The tidal wave is forming and at its head are bands like Radiohead, Oasis and The Charlatan’s are riding the crest waves of music that can now be freely downloaded without fear of RIAA storm troopers breaking down your door.
As is being pointed out by folks like Mike Masnick at Techdirt this free music is only a part of the larger experience that these front runner bands have figured out how to make the money from. Bands like Radiohead have figured out that while the euphoria of free music will bring the people to the door - so to speak - it is the packaging of the band experience via special CDs, concerts and anything else that can be merchandised to enhance the music’s popularity.
The problem is that there seems to be this thought that the failure of the music business - aka music labels - was a reluctance to jump on the free music bandwagon when in fact this was a by-product of a larger problem. Which was for the longest time the music industry has been pumping out and charging ridiculous prices for crap music.
When I first started collecting music back in the days of vinyl it was commonly accepted that at least one; two at the most, tracks on the LP would be crap and usually stuffed onto the B-side of the LP. Over the years this ratio has slowly changed to the point that the majority of the time you are lucky if even half the songs are worth listening to. We became nothing but cash cows for the music industry as we lined up obediently with every big release and plunked over our hard earned money because we had no alternatives.
Then came the Internet and suddenly we had a way to thumb our noses at the industry that had been bleeding us dry and get only the songs we felt were worth listening to. The days of the 45 single had returned albeit in electronic form.
The smart bands have recognized this and to their credit have also realized that they are going to have to be able to provide more than just a couple of songs in order to maintain their positions as leaders in this new music industry that is forming.
Contrary to how people like Chris Messina may think this is the new Open Web Media and all the warm and fuzzy feeling it might imply the truth is that it is just a new way to make the same old thing - money. Only this time around we aren’t having to pay for crap.
BTW: don’t forget about the WinExtra contest to win a copy of Stardock’s WindowBlinds newest version
Listening to: Moby - 18 - We Are All Made Of Stars
Conversation Tags: music, Radiohead, Techdirt, FactoryCity
4 Comments
Hmm, I’m not sure that I have any illusions about the role of commerce in the decisions of these bands. Especially in the cases of Radiohead and NIN, they’ll do fine selling direct to consumers. For many other bands, especially undiscovered ones, or ones who aren’t MySpace et al-savvy, I think it’ll be a long slog before they can go completely independent. Let’s face it, you have to reach a certain amount of volume selling your wares before you can survive off of it.
In any case, I wouldn’t look at this as so much a warm and fuzzy revolution, but rather the kind of circumstance that made the coming of Firefox so exciting… the ground is beginning to shift and the landscape is taking on new forms. If Firefox didn’t come around, who knows when Microsoft would have been forced to update its browser…! The same thing is true for music now with bands advocating for fans to “steal their music” (as Trent Reznor proclaimed, genius marketing if you ask me) or advocating against the use of DRM (since it effectively reduces the number of people who can experience a band’s music, limiting their potential viral spread — which is where bands get their volume from!).
Anyway, I see the commerce side of this. This isn’t just a “Free The Music From the Evil Tyrants” thing. This is changing the way that money is made and how it flows. An Open Media Web is about recirculation, redistribution and greater freedom of choice. Personally I hope this change (more openness and choice) brings about a Darwinian evolution where the crap begins to wane and bands are forced to actually crank out top shelf A-Sides in order to make it.
We’re still a long way off, but I’m not sure, as was the case in the last post we exchanged words on, we really disagree.
Chris I have to admit I always like it when you join in any of the conversations I try and spark here at WinExtra. Both from the point of view that you as a firm Web 2.0 proponent bring to the table and because you always have some intelligent feedback. Maybe that is one of the reasons why your posts tend to either spark thoughts of my own or figure prominently in my posts.
I do agree that the ground is shifting under us but whether it will make any difference in the larger picture of society is highly debatable. In this bubble we call the early adopterism of all things cool we seem to suffer from a myopic view that people outside of the bubble will see things the same way.
With music as much as folks who look at the current happenings hope that this will indeed foreshadow a larder trend outside of the bubble that will result in more bands being able to get out from under the thumb of music labels and become successful the fact is I think for the larger Internet world it will only see the word FREE.
As for not disagreeing on points in discussions we have had in the past I think my next post today; which again was sparked by one of yours, may see us definitely at opposite ends LOL
Thanks for taking time and being a part of my contributions to the conversation chain
I do think there is something to the insider bubbloptics effect that keeps us somewhat sheltered from reality. And as much as I try to empathize or imagine what the rest of the world might think about such things, let’s face it, I’m like Paris Hilton thinking that I can speak for Guantanamo inmates.
That said, I do have a view inside the bubble, and since I’m originally from New England, I have a curmudgeonly distrust of all things large and who think they’re in charge. Usually that means the government or Big Business, and in this case, I’m talking about the collusive record labels.
Will there be some cataclysmic changing of the guard where every band joins up with a new RIAA (Recording Independents Association of Anarchists?) and goes Free Agent Nation on the former RIAA’s ass? Will all bands start giving away their music for free? Or better yet, seeding copies of their albums to the BitTorrent networks themselves? I doubt it.
BUT, what is important here is that Radiohead, NIN and the others are walking up from their somnambulant stupor and realizing, in Harrison Bergeron fashion, that they do indeed have free will and can take risks (instead of just pot shots) with their own careers if they so choose.
And since the actualization of choice is tantamount to establishing that one has free will, marketing-driven or not, the fact is, their model will become an inspiration for entire generation who won’t just assume that the only way to make it is through signing away your life and becoming a slave to the economics you decried in your post, but instead that they can consider alternative routes to success and satisfaction and more importantly, more genuine or original ways to create and be involved with music, less as a Business, and more as an Art.
The thing is, I have no illusions that this is about making money. Even so, it’s nice to see groups like Radiohead and NIN striking out on their own and selling directly to fans. It makes it a lot easier for smaller indie bands to make a name for themselves through grass-roots efforts on the Internet.
I think, though, that these bands are going to get more than they bargained for. They’re freeing themselves from the RIAA and the labels - that’s a good thing. The BAD thing is, they’re making life a lot harder for themselves. We customers can now vote for what songs are good and what songs are dreary, and not have to pay $14.99 for two good tracks and 10 pieces of crap. Instead, we can pay $.79 a pop for the hits, and let the remaining tracks rot. This is going to put a lot of pressure on individual bands not to churn out dreck.
Ultimately, that enhanced competition is a good thing for consumers. But it’s going to make life hellish for artists who have been riding the coattails of mediocrity left dangling off of the coat of the traditional music industry.
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