This is a very half formed thought, but something struck me the other day about the music industry.
Musicians don't necessarily want to be rich, they just want to be able to live comfortably doing what they love.
Record labels want to be rich and therefore don't always work with the artists best interests at heart. It is a business after all.
The music industry isn't struggling because of piracy, it's struggling for I think a couple of reasons nobody talks about:
1. music is a luxury product, therefore one band/artist is not competing over another for the publics money, it is competing with everything! the cost of food, energy bills, etc, etc. In a global downturn, luxury product purchases are the first things to tail off.
2. labels no longer see themselves as curators of art, instead they focus most of their money on 1 or 2 sure things, which if they don't pan out leave them struggling. This in turn causes them to be unwilling these days to support any artists that they don't believe will guarantee them massive profits, which leads to lowest common demoninator music.
I can't help but feel like there is or should be a better way. Something like an essentially not-for profit record label. Now granted I know very little about the day to day running of a record label, but wouldn't a business model that allows the staff of the label and the artists to all make a reasonable living, operate as some kind of co-operative where they all have a stake in the businesses success, with all profits going straight back in to the running of the label and the signing of new artists, be preferable to what we have now?
The deals could be on a short term basis, with salaries for band members capped and the understanding that the success of all bands is shared. Obviously eventually if one band is having massive success and wants to start leveraging their money making ability, then having a short deal means they can move on when the time is right. Such a label could be seen as a good starting destination for young bands.
It would hopefully allow more bands to exist and sustain themselves and allow them the valuable time to hone their craft without the need for day jobs etc (Which I believe is why we lose hundreds of potential great bands).
Other arts often recieve charitable donations, or patrons who give money in order that art will continue being made. Surely there is a revenue stream out there for future musicians along these lines?
I'm just thinking out loud here, but if I had some investment money (which sadly I don't), I think something like this could be the future of record labels.
Musicians don't necessarily want to be rich, they just want to be able to live comfortably doing what they love.
Record labels want to be rich and therefore don't always work with the artists best interests at heart. It is a business after all.
The music industry isn't struggling because of piracy, it's struggling for I think a couple of reasons nobody talks about:
1. music is a luxury product, therefore one band/artist is not competing over another for the publics money, it is competing with everything! the cost of food, energy bills, etc, etc. In a global downturn, luxury product purchases are the first things to tail off.
2. labels no longer see themselves as curators of art, instead they focus most of their money on 1 or 2 sure things, which if they don't pan out leave them struggling. This in turn causes them to be unwilling these days to support any artists that they don't believe will guarantee them massive profits, which leads to lowest common demoninator music.
I can't help but feel like there is or should be a better way. Something like an essentially not-for profit record label. Now granted I know very little about the day to day running of a record label, but wouldn't a business model that allows the staff of the label and the artists to all make a reasonable living, operate as some kind of co-operative where they all have a stake in the businesses success, with all profits going straight back in to the running of the label and the signing of new artists, be preferable to what we have now?
The deals could be on a short term basis, with salaries for band members capped and the understanding that the success of all bands is shared. Obviously eventually if one band is having massive success and wants to start leveraging their money making ability, then having a short deal means they can move on when the time is right. Such a label could be seen as a good starting destination for young bands.
It would hopefully allow more bands to exist and sustain themselves and allow them the valuable time to hone their craft without the need for day jobs etc (Which I believe is why we lose hundreds of potential great bands).
Other arts often recieve charitable donations, or patrons who give money in order that art will continue being made. Surely there is a revenue stream out there for future musicians along these lines?
I'm just thinking out loud here, but if I had some investment money (which sadly I don't), I think something like this could be the future of record labels.