This is the second installment of my blog "where have all the rock stars gone"
I had a lot of positive responses to my blog so I decided to put some more thoughts to paper. In this episode, I want to explore the new realities in the music business like the
american idol, America Got Talent, Britain got Talent, etc. etc.
These reality shows are starting to replace the A&R departments at the record labels altogether. American Idol has this system down pat: Get tens of thousands to audition, get them nationwide (worldwide) exposure, all while making money doing it. Quite frankly, from a business standpoint, it total genius.
The
american idol contestants' performances are available for sale on iTunes the day they appeared on TV. The TV performances give the contestants more exposure that any radio airplay ever could without having to send your label guys to drop CDs (and a cheque) to the radio stations all over the country.
For the rest, the promotion machine fuels itself. Entertainment Tonight discusses the performances, magazines are lining up for interviews, Oprah, Larry King, CNN...the list goes on and on. And you didn't have to spend one penny on publicists, magazine ads, sending review copies etc. etc.
Sounds like a win win situation for the record labels and A.I. producers. But there is a downside to this new way of doing business. First of all, the entire A.I. phenom is based on vocalists only, no opportunities for bands, musicians and so on. No opportunities for
jazz artists or any other artist that doesn't fit into the A.I. formula. They tried it, "Americas Greatest
rock Band" etc. and it didn't work. The formula only works for one dimensional pretty boy/pretty girl easy to sell young pop singers.
While this is going on, the rest of us has to try to do it the old fashioned way, which is now made harder then ever because of the 'instant pop star' phenomenon. No record label will accept a demo anymore, you better have a finished product ready to press and sell if you want to be heard by any label. And better yet, it will help if you already have a half a million fans as well, otherwise, your chances are slim to none.
While this is going on, the back catalogues still bring in the remainder of the millions that the record labels need. Three
Daft Punk songs from ten years ago have been in the iTunes Top Ten
electronic charts for the past 8 weeks.
Louis Armstrong is #1 in Jazz for ten weeks running on iTunes. It seem the choice given to us is either buy the 'instant pop stars' like
Kris Allen and
Adam Lambert or buy what you know was good when people still made music. Now I am not saying these guys are not good, they are excellent vocalists but then, there's so much more to music than singing ability.
And even at A.I., the back catalogue recycling machine is at work, quickly pairing up Kiss, Lionel Ritchie and other recycylable artists with the new instant stars for the final show. And once again, that result is instantly for sale on iTunes the same day.
In the meantime the smaller labels are the ones taking all the chances to bring new artists to the music scene and they have to face the massive impact of the majors struggling to hang on to their billions. I discovered these amazing facts on the web at
www.impalasite.org (Impala is an organization formed to represent independent music and labels) that demonstrate where this business is heading:
The music sector consists of thousands of independents and 4 multinationals – “the majors”. The independents are the innovators and early adopters, discovering new talent and producing 80% of all new releases.
The collective market share of the independents is nearly 20%. Previously this was 40%.
The biggest independent now has only 1.5% of the market. Previously this was 7%. The biggest major has over 40%.
The combined market share of the majors is more than 80%, climbing to a massive 95% for hits and radio.
So, as you can see, even the independent labels are being pushed out by the multi nationals, all to the detriment of music in general.
So, is there a silver lining in all of this? I think there is because in general, people still want to hear good music, something new, something that excites them and doesn't sound like a mass produced disposable item.
The key is in the niche markets, markets that are so small that the majors really can't pay any attention to. That is where the opportunities for new artists lie. There are hundreds of genres within electronic
dance and all of these genres have their loyal fans and you can carve out a space in many of these genres without having to worry to
Lady GaGa or
Beyonce will give you much competition (same goes for CBS and Universal)
One example is
chill out music, my genre. Within the past years I was able to establish a name as one of the top acts in
chillout and world fusion without any major label or A.I. help (or interference for that matter). I have fans all over thge world and my records also sell all over the planet, just enough to make a good living. But as small as that niche may seem to be, the 'majors' have come to realize that
chillout is a popular thing and I see iTunes and Amazon being flooded with "
ibiza chillout" "Best of Chillout" and "Classic Chillout" compilations filled with the label's back catalog, titles that didn't quite make it and just about everything else. When you look at some of the "Classic Chillout" titles you see the same
Enigma and
Enya songs recycled once again to squeeze a little more money out of their titles and to avoid having to promote a new artist.
I feel that collaboration between these niche artists (and believe me, there are thousands of niches not just in
electronica) is the way to go if we want to survive this new reality. Be on each other's albums and compilations, tour with similar artists in your genre to have a successful road show featuring the best of your genre whether it's
acoustic rock,
latin jazz,
ethnic fusion or
drum and bass. We have to think in terms of selling and packaging our music so it becomes a force. The blue hair people, the one hit wonders, the A.I. instant superstars will be here to stay for a long time, we'll have to accept that. But all this other wonderful music that's out there has an audience, it can reach people if we "think outside the label"
Alan Steward, Producer, Recording Artist
Album:
Licensed to Chill
Português
Louis Armstrong
