]

 

More stuff will be in the cloud, including virtual instruments. DAWs will be increasingly offered on a subscription basis similar to how Photoshop is offered now.

 

Hmmmmmmm........

[nat whilk II]

No slowing down of music production, no way. The DAWs are great and getting better all the time. Gizmos like Native Instrument's Maschine are getting more musically intuitive, less geeky/programmy. Analog is having a great mini-revival in synthesizers which will continue.

 

I like this deluge of music a lot. The good and the mediocre and the bad, all of it, it contributes to an overall culture of musical endeavor and interest. It has to pay off over time. The musical world is getting bigger, harder to navigate, almost impossible to assess, freer all the time from gatekeepers and taste-setters, more mysterious and unpredictable. If all you look at is what the mass media floats to the surface of easy access, you miss almost everything of value, and there's a ton of stuff of value.

 

The downside is serious, however - the abuse of musicians by the sellers. This is nothing new, of course, but it seems to be reaching new lows in terms of taking the monetary rewards away from the people who actually make the music and into the hands of the distributors.

 

Maybe 2015 will see some revival of unionism among musicians (and the teeming masses of other workers who work more and more for less and less.) I'm talking only about the USA problem here - don't know enough about the rest of the world on this topic to speak to their situations.

 

And more home-concert venues, yes!

 

nat whilk ii

[Anderton]

The downside is serious, however - the abuse of musicians by the sellers. This is nothing new, of course, but it seems to be reaching new lows in terms of taking the monetary rewards away from the people who actually make the music and into the hands of the distributors.

 

The point is moot, because despite rising profits and productivity, wages remain stagnant. So, the people responsible for the increases in profits and productivity won't be able to buy the things they make anyway. This is how depressions start.

 

The music business, from a business standpoint, is at the mercy of disposable income...the best we can hope for is that gas prices stay low, which will free up some income that was otherwise committed to a necessity.

 

There will be lots of opportunities with a radically changed economic landscape, most of which i think will involve live performance. People will need a focal point to socialize and escape, which you can't really do downloading stuff from Spotify. And, musicians will make more money from passing the hat at a bar than they would if they got 100,000 plays on Spotify.

 

There will also be incredible opportunities in online retail and smaller, more compact stores for musicians that specialize in lessons, tech support, and places to get hands-on experience with making music. They will also provide a hangout for socialization.

 

Socialization will become increasingly important after people realize that "social media" is basically empty calories for human interaction. Does that sound weird given the venue here? I don't think so. Many of us have met in person, and for those who haven't, we've been here long enough to have understood each other's personalities in more depth than 140 characters.

 

Musicians can provide a focal point for human interaction in a way that attending a movie or a sporting event cannot, because the musician is relating to the audience in a more personalized way. If they can tell stories, convey emotion, pull emotions from others, and present experiences to which people can relate, they'll do okay.

 

What will save the music business is when the business is there solely to serve the music, rather than the music being there to serve the business.

[Ernest Buckley]

Socialization will become increasingly important after people realize that "social media" is basically empty calories for human interaction. Does that sound weird given the venue here? I don't think so. Many of us have met in person, and for those who haven't, we've been here long enough to have understood each other's personalities in more depth than 140 characters.

 

I agree with you completely. I think its just a matter of time before we reach a critical mass and society realizes that social media is actually antisocial. However, after 10+ years on this forum, I`ve only met 1 person on here in person and I don`t feel I know anyone else truly. I get a glimpse of personalities on occasion but I think for the most part, most are misunderstood, including me.

 

Musicians can provide a focal point for human interaction in a way that attending a movie or a sporting event cannot, because the musician is relating to the audience in a more personalized way. If they can tell stories, convey emotion, pull emotions from others, and present experiences to which people can relate, they'll do okay.

 

Yes, I think this is why live performances will continue to thrive and increase. Artists need to reach out and "expose" themselves more to the general public. I think we`ll see more bands/artists doing more intimate shows and smaller venues across the boards to reach that level of intimacy only small venues allow. Stadium tours will only benefit the likes of U2, Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, etc… bands with a long track record.

 

What will save the music business is when the business is there solely to serve the music, rather than the music being there to serve the business.

 

What a concept! Blasphemy!

 

[UstadKhanAli]

I feel like I'm always the idiot in the back rearing up his head in defense of our interaction on social media, particularly Facebook. But hey, why not, I'll do it again!

 

Like this forum, I've made friends on FB because we're brought together through common interests. On FB, I participate in long exposure photography groups, and I love it. I've met some people and gotten together with them and either taught them in workshops or gotten together with them and gone out for several nights of night sky photography, which is also always a great opportunity to talk and hang out. I love it. If what you want out of social media is 140 words and a cloud of dust, to take something and "pin" it, or to look at your high school friends' children's photos, you can do that too. But if you want more out of it, it's all there if that's what you wish. I love it, and while I'm not stupid - I know a lot of the problems and issues facing Facebook - I love the interaction and the people that I meet. This intertwines with the "meat" world, where I interact with them in person., And if I don't meet them in person, well, that's fine too, it's still people interacting through subjects that they love.

 

[Ernest Buckley]

I feel like I'm always the idiot in the back rearing up his head in defense of our interaction on social media, particularly Facebook. But hey, why not, I'll do it again!

 

Like this forum, I've made friends on FB because we're brought together through common interests. On FB, I participate in long exposure photography groups, and I love it. I've met some people and gotten together with them and either taught them in workshops or gotten together with them and gone out for several nights of night sky photography, which is also always a great opportunity to talk and hang out. I love it. If what you want out of social media is 140 words and a cloud of dust, to take something and "pin" it, or to look at your high school friends' children's photos, you can do that too. But if you want more out of it, it's all there if that's what you wish. I love it, and while I'm not stupid - I know a lot of the problems and issues facing Facebook - I love the interaction and the people that I meet. This intertwines with the "meat" world, where I interact with them in person., And if I don't meet them in person, well, that's fine too, it's still people interacting through subjects that they love.

 

I feel the same way about FB when it comes to work related topics. Other than that… I enjoy checking out my friends photos. I try to steer away from the political nonsense but once in a while I need to shed some light….

[UstadKhanAli]

Yeah, I don't spend very much time discussing politics on FB. But then again, I don't discuss politics much anyway.

 

But I like a place where I can meet lots of people who are really into things that I find interesting. And I make friends that way. There are tons of cool groups about all sorts of topics. I tend to hang out in the Long Exposure Photography groups. In fact, I am an Admin for two of the largest groups about long exposure photography.

 

Most common criticisms I hear:

1.) "Facebook data mines!!!!"

Don't put any data on there to mine. Duh.

 

2.) "Facebook is a waste of time!"

That's a YOU problem. I don't waste time on there; I enjoy it. I learn a lot, make new friends from all over the world, see fantastic photos, and get more people to come to my photography workshops that way.

 

3.) "I don't want to know all the stupid things that people do throughout the day. I don't want to know that they're sitting on the toilet, going to the grocery store, or other stupid things."

That's also a YOU problem. If your friends are that freakin' boring, that says far more about your choice of friends than it does anything else. My friends are interesting. I love to hear what they are doing.

 

4.) "I don't want my newsfeed to be flooded with stupid political opinions!"

That's also a YOU problem. If your friends have lots of stupid political opinions, that says far more about your choice of friends than it does anything else. You need some new friends.