Rock Stars Do It

Its not good news but it's interesting news. I wonder if indeed we can compare music to books and musicians to authors. But to some degree there's are some comparisons to be made and some wisdom to be gleaned from this article in Prospect Magazine.

In recent years, the economics of pop music have been upended. The market for CDs has collapsed, and not even the rise of legal downloading can offset the damage to record companies. Meanwhile, demand for live performances has rocketed

There is a story doing the rounds in the US that says a lot about the state of the music business. It concerns a young rock band who decided to stop selling their CDs at concerts. Selling CDs has, for many years, been a good way for an act to reclaim the margin that would otherwise have been snaffled by a retailer. But it made no sense to this band once they discovered that by selling CDs for $10 they were cannibalising sales of their $20 T-shirts.

There are two points to note here. First, that a simple garment with a logo stamped across it, probably manufactured for pennies in a third-world sweatshop, now costs twice as much as an album of digitally pristine, highly wrought music recorded in a state of the art western studio. Second, most bands, however successful, now make their money from live work and the merchandising opportunities that go with it, rather than from recordings.

Comments

[Jeff Nordstedt]

I think this article oversimplifies the music landscape. As a matter of fact, as an independent musician, I know it. It is not simply a CDs v. T-Shirts (touring) situation.

By doing what they can to build a fan base (which often involves giving away LOTS of music) a band develops its "brand value" which is where their income will come from. The strength of their brand definitely increases the value of the shirts, but it also increases their value to other media producers who want to co-opt their brand to sell video games, cars, commercials, etc.

In the 90s indie bands avoided being perceived as "sell outs" like the plague, but many signed record deals (corporate and indie) that left them out of control of their fate.

Now indie bands are lining up to sell to TV shows, commercials, video games, etc. as that is the ticket to artistic freedom. Bands are embracing the idea that the nature of their value shifted faster than record labels have. All a major record label really provides is a massive physical CD distribution channel. Smart bands recognize that that is a small piece of their future and are taking matters into their own hands.

To get it back on the subject of books, I have been advocating for years now to any publisher who's ear I could bend, that they need to reconsider what value they add. Publishers are not retailers, they are not wholesalers, they are not manufacturers. Publishers develop and position content.

So many publishers cry that the internet is killing books, but everyone who has ever marketed a website knows "content is king." Publishers have access to an abundance of content. They need to recognize that is where their value is and find a better way to be profitable.

[Jeremy James]

I agree with Jeff. Insightful comments.