your thoughts on the changing music industry

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damianhk

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I didn't know where else to put this. I've been stumbling on videos, articles, etc. about the music industry being dead. Cd sales are down and declining, and fans won't buy a download if they don't have to, so I guess the record business is dying. Cd players are being phased out of the new vehicles. That leaves the entertainment biz. Does this changing landscape change the way you approach making music, your goals, etc.? Is pay per stream the next thing? I guess bands can still do pretty good by pumping out good music, having a following on social media, playing shows and selling merchandise. What do you see happening with "the industry"? Interested in your thoughts on all this.
 
While publishing a couple of songs is good, publishing for free a full album is really going to trigger the "why should I give money since I can listen to all the songs for free" thought.
There are some people though that really know what the band has been through (especially an independent band/artist) and wish to support by getting merchandise or the album in cd version.

Most people are going full "non-physical" (with the USB sticks, online streaming, youtube and stuff) so I suppose itunes is the way to go from now on.
Social media also play a huge role. Subscribers is what everyone is trying to achieve and I am not sure if that's actually good or sad, but definitely helps a lot.

If you've got money/label then why not continue doing both? It's just a matter of analytics and split-testing to see how much you're selling via the internet or with real cds.
When you get the results, you just create just enough cd copies as needed and you're fine. Online stuff has much lower costs too.

The internet and social media actually have a huge benefit and a huge drawback. If you've got thousands of followers, you can promote yourself easier and the chances of someone to promote you even more is greater.
The drawback is that every single band/artist is using the internet to achieve the same results, so the competition is huge. It's kinda the same thing if you think about it, it balance itself out.

But I am of these guys that loves to own the "real thing", I feel like I really own the cd and I really supported the artist, but I guess I might be old-school at this.
I love usb sticks with mp3 especially in the car, it's super convenient, but nothing beats a real cd for me, with its album cover especially if you actually love the band.
 
2 main goals in the industry today:
1. live shows
2. money from syncing movies to commercials\movies\tV etc.

For both of these you still need to have good music out there
Don't forget that 20 years ago no one could make music at home at all , today you have a lot more possibilities to be discovered axcept having a label fund you 150,000$ album
 
This may exist already, but what about pay per view performances? Inform fans of the play date, and charge a small fee for fans to watch live. (Everything from living room performances to larger venues.)
 
1000s (tens of thousands) of artists/bands all releasing songs daily. What happens when there is a surplus of product? Price bottoms out.
With today's ADD-prevalent people, a 'different song' is a button push away - whether its on a phone, or streamed at home or in the car. They'll pay to go commercial-free, but why pay for music when there's so much out there. You like 'Imagine Dragons'? You create a Pandora station for it. They play someting you don't like, just go to Sirius an dselect one of a zillion choices.

Sure there are still 'fans' who will pay for CDS/vinyl/downloads of their favorites, but this is a minority. For the thousands of the rest of us producing music in home studios (or even going to pro studios to record), we'll sell a few albums/downloads here and there. Getting a song chosen for music in a movie or tv show - total crapshoot, hope you get lucky.
If you wnat to make ANY money, play live shows, register your songs with a PRO, log your live plays on the PRO site, and you'll get some royalty money to supplement the money you make at your shows.
 
And the title's "changing" should be changed. This is the new normal.

If someone makes music because they like to, then nothing's really changed. If they make music to be the center of attention / superstar, they're even less likely to achieve any degree of success than the previous snowball's chance. With greater musician access to a potential fan base, there's also greater access to bands/new music for listeners. It's never been more important to be hip and trendy, or shocking in a naughty way.
 
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mjbphotos said:
1000s (tens of thousands) of artists/bands all releasing songs daily. What happens when there is a surplus of product? Price bottoms out.
With today's ADD-prevalent people, a 'different song' is a button push away - whether its on a phone, or streamed at home or in the car. They'll pay to go commercial-free, but why pay for music when there's so much out there. You like 'Imagine Dragons'? You create a Pandora station for it. They play someting you don't like, just go to Sirius an dselect one of a zillion choices.

Sure there are still 'fans' who will pay for CDS/vinyl/downloads of their favorites, but this is a minority. For the thousands of the rest of us producing music in home studios (or even going to pro studios to record), we'll sell a few albums/downloads here and there. Getting a song chosen for music in a movie or tv show - total crapshoot, hope you get lucky.
If you wnat to make ANY money, play live shows, register your songs with a PRO, log your live plays on the PRO site, and you'll get some royalty money to supplement the money you make at your shows.
Click to expand...

^^^^^^^
 
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