Do you think the music industry will survive in the near future?

kratos

New member
Now unless ya'll have been living under a rock, we know most of us use file sharing sites to get stuff for free these days. Its only a matter of time before people this number just increases exponentialy and that it'll become "acceptable" within society to download music/movies/games for free.

With music sales declining every year i'm not surprised industry is still sitting on its fat arse and doing nothing to curb the trend except file law suits to fans and trying to get governments to get tough on file sharing.
Usual file sharer argument of downloading stuff for free: "The internet is there for everyone and information can be transferred freeley. If governments restrict this then its breaching our rights. Or: I cant find the song in the shop.
Funny these "rights" get played around so easily these days just like "free speech" does.

Could it be the end to mega superstars and lavish lifestyles for future "big" musicians, and that being a musician will be just like any other normal job people can get?
Or will music be forever freely available until some one just pulls the plug, industry collapses, music industry is owned by anyone in the world who wishes to venture into to make some profit for a living.

I think the fundamental problem of why music gets downloaded freely is because people are lazy, theyre just kids who dont have credits or low pocket money, and if its in the internet for free, why pay for it attitude.
I have yet to see adults file sharing in the masses, its mainly the age group 13 - 25 who download stuff for free (read somewhere cant remember where).

To solve this problem a fundamental change must take place in the business models of these labels. A change in the stage when the music gets distributed and promoted mainly.
What do you think Labels should do to change their current business models?

The big stars wont be affected as theyre rolling in the money. Its only artists like me, you (possibly) and future musicians, will bear the brunt in the future if nothing gets done.
Sooner or later people will tell us to get a "real" job.


Would like your thoughts on this.
 
Now unless ya'll have been living under a rock, we know most of us use file sharing sites to get stuff for free these days. Its only a matter of time before people this number just increases exponentialy and that it'll become "acceptable" within society to download music/movies/games for free.

With music sales declining every year i'm not surprised industry is still sitting on its fat arse and doing nothing to curb the trend except file law suits to fans and trying to get governments to get tough on file sharing.
Usual file sharer argument of downloading stuff for free: "The internet is there for everyone and information can be transferred freeley. If governments restrict this then its breaching our rights. Or: I cant find the song in the shop.
Funny these "rights" get played around so easily these days just like "free speech" does.

Could it be the end to mega superstars and lavish lifestyles for future "big" musicians, and that being a musician will be just like any other normal job people can get?
Or will music be forever freely available until some one just pulls the plug, industry collapses, music industry is owned by anyone in the world who wishes to venture into to make some profit for a living.

I think the fundamental problem of why music gets downloaded freely is because people are lazy, theyre just kids who dont have credits or low pocket money, and if its in the internet for free, why pay for it attitude.
I have yet to see adults file sharing in the masses, its mainly the age group 13 - 25 who download stuff for free (read somewhere cant remember where).

To solve this problem a fundamental change must take place in the business models of these labels. A change in the stage when the music gets distributed and promoted mainly.
What do you think Labels should do to change their current business models?

The big stars wont be affected as theyre rolling in the money. Its only artists like me, you (possibly) and future musicians, will bear the brunt in the future if nothing gets done.
Sooner or later people will tell us to get a "real" job.


Would like your thoughts on this.
Well, music sales certainly aren't declining, in fact, they're hitting record numbers!! Sales of physical media is down, but sales from digital downloads are up, a lot.

What's changed is that it's no longer the full album selling, it's gone back to singles. One download is a whole lot cheaper than a cd full of songs, so the record companies aren't making the huge profits like they are accustomed. Yup, they need to come up with a new business model or accept the fact that their profits will be less.

Simultaneously, the home recording industry is growing. Now more than ever before, independants have the means and venues to produce and sell their music. This kind of levels the playing field a little (okay, a smidgin, but still something) The problem is the field is saturated with us home recordists, small labels, etc. It's difficult for one artist to stand out above the crowd without the help of a major label. That's where the major labels still have leverage, promotion and distribution. So, to get our music out there, we do the next best thing and just give it away.

The music industry ain't going away. It's evolving and getting bigger with more and more music for a listener to choose from.
 
What made the industry work in the past was that regular Joe's didn't have a record making lathe. In order to get the "real deal" recording you had to buy a record, there was no other way.

I would expect technology to get to the point that when the next big breakthrough in audio quality comes out, and it will, that there will a very advanced copy protection scheme that will make it so that you have to buy the original and you won't be able to copy it.

Somethings are already like that. Ableton and Cubase for instance, they have the copy protection down so that very few people aren't using factory legal versions. Ten years ago you could copy Cubase and give it away.
 
Well, music sales certainly aren't declining, in fact, they're hitting record numbers!! Sales of physical media is down, but sales from digital downloads are up, a lot.

Yeah. I would argue that the OP is several years behind the times. The market has (finally) started to adapt to the modern consumer.
Yes, less money is being made relative the the amount of music being produced, but people are still making money off the process (and always will be). Somebody will always be getting rich off of music. Maybe it won't be rockstar artists, but it'll be someone.
 
everything changes.
The people who do well are those who try to understand those changes and find the ways to use them for their own benefit.
 
Its cyclic, to be honest.

The independent home musician dude is thriving now, but come a few years and musicians will start to get tired of doing EVERYTHING themselves and businesses will form that will help artists distribute and shit, and the labels will come back.

I think labels are a good idea, just not in their current Big 4/5 form.
 
I feel like the entire concept of music is changing.
Right down to the way individuals care about it.
When I was starting up you'd have a few dozen albums and you'd listen to them over and over and over and over again 'till you knew every little teeny detail of them.
It's inevitable that in a world where everyone has tens of thousand of tunes at their fingertips that the whole way of listening has changed and that alters the relationship with music.
Before someone attacks me as has happened before let me emphasize that I AM NOT SAYING IT'S A BAD THING!

I'm just saying it's different.
Music has become a lot more of a commodity and it also seems to be more in the background.
I know that I very raely sit down with music ..... turn down the lights and really, really totally lose myself in it to the exclusion of everything else. There's just too much of it I want to hear so I mostly have it on all the time while doing other things.
I've changed as the ways of music have changed and I'm definitely old school.
So I believe we're seeing a major change in how music relates to us and how we relate to it.
An interesting social change going on actually.
 
Great they all hit in on the tip of the pin lol.
The music industry is definitely not declining but it is ever changing. New mediums give way to new ways to distribute music and its fundamental parts. Because of MP3's budgets are lesser than before, meaning more income. A major artist can release 1 single song and making millions
 
Somethings are already like that. Ableton and Cubase for instance, they have the copy protection down so that very few people aren't using factory legal versions. Ten years ago you could copy Cubase and give it away.

Actually, they've been cracked.

Digidesign/Avid are the only ones who got the copy protection thing right. What did they sacrafice for it? A good business model. They are a terrible company.

However, I've gotten word that their copy-protection scheme is going to be turned on its head pretty soon.
 
Actually, they've been cracked.

Digidesign/Avid are the only ones who got the copy protection thing right. What did they sacrafice for it? A good business model. They are a terrible company.

However, I've gotten word that their copy-protection scheme is going to be turned on its head pretty soon.

Personally, I think people who crack on Digidesign cause of their proprietary parts are the same type of people who crack on Apple for theirs.. IMO they are a good company because of doing so. 1 manufacturer for 1 motive. not 90 pieces of hardware to do the same thing = prone to less problems.. anyways

ProTools itself, is crackable, but you can't use it without the digidesign/m-audio hardware interfaces.
 
I feel like the entire concept of music is changing.
Right down to the way individuals care about it.
When I was starting up you'd have a few dozen albums and you'd listen to them over and over and over and over again 'till you knew every little teeny detail of them.
It's inevitable that in a world where everyone has tens of thousand of tunes at their fingertips that the whole way of listening has changed and that alters the relationship with music.
Before someone attacks me as has happened before let me emphasize that I AM NOT SAYING IT'S A BAD THING!

I'm just saying it's different.
Music has become a lot more of a commodity and it also seems to be more in the background.
I know that I very raely sit down with music ..... turn down the lights and really, really totally lose myself in it to the exclusion of everything else. There's just too much of it I want to hear so I mostly have it on all the time while doing other things.
I've changed as the ways of music have changed and I'm definitely old school.
So I believe we're seeing a major change in how music relates to us and how we relate to it.
An interesting social change going on actually.

I just read a thread on gearslutz where somebody pretty much said exactly as you said.

Its true....music is nothing more than a commodity. Its all background noise. People go to shows, casually listen, but mostly texting on their phones.

But its not across the arts though. People still pay attention to movies, people still go to museums to try and figure out Abstract Art, people still sit down and read books hardcore....but not music.

What happened to make the listener of music change?

While you say its not a bad thing, I think it is. But hopefully the cycle will come around again.
 
While you say its not a bad thing, I think it is. But hopefully the cycle will come around again.
well. I also didn't say it wasn't a bad thing. But in the past when I've said this I've had guys attack me because they felt I was disparaging the younger generation so I just wanted to be clear I wasn't taking a position.

But regardless of where you come down on the subject the world of music is clearly changing a lot.
 
One of my favorite sayings comes to mind:

You can resist or embrace change, but you can't stop it.
 
IMO they are a good company because of doing so. 1 manufacturer for 1 motive. not 90 pieces of hardware to do the same thing = prone to less problems.. anyways

Funny enough, Pro Tools is (one of) the least stable, out of all the major DAW's out there. That alone will take the "good side" out of their business model.

ProTools itself, is crackable, but you can't use it without the digidesign/m-audio hardware interfaces.

And when you buy the interfaces, you get the software. That's what I meant about their copy-protection.
 
Funny enough, Pro Tools is (one of) the least stable, out of all the major DAW's out there. That alone will take the "good side" out of their business model.



And when you buy the interfaces, you get the software. That's what I meant about their copy-protection.

I've personally rarely have problems with any Prosumer DAW out there.. Other than the occasional hickup from hours of use on any DAW (on anything really on a computer), majority do run stable. Pro Tools, Nuendo, Samplitude, Cubase, Sonar, Logic, all rarely have went down. I barely remember any instances where there was constant instability.
 
Actually, they've been cracked.

Digidesign/Avid are the only ones who got the copy protection thing right. What did they sacrafice for it? A good business model. They are a terrible company.

However, I've gotten word that their copy-protection scheme is going to be turned on its head pretty soon.

Everything gets cracked. They're pitting their small DRM team against the collective wit and drive of every cracker who wants their software for free.
 
I feel like the entire concept of music is changing.
Right down to the way individuals care about it.
When I was starting up you'd have a few dozen albums and you'd listen to them over and over and over and over again 'till you knew every little teeny detail of them.
It's inevitable that in a world where everyone has tens of thousand of tunes at their fingertips that the whole way of listening has changed and that alters the relationship with music.
Before someone attacks me as has happened before let me emphasize that I AM NOT SAYING IT'S A BAD THING!

I'm just saying it's different.
Music has become a lot more of a commodity and it also seems to be more in the background.
I know that I very raely sit down with music ..... turn down the lights and really, really totally lose myself in it to the exclusion of everything else. There's just too much of it I want to hear so I mostly have it on all the time while doing other things.
I've changed as the ways of music have changed and I'm definitely old school.
So I believe we're seeing a major change in how music relates to us and how we relate to it.
An interesting social change going on actually.

Wow this is an excellent point!
 
Wow this is an excellent point!

I agree. Except I never have music on in the background. I can't stand it. Hate outside music when I'm working or driving. If music's on, I have to give it 100% of my attention, I really have no choice. I always have a song playing in my head so if I put on outside music while I work it's like having two songs going, and the one in my head is always more interesting because I can participate in it and write it.

Since I was a kid, I developed this method I've never told anyone about. I can wiggle my ears, and with that I hear a loud, maybe 10Hz (no pitch, just a big cloud) sound, very, very loud, maybe 90 - 100 dB. I use that for a kick drum. If I click my back teeth it sounds like a snare, and my front teeth can do a hi hat sound. Then if I imagine a bass part I can have that going on and it's pretty much like it really is. On top of that I can sing so now I've got bass, drums and a lead line going on. I've been doing that since about 1969 and that's how I've arranged around 1000 songs since then. I wrote charts for maybe 600 of them. But they all start in my head and I retain the key. If I start the song in F, it will be in F when I work in the studio on it a year later.

Doing that is, way, way more interesting than listening to anything from the outside, and when I put music on like in a car, now I've got two songs going. :mad:

Because of the proximity, the band in my head is going like 100 db at times, and it can be way louder than if I was listening to a stereo.

Does anybody else do that?
 
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