I agree and will always cherish the memory of waiting for a CD to hit the shelves and marvelling at the enormous willingness to pay I had for Music as a kid. But in the flip side, I also rationalise this new era by thinking that there's not a vastly bigger population in the world than in the late 90's, plus most of the increase is in china and india. so the number of artists competing for attention is not hugely hugely more. It's just that what used to grow in a locality is being merged into one mega-marketplace of the Internet. I think there will always be a place for artists printing posters and using social media and word of mouth to grow locally while also optimistically having a crack at being 'found' online by some rich US rap producer. I reckon it's a little but exciting watching this beast evolve.
cheers Steve, agree it's an evolving scene, and it won't be clear what&how we're in now until the new paradigm has fully landed. Whether that's streaming services or some other form of gatekeeping or shortchanging who knows. But, it's a good time to experiment with distribution and business models and see what sticks. See for eg Radiohead Day when they dropped In Rainbows online, user-pays. Look at how far the web has already moved since then...
The same thing is happening in slightly different form in publishing. Maybe, in the end, the change will be as simple as the internet becoming the primary distribution mode for music, and all the other methods become secondary add-ons.
Also, the music industry shot themselves in the foot and are very much responsible for the decrease in payment for music, because of their rampant overpricing of CDs in the late 80s and 90s. That did them in, I believe. The internet is just the new scapegoat; while they figure out ways to collect big-bucks for themselves again.
I agree and will always cherish the memory of waiting for a CD to hit the shelves and marvelling at the enormous willingness to pay I had for Music as a kid. But in the flip side, I also rationalise this new era by thinking that there's not a vastly bigger population in the world than in the late 90's, plus most of the increase is in china and india. so the number of artists competing for attention is not hugely hugely more. It's just that what used to grow in a locality is being merged into one mega-marketplace of the Internet. I think there will always be a place for artists printing posters and using social media and word of mouth to grow locally while also optimistically having a crack at being 'found' online by some rich US rap producer. I reckon it's a little but exciting watching this beast evolve.
ReplyDeleteWell written and thought provoking piece btw
cheers Steve, agree it's an evolving scene, and it won't be clear what&how we're in now until the new paradigm has fully landed. Whether that's streaming services or some other form of gatekeeping or shortchanging who knows. But, it's a good time to experiment with distribution and business models and see what sticks. See for eg Radiohead Day when they dropped In Rainbows online, user-pays. Look at how far the web has already moved since then...
ReplyDeleteThe same thing is happening in slightly different form in publishing. Maybe, in the end, the change will be as simple as the internet becoming the primary distribution mode for music, and all the other methods become secondary add-ons.
Also, the music industry shot themselves in the foot and are very much responsible for the decrease in payment for music, because of their rampant overpricing of CDs in the late 80s and 90s. That did them in, I believe. The internet is just the new scapegoat; while they figure out ways to collect big-bucks for themselves again.