Today's in class discussion regarding the changes underway in the music industry as a result of new media got me thinking about several examples where this is both a good and bad thing. For many in in the music industry, jobs will be lost by those that are unable or unwilling to change how they do their work. At the same time, it takes a lot of dead weight off of the industry, as the middle man plays a smaller and smaller role.
It is a change that is really good for the lesser known musicians. They now can do almost all of the work as far as promoting goes either in their own living room, or with a small investment at a recording studio. It promotes new bands becoming popular based more on merit than on luck or chance. It also opens up the niche genres to a much wider audience than ever before possible.
The change also benefits larger artists. Bands like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails are making the transition to releasing content on their own terms. They have the money to finance larger promotional campaigns that are a trademark of the major labels, yet at the same time maintain full control of how this campaign is run. They keep more of the profits, and they end up releasing material that stays truer to their original vision.
The following is an interesting analysis of Trent Reznor's opinions on music in the digital age by Alex Albrecht and Kevin Rose, creators of Digg.
Wow. Thanks for this insightful post & for the Digg/Trent Reznor video. I agree with almost everything you say here. On balance, digitization and the Internet benefits the musical artist while hurting "the middle men". That's absolutely right. But some of those "middle men" -- agents, managers, sound recording engineers, A&R people, etc.-- actually used to contribute something to the music itself. I wonder if one of my favorite band of all time, X, would have SOUNDED the same if they hadn't been by produced by The Doors' keyboard player, Ray Manzarek. Self-produced records just tend not to be as interesting as ones that are professionally crafted.
ReplyDelete