creative deconstruction

This Business of Music

Posted on 31. Jul, 2009 by refe in MUSIC INDUSTRY

Art and business are not incompatible, but they do make an odd couple. One constantly pulls at the other as both try to achieve their own distinct goals and serve their own purpose. Just like in any relationship, there are times when common ground allows for beautiful things to happen. Other times their differences threaten to tear them apart.

Music is art, but without business that art would never be given the opportunity to leave the bedroom and reach the audience it deserves. Inspiration may be free, but everything that comes after that costs money. Fortunately, one of the great things about art  – even less than skillful art – is its unique ability to make lot’s of money. Not that it always does, and it’s nearly impossible to predict when it will, but the potential is there.

So who pays for all of this, and when the money is finally made, who is entitled to a share?

The music industry is made up of many, many different players. Labels, publishers, distributors, broadcasters, webcasters, PR and marketing folks… the list goes on. Each one has a stake in the success or failure of the product being sold: music. And over the years, a nasty little culture has developed that has each of these stakeholders convinced that everybody else is out to get their piece of the pie.

Labels exploit their artists and sue consumers. Fans hate the labels and by association distrust artists. Artists feel cheated by their labels, and resent their own fans when they don’t play by established rules.

It doesn’t have to be this way. This unhealthy competition that is so prevalent in the music industry is based on the false belief that the business of music is a zero-sum game. According to this reasoning if one group is making money the other groups are losing money. So instead of working together toward the common goal of a healthy, profitable music industry, we get 40 page contracts, messy legal disputes and massive congressional lobbying.

One ray of light is that the playing field is being leveled. Before, one half of the industry held the majority of the power. The labels and publishers held a monopoly on key resources – namely manufacturing, distribution and promotion – and it was reflected in unfair contracts and an unapproachable legal presence. Artists – and I would argue the art of music itself – got the short end of the stick. Look at the drivel being pushed as Top 40 over the last ten years

With the advent of the age of digital distribution and social media marketing that power is being quickly eroded. Already we are seeing this resulting in new business models that look less like exploitation and misguided competition, and more like true partnerships.

We have an opportunity to get back to the foundation of ‘music business’ – the creation and promotion of quality music in a way that sustains the further creation of quality music. The key in that statement is that music should be the foundation and the goal, not money.

Do I think this Utopian industry is possible to achieve? Probably not. But if more people set out to do business with a true love for the art that drives it, our industry will find itself in a much better place, both creatively and financially.

Tags: ARTISTS, business models, editorial, record labels, social media