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Well said. Unfortunately I really don't see the situation changing any time soon. Bands like Radiohead can afford to use alternative distribution models because

Well said. Unfortunately I really don't see the situation changing any time soon. Bands like Radiohead can afford to use alternative distribution models because they're already well known. Newcomers don't really have too many viable options apart from trying to get signed to a known label or simply doing it for the love until, and if, they get noticed. I think the whole situation is made worse by 2 main factors: 1: A lot of musicians think that they'll get noticed simply by writing and playing good material. That is not enough. Most successful original bands really have to work to get noticed, it may take many years of constant gigging, demos and networking before anything happens, if anything happens at all... 2: The disparity between the well-knows and the unknowns: Like the film industry there is a huge divide between bands that are well known and the up-and-comers. This makes breaking in much harder because it's almost impossible to advertise enough to get noticed in the sea of advertising and hype spewed out by the big labels. This problem may start diminishing though if the traditional labels fall as hard as I'm sure many of us think they are going to...

seertaak 17y ago
I totally agree. In fact I'm playing in a band right now, the Signals (http://www.myspace.com/thesignalsuk http://www.myspace.com/thesignalsuk -- only demos, no band recordings so far), and what I'm realizing is that, in effect, 100% of the effort needs to come from you until you have a watershed moment, and then a label will begin to court you. And it's not that labels are inherently malicious either; another band I know, Lucky Elephant (http://www.myspace.com/luckyelephant http://www.myspace.com/luckyelephant -- check 'em out, really nice and melodic!), just got a GBP 15,000 promotional advance for their recently released album. The label told them straight-up that there was very little likelihood that they'd ever make their money back. As for your point about the labels falling on their faces: I'm not so sanguine about the future here. In most declining industries, it's the market leaders that fare the best -- in the music business, the majors! The indies are the ones that are screwed, which is sad because historically they've signed the most innovative acts (e.g. Island pre-2000s). Universal music is the only major label to have increased its market share in the last five years. It is not in commercial danger to my knowledge, and is likely to survive the current recession. The same cannot be said for Domino (of Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys fame). My fear is that once all the indies are gone, we'll be left with p-p-p-poker face p-p-p-poker face ad nauseum.

seertaak 17y ago

I totally agree. In fact I'm playing in a band right now, the Signals (http://www.myspace.com/thesignalsuk http://www.myspace.com/thesignalsuk -- only demos, no band recordings so far), and what I'm realizing is that, in effect, 100% of the effort needs to come from you until you have a watershed moment, and then a label will begin to court you. And it's not that labels are inherently malicious either; another band I know, Lucky Elephant (http://www.myspace.com/luckyelephant http://www.myspace.com/luckyelephant -- check 'em out, really nice and melodic!), just got a GBP 15,000 promotional advance for their recently released album. The label told them straight-up that there was very little likelihood that they'd ever make their money back. As for your point about the labels falling on their faces: I'm not so sanguine about the future here. In most declining industries, it's the market leaders that fare the best -- in the music business, the majors! The indies are the ones that are screwed, which is sad because historically they've signed the most innovative acts (e.g. Island pre-2000s). Universal music is the only major label to have increased its market share in the last five years. It is not in commercial danger to my knowledge, and is likely to survive the current recession. The same cannot be said for Domino (of Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys fame). My fear is that once all the indies are gone, we'll be left with p-p-p-poker face p-p-p-poker face ad nauseum.