The Toronto Star has an excellent overview of the ‘music industry’ – an industry that is exploding and dying off at the same time.
“The undeniable reality is that CD sales continue to fall so dramatically – down 20 per cent from 2006, and down 35 per cent in Canada – that the industry as we know it may soon collapse completely.”
It should be pointed out here that when they say CD they are talking about the physical product – not MP3 sales. Also, personally, I buy most of my CD’s at shows, from the artists themselves (many of whom do not have a label) and I’m sure that these CDs aren’t counted in the ‘industry’ sales figures.
It seems certain at this point that the traditional big record labels will go under. A few years ago they were cutting back on the number of new artists they signed and throwing less profitable artists overboard. Now they are being dumped themselves, by the more profitable artists they chose to retain.
“Insiders and trade magazines are already predicting a bad New Year for the once mighty EMI Music, one of the world’s five remaining major labels, after the recent loss of Radiohead, Paul McCartney and rumblings that Robbie Williams is quitting the roster as well. Warner Music, already stripped to the bone, is also struggling to survive.”
Which is fine. Given their behavior over the last decade or two the big labels have done nothing to earn their survival or to warrant any loyalty among fans or artists who might save them.
Music, after all, has demonstrated that the big labels aren’t necessary.
“In 2007 more than 750,000 albums were released worldwide (by mostly independent artists via the Internet), compared to 38,000 in 2002.”
But there is another reality we have to consider as well. It is simply not true that all downloaders also buy music. Perhaps they wouldn’t buy music even if they didn’t download, in which case it’s good that they’re at least listening. Regardless, many independent artists are having trouble making ends meet and/or figuring out how they are going to do so in the future.
There has to be a new deal – a deal not between record labels, lawyers, lobbyists and politicians but a deal between artists and fans. We do not, after all, want to see them give up music or stop producing new music. Producing a CD, or even recording new material for digital distribution costs money and that’s a reality that isn’t going to change.
One final thing to keep in mind is that while music is reaching the apex of a two decade transformation, all media (TV and Film are next) is going to go down this road sooner or later.
This is an issue that I talk quite a bit about on the blog and that I intend to talk about quite a bit on the new podcast but if you think you have a piece of the puzzle I’d love to hear it.