Musicians are the music industry
Industry means the market around a service or a good where value is expressed through the exchange of money. Or something like that, right?
The music industry has been the business of making music. The business of making music has described the ecosystem in which people that enjoy listening to music and associating themselves with musicians pay for that ability.
However, songs are becoming free. Music is becoming free. Bruce Warila says that we’ll be using songs as upselling mechanisms for higher end digital products. There’s definitely something like a hi-lo strategy that will evolve.
But here’s my thought: the music industry as we’ve known it is no longer relevant. The music ‘industry‘ is, increasingly, the ecosystem through which companies sell services and tools to people that make music. That is where the growth is and that’s what is happening.
The burgeoning power of the hobby class and the industry that is emerging to service them is the future of the business and, again, it’s about tools of empowerment and platforms for distribution.
Professional musician will mean composers, people that make music for explicit ‘other’ purposes like film scoring, sound design in film, etc. In fact, people creating original music and getting paid for it, apart from mega stars, will really refer to those people employed by the film and television industries as artisans and craftspeople.
Everyone else will look more and more like a hobbyist but will use technology and tools to distribute their songs across a broader platform of opportunities. And the money will be made not in consumers paying for music but in charging musicians for the tools and services they use.
I’ve just described the business models for Sonicbids, CD Baby, Tunecore, Digidesign, Apple, and other companies that make and create tools for creative expression and platforms for distributing that expression.
If there was a lot of money in getting other people to pay for music, Sonicbids wouldn’t charge a monthly membership fee and wouldn’t charge for submitting to each gig. At least, the experience wouldn’t be so strange. You wouldn’t think you’d have to pay to get a magazine review but in the new world order you do. It’s roughly the cost of shipping out a CD and less of a pain in the ass, so I’m not complaining too much.
Bottom line: the growth of the industry is in more people making music (and paying for that right) and fewer people paying for its consumption. In many ways it’s a bummer. In others, it’s incredibly exciting.
October 8th, 2008 at 7:18 am
I agree Sam. The model you describe is also the model we are pursuing. I am also betting that creating more-expensive digital products will be so easy that every artist will do it. Sales of these products (to consumers) will happen on a spectrum, but every artist will pay to own the creation tool ($100.00).
-Bruce
October 13th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
I admire that you’re able to view the music industry as a business as well as a form of creative expression. Many artists are unable to separate the two, and it seems that some may begin to call themselves “traditionalists” because they’re incapable/fearful of change. The successful artist of today must embrace change, not fear it (wait, haven’t I heard that before?) and be able to adapt. Otherwise, they will be left in the dust.