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Critic's Corner Discuss a review. Provide constructive feedback. Talk to the industry. |
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Critic's Corner Discuss a review. Provide constructive feedback. Talk to the industry. |
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In Reply to: RE: That's what I'd do if I were in the 'label's' position.... posted by Charles Hansen on October 8, 2017 at 17:32:00:
"The reason they are in their current position is their own damn fault."
"They are completely to blame for the mess they made."
I'm not sure if you are referring to their mess, or the mess that is the record business today. At the risk of diverting this thread even further, while I agree the record companies morphed from being run by (as opposed to owned by) individuals who cared about good music to the bean counters, the major record company owners (bean counters) were always greedy.
Unfortunately, enter the perfect storm. The bean counters certainly took over running the record companies (as opposed to being strictly owners), largely squeezing out the music aficionados from the record companies in the process, but there is more involved.
Back in the day when I was a mere lad, me and my buds would go to the records stores (remember them? Plural) and check out new music. Because, well, music was more than background fodder. And we followed bands and acts for more than one album. Our attention spans lasted more than a year.
But, then again, there was good radio, largely because there was a limit to how many stations a company could own in a given market, which tended to encourage variety on the airwaves. So, we were able to find stations that actually had a decent listenership, and that played music that we liked. You want rock? Check. Want blues? Check. Jazz? Check. Classical? Check. Pop? Check. Soul? Check. Of course, many of the radio stations were owned by music lovers as well. I remember well our local rock radio station, now one of the biggest on the planet, and now owned by the evil radio conglomerate known as J-Cor, Iheartradio, or whatever it is known by now, played rock to pay the bills, but the owner loved classical, so it devoted Sunday mornings to classical music. Think that would happen in this day and age?
Now, some people would call radio a form of marketing. Today? Good luck. If I ever got tired of reading my assigned school literature, or whatever the teachers called it, I could head to the supermarket, and there would be rows of music magazines - all with interviews no doubt set up by those record company marketing departments. Today? Music magazines have almost gone the way of the audio magazines on the news stand.
Again, marketing. Then came along a little marketing gem known as MTV. Talk about record company marketing. You like U2? Think they are a good band? Think you'd know who they were without MTV? Doubtful. Tom Petty, God rest his soul, exploded after MTV played the videos. I remember when Damn the Torpedoes came out. I heard Refugee on the radio. That is what passed for pop music at that time. Today? I don't hear Tom Petty today in pop music. I don't see a mass of younger kids pining for a Tom Petty or a U2.
I don't blame the records companies for that. When I was growing up kids liked Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rush, morphing into Tom Petty, U2 - you get the point.
At the end of the day, if there is a gazzilion dollars to be made from good new music, I think the record companies would mine that gold. Look at country music (just don't listen to it.) Multiple acts sell out multiple, major venues in most cities. Why? Um, a cajillion country music stations pretty much everywhere I try to escape from it. Country bars. Country music channels on television. Country cities.
In other words, marketing outlets. I'd hate to be running a major record company trying to figure out how to market product to fickle listeners with the attention spans of fruit flies, without any real radio, and with nary a magazine on the news stand to advertise product.
So, sure, the record companies have failings to be sure, but there is more to blame than record companies for the current status of the music industry. On the other hand, there are more independent labels in multiple genres today than ever before, who are releasing product that would never have seen the light of day when the big four or five controlled the the music industry. Musicians have to work harder than ever before (think touring and marketing), but they control the fruits of their labor today more than they did in the glory years.
I think the current structure encourages new bands more so than the old structure. I suspect in the olden days of yore bands tried to sell themselves to the major labels, and if the major labels passed them over, they went back to being carpenters, electricians, or audio equipment manufacturers. The labels were the gatekeepers, for both good and bad.
Now, the musicians market themselves, and while in all likelihood they won't hit it big like the olden days, they are more likely to eke out a living playing music. Our little burg has far more small venues for live bands than thirty or forty years ago. So, there are some benefits if you look hard enough.
Where I do think the record companies zigged when they should have zagged was when the internet came into being. CD's were spinning before the internet. And they were selling. And selling a ton of new product from U2. The business was good. Then came the internet, and ruined everyone's life, whether they know it or not. Magazines? Check out the news racks lately? Retail? Go to a mall lately? Records stores? And if Amazon has its way, you won't have a supermarket either.
So, sure, the record companies were very slow to embrace the new technology known as the internet, and instead chose to fight the losing battle. But the internet has gobbled up other business models. So, the record companies started repackaging music, and selling it anew. I suspect because the music they were repackaging was aimed at the demographic who thought the internet was too complicated and mysterious. So, let's sell to people who still actually care about good music, and still hunt down those few remaining record stores. It sure is a hell of a lot easier that trying to figure out what flavor the youth market is chasing this month, and, hell, they'll just grab that one tune they like for free over the net anyway. So why are we going to spend gobs of money developing and marketing good new music when listeners don't want to hear it and don't want to pay for it.
Frankly, when most of the marketing outlets have disappeared, and most youth change their tastes every week, I'm not sure what the records companies could have done to maintain the old model.
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Follow Ups
- RE: That's what I'd do if I were in the 'label's' position.... - jamesgarvin 10/9/1723:28:56 10/9/17 (1)
- Articulate, thoughtful post, James. /nm/ - tketcham 03:39:36 10/10/17 (0)
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