Comments on: Why Music Is Broken – The Artist To Consumer Connection

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:50:36 +0000

Another link on digital royalties and labels:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/12/major-label-messes-with-wrong-guy/

Two partners and I are launching a site in the new year – another kick at the pay what you want model – that will work for any fan or band with no signing up required [it'll help if you do tho...]. Mission for us is more money to more artists, then let them source/hire who they need to release their music.

@quietrevolution

By: Phil Johnson

Phil Johnson — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:16:00 +0000

This is a great article and something I’ve been talking about for a long time. It’s not that people don’t have respect for us artists. It’s that they don’t respect the people keeping most of our money away from us. I always try to let people know where their money is going.

By: Amy ~ @allaboutenergy

Amy ~ @allaboutenergy — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 06:04:58 +0000

This is a brilliant post and one that clearly says it like it is. This writing has been on the wall for A LONG LONG time. Even before internet and digital downloads became available and a primary means of purchasing music, this problem existed.

I was involved in the music biz in the end of the 80′s through the mid 90′s and the divide between the artist and fan was expanding by leaps and bounds then. I shopped original acts to labels as an unofficial AR person as well as doing my own music. Some of my music friends did get major label deals, some even went on to become Grammy winners and other’s contracts were written off and they vanished into obscurity. I experienced the vision with which the labels saw artists, and that was no more than if they were stocks to invest in. Not gifted artists communicating and sharing their heart and soul with fans. This has only become worse.

The day the music industry (major) stops raping the artists and begins to VALUE them AS ARTISTS will be the day the reconnect between the fan and the major artist will begin to heal. Until that day, major acts will always be forced to go out on the road to connect with all their fans.

By: Theo

Theo — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:44:02 +0000

the record company pays for the recordings, producer, studio time, touring, promotion, legal fees, merchandise development… they need the money if you want to see more recordings not the artist.

By: Theo

Theo — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:41:54 +0000

I don’t understand why you have to feel like you are paying the artist directly.
why is it not acceptable to pay anyone in the industry?
Why does eveyone hate the music industry (what confuses me is that you don’t know what you hate, its just ‘the music industry’ -there is no single industry, especially with the movement towards inter-media, cross-platform synergies, I get the impression it is just fashionable to hate something)

By: Why Music Is Broken – The Artist To Consumer Connection

Why Music Is Broken – The Artist To Consumer Connection — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:01:08 +0000

[...] VIEW ARTICLE SOURCE [...]

By: Musicians—Money Is Not Motivation

Musicians—Money Is Not Motivation — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:19:04 +0000

[...] It’s smart business to think years down the road by expanding your fan base even if it doesn’t pay off immediately. I think Lady Gaga and many other artists see that. The long-term benefit of those 1+ million streams is immense, and I think many people are blinded to that fact—such a level of exposure leads to sellout shows and non-music revenue streams. The one thing I dislike about the situation is that the major labels still have major pull and they can afford huge production and marketing investments. But the need for heavy financing is down—thank you, Internet. In today’s connected, music-abundant world why does any one artist get so popular? Is it hard work, affinity, or talent? To me, talent is relative—it’s not what you can build, but rather it’s what you can build with what you have. It’s the Internet Age—indie musicians have the power to take the industry back but they must embrace change and creativity to do it—they must creatively leverage the internet and mobile apps. The connection from the fan to the band, financially, has been broken. The fan knows that their purchase will hardly help the band, or more precisely that the marginal benefit from their purchase to the band is near zero, so why do it? The cost to the fan is much higher than the marginal benefit to the band, so the fan just torrents the damn song. (Why Music Is Broken – The Artist To Consumer Connection) [...]

By: Bram

Bram — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:37:18 +0000

@Robert: Thanks for the link.

But it shows once again how those record labels operate… they buy them self-in and force the start-ups that only artists with a label can have his/her music in the collection. This way they can maintain their position as the expensive black-box in the middle.

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:06:35 +0000

@Bram:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/aug/17/major-labels-spotify

that’s the source of the comment about labels having a share in spotify.

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:03:53 +0000

Ah yes, the murky water of music licensing. I hates it, you never feel like you’re doing the right thing as a consumer.

and another thing that bothers me a lot: Copyright has become this big ugly hammer that smashes up any discussion about music into a boring tug of war about laws and the morality of it. This really doesn’t help matters, because for some reason I always feel that I need to present evidence that I’m not a music pirate or I will be chased out by and angry mob with pitchforks and torches.

It makes for a poisoned atmosphere on the net in these matters and the attitude presented by the ‘powers that be’ do not help.