As usual, let the music industry be an example of how the future’s going to look. They had a business model for decades that went something like this:

Photo by Arne Hendriks

1. Sign artist to label.
2. Record album that label owns 90% of.
3. Send artist on back-breaking tour schedule to promote album.
4. Bribe or outright own radio stations to promote album and tour.
5. Profit.

If you haven’t read any articles or watched the news lately, you might assume that this model still works. I’m sorry to tell you that the little-round-disc industry (formerly the music industry) isn’t making a profit like it used to.

1. Why sign new artists when it’s easier to manufacture them for a pre-existing marketing plan? Or just sign a 15-year-old starlet that’s too young to understand the way contracts work, too young to stand up for their rights, and too young to sing on key with any semblance of soul.
2. Albums can now be recorded in basements with an iMac. No label required.
3. Gas is over $3 per gallon in many places, making touring expensive and keeping concert-goers from driving anywhere.
4. Radio’s still big, but Pandora’s getting bigger. And it’s not controlled by people… the robots pick the play list!
5. Blame, demonize, and eventually sue alleged “pirates” to recoup less than a million in lost profits. Spend multiple millions doing so.

So what do we do to “save the music industry”? Do we write to our government asking for money or tax breaks so major labels can hire more people even though they’re not actually making a profit any more? Maybe we should ask the government to bring back the 1960′s, that would be about as effective.

How about we change the whole industry instead?

The reason I say “the little round disc industry” as Chris Penn calls it instead of “the music industry” is because the music industry is doing perfectly fine. Entrepreneurs and small startups are popping up left and right- many of them failing, many of them succeeding -and doing the jobs that the old industry used to do profitably. Independent artists like Derek Sivers started bypassing the labels and selling their own music, and we all know how that turned out. The internet has made PR, distribution, and promotion much more affordable and much easier for guys like me to flourish.

I made my own job. I make an American product with American labor. I export that product to other countries. Though it’s kinda tiny, I do indeed make a profit. When I get the money to do so, you can bet your ass I’m hiring some American help.

I know not every industry can evolve the way my industry is changing, but I sure as hell hope that people aren’t expecting the government to wave a wand and make more jobs. Make your own jobs. Make better products. Provide better services. Hire American workers and spend your money at American businesses. You’re the only one that can create jobs.

Hell, we should get Obama to wear a State Park Ranger hat and just hold a press conference saying, “only YOU can prevent unemployment.”

Music industry – the lesson is not that free will always win. EASY will always win. I could rip this track for free by breaking the DRM and converting to an MP3, but that’s 10 minutes of my day I can spend doing something else (like blogging about it). That would be free, but I want easy. I value my time more than my money, because I can always make money, but my lifespan is finite and irreplaceable.
-It’s Not Easy Being Legal

The larger implications of his post are debated on his site (which I recommend you check out, it’s a good read), but that paragraph in particular really resonated. I’m the kind of guy who will look on iTunes for a track, then go steal it if it ain’t there. I don’t buy CD’s unless I’m at a live concert, and if a label is too stupid to get their music on iTunes (especially here in the US), they’ve told me that they don’t want my money.

I also try and live this philosophy- I’ve got all my selling albums on (even though Goodbye Planet Earth isn’t listed yet), on CD Baby as both a disc and MP3 download, and on MySpace. I want to make it as easy as possible for people to buy my music legitimately.

To be honest, I’m kind of glad the major labels aren’t jumping on this with both feet. It puts us independents a step ahead.

[tags]Matthew Ebel, piano rock, Christopher Penn, music industry, iTunes, iTMS, MP3, MySpace, major labels[/tags]

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend (no, not that disturbing trend, another one) in discussions of where the music industry is headed: Seldom does anyone bother to ask the musicians. You would think that if people were discussing the future of agriculture, they’d have a farmer or two on their panel. It just makes sense when discussing the industry and the business to involve the people actually making the product.

A few specific examples…

Culprit #1: Leo Laporte. Or, more specifically, This Week in Tech (TWiT). I am a regular listener to both TWiT and MacBreak Weekly, tuning in to every episode. For months now I’ve been listening to Leo and friends talk about how “CD’s are dead” and how the recording industry is spiraling out of control… yet not once have they ever brought an actual musician onto either show for some perspective.

Hello, Leo? It’s Matthew. I’m a new media geek, a Mac user, and a musician. Call me.

Culprit #2: The “Podcasting and the Music Industry” panel at PodCamp Boston 2. The panel lineup from the official schedule:

Ariel Hyatt of Ariel Publicity. Other panelists will include Adam Lewis of the Planetary Group, Kevin Greenstein of Bandletter, Matthew Wilkening of What Are Records.

My pal CC Chapman also got drafted onto that panel as well. Looks like an impressive lineup… except for no musicians whatsoever. I sat in the back and bit my tongue through most of the panel since I knew if I started talking I’d take up most of the panel’s time. They seemed like really earnest people committed to the music business, but not one of them was a touring act. I even heard them give the “CD’s are dead” argument as well.

Clue-by-four, people… Fans will always want something autographed at a concert. If not CD’s, then what? You can’t sign an iPod, and people aren’t as likely to buy an 8×10 photo.

Culprit #3: SLCC. Old story, but if they’d have involved actual musicians in the pre-game process, they could’ve avoided the PR nightmare they got themselves into.

The moral of this story is simple: Don’t purport to cover the music industry unless you’re involving the people actually making the product. We’ve got valid viewpoints, and we see things that the rest of the music industry doesn’t. Invite us to the conversation, otherwise you’re not covering the complete story.

Note: Leo, I’m serious. You don’t answer email, so I tagged your name about fifty times in this post so you’d catch it. Call me next time you plan on talking about the music industry.

[tags]evolution, Leo Laporte, MacBreak Weekly, Matthew Ebel, Music, SLCC, Ariel Publiciy, CC Chapman, Ariel Hyatt, Kevin Greenstein, Matthew Wilkening, Adam Lewis, Bandletter, What Are Records, The Planetary Group, music industry, piano rock, revolution, RIAA, This Week in Tech, TwiT[/tags]