I’m Not Dead Yet
Now that the dust has settled from a week at South By Southwest, and for the truly hardcore weasels, a following week at Winter Music Conference in Miami, not much is clear, but one thing is evident:
Music is not dead yet.
Not sure I can say the same thing about the record business which continues to slide further into the abyss. Now, even the publishing industry is starting to feel the pain, as mechanical income, the money earned from record sales (and downloads) is plummeting, with Harry Fox Agency announcing a shocking 22 percent drop in mechanicals over the past year. Of course, the retail side of the music business (remember when there were stores and they sold music in them?) has become a historical relic overnight, and the shuttering of the Virgin chain is only the last swing of the wrecking ball to that particular side of the industry. And come to think of it, the radio business doesn’t look so good either. So what’s keeping the old girl alive? What particular life-support device is keeping the music industry from flat-lining all together?
Well, actually, it seems to be music itself. Shocking as it may seem to many of the weasels that work in the business everyday, people still appear to be quite fond of those old standbys of rhythm, melody, harmony, and lyrics.
Clearly, they like to listen to it. In fact, that’s one of the most perplexing parts of the whole music business demise. One rides the subway to work, observes every person on the subway car listening to their fully-loaded iPod, takes a taxi and listens to the inescapable musical selections of the cab driver, then sees everyone in the street still listening to their iPod, then gets in the elevator and listens to someone else’s ringtone of their favorite song as their cell phone sounds off, and then arrives at the office to learn that no one is selling any music. It would be a bit less painful to watch the industry disappear if we saw the whole world happily dwelling in silence. But it’s very hard to see a world inundated with music at every level, only to see the income of those in the music business drying up. It’s like dying of thirst while you’re drowning.
People also appear to enjoy making music. Perhaps a little too much. But when you consider that 2000 bands played at SXSW this year alone, and probably an equal number of aspiring DJs, producers and remixers showed up at the Winter Music Conference, and another several hundred songwriters will converge upon the ASCAP I Create Music Expo in April, it’s clear that the joy of making music is not fading out anytime soon. And of course, thanks to businesses like Myspace and YouTube, now all of those joyous music-makers can share their creativity with the world– for better or worse. It’s probably worth recalling that this is how music began– not as a spectator sport (so to speak), but as a means of having fun, entertaining yourself and others.
In fact, that just might be the lesson behind festivals like SXSW and WMC. Despite the economic downturn, attendance was reported to be solid at SXSW, with strong sales in the festival passes, and a healthy level of bookings at the hotels. The lesson is that music-centered events, which include opportunities for a wide variety of people to participate, and allow audiences to listen to a wide cross-section of music, are taking the business back to its roots– which just might be a good thing. We’ve built up a massive industrial complex that needs to be fed, but somehow we’ve lost sight of what the real appeal of music actually is. The success of these festivals and conferences may be guiding us back to where we belong. A couple of obvious principles:
2. People like to gather together and hear music. This goes back quite a ways– like to the days of the campfire and cavemen. Music is ultimately a live, communal experience, and the music industry needs to support and foster that spirit. One great example of this is the Ultra Music Festival, which follows the Winter Music Conference, and features a wild array of the top talents in electronic and dance music. The event is sponsored by the music label and publishing company, Ultra Records. It’s a perfect illustration of a label investing in the live experience, which will inevitably spur sales in the genre, while offering a perfect branding opportunity for the label. From huge festivals to small club events, record labels and publishers need to start investing in live events that engage their audience and allow music to bring people together.
3. People like to play along. Music is not just for listening, and ours is not a culture used to sitting on the sidelines. From the popularity of Guitar Hero to the explosion of home-made videos on YouTube to the continuing popularity of karaoke, it’s obvious that making music is part of the fun. A trip to SXSW will quickly show you that music is not divided between those who play and those who purchase– those who play music are more likely to be the ones who also purchase music. NARAS is on the right track with its Grammys In the Schools program, but we need to do more. Publishers need to revitalize the sheet music industry and find a way to monetize the thousands of lyric sites on the internet. We need to support the “re-mix” culture that wants to re-imagine the music they love, while still respecting and protecting the rights of copyright holders.
It is probably safe to say that music will never really die. But it’s also worth noting that it can certainly slip to the margins of popularity, where it may continue to exist but not necessarily be one of the dominant forces in our artistic culture. All art forms have their peaks and valleys in respect to cultural influence, and music did not really become a dominant part of popular entertainment in America until the late 1800’s. If we want to continue to remain relevant, and solvent in the 21 century, we may have to re-focus, or we risk losing our place at the center of popular culture. If two weeks of partying, carousing, listening to bands, and dancing to DJs taught us anything, it might be that it’s time to get back to basics. If music be the food of love, then play on…
Eric, i enjoy reading your blog. i recall when we were in college together…you always asked the most thoughtful questions in class. You deserve all the success you’ve obtained!
The phrase that really stood out to me was …”It would be a bit less painful to watch the industry disappear if we saw the whole world happily dwelling in silence.”
my thoughts… most of the world has been dwelling in silence…the USA has enjoyed a robust music and record/entertainment industry while many other country’s artists looked on with envy because of the amount of piracy and weak copyright laws in their country.
they looked upon American artists and labels because of our ability to make huge profits with the strong laws to protect copyright holders. if we want to see where our industry maybe heading …let’s study what is happening in those other countries and learn from their mistakes to get things back on track. If we don’t…that’s where our future lies.
Keep up the good work and cheers!
Great blog today! Very encouraging for us musician types.
I,m really agree with this last comment ,I,m from Peru and we musicians always joked about because we imagine how millonaire we would be when calculating that for one record we sold the pirates sold 99, and that was happening many years ago till now with the download culture, other joke we use to do was that we will ending with the more low prices of the records these times lettin our records in the houses like free magazines (and some way this is now myspace and the webs and downloads)and now we see that all that was happening to us starts to happen all around the world so when you talk about the radio is the same view in the future it is now loosing connection with people through the industry view,all is changing and is changing fast ,we could see you and hear you but for you maybe sometimes we were silence
Forget to salute you,my excuses for that and congratulations for your article
Jose
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