Recently, Ritch Esra & Stephen Trumbull, publishers of the Music Business Registry, put out an open letter to a music industry whose major labels have a “real commitment to maintaining & keeping a broken, malfunctioning business in place rather than seeing what can be done to creatively re-invent it in a new way.” Though its initial focus is the effect of changes in the music industry on A&R professionals, their message is much deeper. They believe that the “future of this business will be thousands of niche artists selling fewer records much like cable television, which has a fraction of the audience, but is profitable!”
Furthermore, they maintain that major labels are actually detrimental to album sales for all but a handful of artists. For example, they cite a broadening of the market for artists who reach their audience in novel ways, asking:
“How else could Ray Charles sell two million copies of a CD via a coffee chain or James Taylor sell over one million Christmas CD’s via Hallmark without his CD even being available at retail? If either of those artists were at a Major Label . . . they most likely would not have sold more than 200,000 – 300,000 copies- tops!”
I can’t speak to the issue of Ray or JT, but the fact that many artists languish when they leave independent labels to go the majors is certainly not a new phenomenon. And the majors are clearly moving from artist development to promotion and marketing for a shrinking pool of artists while outrageously rewarding executives, even when they fail. For example, with Warner cannibalizing its infrastructure with big payouts to investors and management in preparation for an IPO, their long term health remains in doubt.
Yet, with the amazing growth of the Internet and digital music technologies, the possibilities for indies are immense, from new distribution channels, including Snocap, to experiments in podcasting and the resurrection of indie radio. These examples, and so many more, suggest that the future of the music industry will increasingly focus on niche markets or the long tail rather than superstars and behemoths. This news is good if it means more musicians can make an honest living and bad for those who will only settle for divahood.
Special thanks go to Billboard PostPlay for such great links and Wired for such great coverage of emerging trends in music and media.
