Artist / Musician 2.0
Instead of trying to find the real cause for dramatically decreasing CD sales, the record companies have been moaning about people illegaly downloading music in MP3 format, about those “criminals” ruining their business, etc. etc. etc. Have they ever considered that possibly they have been releasing too much rubbish and that their customers are getting disillusioned with the corporate music bullshit?
The record companies have been taking advantage of the record/CD-buying public for too long. When CDs first hit the market, promises were made that once the format was established, prices would be reduced drastically. Has this happened? Not really, yours truly thinks.
Well, they simply got too used to making big money ($$$), paying outrageous sums to their big name artists, splashing out on new, oftentimes untalented, bands, dropping them the second expected sales were not met (at times even before the record came out!), screwing talented bands with ridiculous contracts, totally losing interest in developing and helping promising artists.
Luckily, their system is failing. Record companies are middlemen that soon will no longer be needed. The internet has truly revolutionized the music business. Now, any artist can record and sell their own material online. Consumers usually pay less per track/album than they would in a shop, while the musician(s) still make more money than they would have, had they been backed by a record company.
Merlin Mann has recently interviewed two individuals who have been using the internet very successfully to build their careers: John Vanderslice, and Jonathan Coulton.
You can watch the videos on Merlin Mann’s The Merlin Show:
John Vanderslice Part 1 (of 3)
John Vanderslice Part 2 (of 3)
John Vanderslice Part 3 (of 3)
Jonathan Coulton Part 1 (of 2)
Jonathan Coulton Part 2 (of 2)
I will in the future definitely write more about the music industry and also Last.FM.
© Patrice Schneider. No reproduction without prior written consent.
Addendum 20 May 2007: Good and interesting article (German language only) in this weekend’s edition of Das Magazin.
Technorati Tags: Last.FM, Jonathan Coulton, John Vanderslice, MP3 Download, Online Radio, Personalized Radio, Artist Promotion, Label Promotion
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