Open Questions On Music
I sometimes find myself thinking that music is the poetry of the 21st century. That’s not a new or original thought. Many people have talked about it. The fact that poets would never expect to make a living. That most poets wouldn’t view poetry as a vocation but as an avocation. That there is no expectation that one could ever “make money” at poetry and that reall people are pursuing beauty and recognition among people they respect.
There are still many open questions about the music industry and, when I think about whether music is today’s poetry, I suppose I’m asking the fundemental question:
Will there be a music industry or will there simply be music?
Answer: Yes. There will be a music industry. It will continue to get smaller. None of the current big ideas will work mainly because they’re big. Small ideas have some chance of working. But the cost/benefit involved in making a living creating pop music and writing songs will continue to diminish. The pop music industry will be small. Not so different from now but an even smaller percentage of artists will be able to make a living writing songs and performing them. Many and most are already and will move to hobbyists and the talented will increasingly shift to music production.
Should there be a music industry?
I don’t really know. I’m not sure people are owed the right to get paid for making art. For those that can, they’re very lucky. And for those that can’t, that’s life. You shouldn’t make music with the expectation of making money anyway.
But that’s not fair. That means that only rich people with great jobs or the very very select few will be able to continue to make professional sounding music.
Yes. I’m sorry.
Is there a revenue stream in high-end digital products that people pay for? Like different kinds of videos and interactivity around an album?
No. Not really.
How can you say that?
Because I have no evidence of it. The best music-focused video on the Web is being created by Pitchfork right now and it’s all completely free. They’re not sharing any of the revenue with bands and, I imagine, they’re not swimming in the dough either. I think they shrank their news staff because of the decline in ad spend over the last year.
So should Pitchfork start charging their most frequent and loyal users?
Well, they do charge them. They charge for the Pitchfork Music Festival. That’s a live experience not a digital one.
So maybe there’s still a revenue stream for bands in touring? Use digital to market and promote and use tours to make money.
Maybe. But nobody makes money touring except for bands that are really really well known. For most people, performing is another cost center, especially when you factor in traveling costs. Most of the people that talk about touring as a revenue source are a) pundits and futurists b) professional musicians that perform in support of huge names at major venues or c) that’s it.
So what should we do?
Dude. I have no idea. If you care about making music, you’re going to find a way to pay for it. If you’re not able to, I’m sorry. If you’re able to, that’s cool. Be prepared to spend money on all the marketing beyond the recording and production of music (if you want it to be heard), be prepared to expect to recoup none of your expenses, be prepared to keep writing songs forever and be prepared to put in a workmanlike effort to build awareness. And then once you do that, you still won’t make money. But you’ll have more people to listen for your next thing and that should provide some enjoyment.
How depressing. It seemed so cool in the old days when the record industry was booming and people were making money making independent music.
I probably disagree. I think more people are makign great music now than ever before. The trick is of course filters. And it’s true that the 90s were the perfect storm when independent labels like Matador and Merge could make money selling CDs of independent bands but hadn’t yet been compromised by the digitalization of music. But if you follow the web, it seems like there is this enormous community of people making music and some of it is very good and nobody expects to get rich but people are still making it and that’s kind of life affirming isn’t it?
