UNSPRUNG artists

[Bob Olhsson]

Every now and then I run into something about the music bizness that at least makes some sense. Here's one:

http://www.unsprungartists.com/

I don't agree with everything he says but at least he is talking about the real issues confronting us and how we can apply our creativity to the solutions.

[handofthehost]

Thanks for that Bob, good reading. I've been mulling over some of those same points and trying to divine what the future holds for my own musical endeavors. It seems ironic to think cd's will be novelty items much like vinyl has become. I also agree that video content will be/is already inextricably tied to new music, and the modern muscian needs to consider that part of the whole package.:Thumbsup:

[Tim Armstrong]

Fascinating. Thanks for posting that, Bob!

Cheers, Tim

[Bob Olhsson]

This is the very first time that we have NOT had the consumer electronics industry dictating formats to us. While the tech investment crowd wants to step in and take over everything, we really don't have to let them.

[brack]

I would love to hear the music equivalent of Deadwood, or Six Feet Under. We've gone from TV shows to movies, to serial shows... and I'd love to hear the evolution of an album, over years.

Some artist said "the times, they are a-changin'". I honestly think we're heading a very cool direction. I hated music CREATED just for the masses, for radio, for the common denominator. Now, it's poised to change. Music for you, and you, like a big fat music industry compressor, small is to big...

[McAllister]

I like the idea of a "band" having many different components (animation, music, film, etc.).

I am actually in the middle of a very cool project that has some shades of some of this. I'll post to the Womb when episode one hits (soon).

I have no idea what will happen with it (or even if this model is going to be the future) but it's sure fun playing with it.

M

[handofthehost]

I would love to hear the music equivalent of Deadwood, or Six Feet Under. We've gone from TV shows to movies, to serial shows... and I'd love to hear the evolution of an album, over years.

Some artist said "the times, they are a-changin'". I honestly think we're heading a very cool direction. I hated music CREATED just for the masses, for radio, for the common denominator. Now, it's poised to change. Music for you, and you, like a big fat music industry compressor, small is to big...

This is an excellent analogy I think.

[bunnerabb]

This is truly interesting.

[Oberlehrer]

I read through it and find at least some portions of it highly questionable. It all reeks of Web 2.0 hype to me; and some parts register quite high on the bullshit meter.

(Apart from that I'm coming from a jazz background where at least a large part of this scheme wouldn't work anyway; and there are lots of other musical genres that simply don't work this way.)

[bunnerabb]

Could you please expand on that for my own edification?

Thank you.

[Bob Olhsson]

I agree there is hype that probably should be ignored and obviously the guy is trying to fly an IPO however he isn't really talking about anything we can't simply do ourselves.

The fatal flaw in all "business model" talk is that every musical artist has a unique audience and a unique relationship with them. One size can't possibly fit all and in fact it never has. There never was an old business model and hence will never be a new one.

[handofthehost]

I agree there is hype that probably should be ignored and obviously the guy is trying to fly an IPO however he isn't really talking about anything we can't simply do ourselves.

The fatal flaw in all "business model" talk is that every musical artist has a unique audience and a unique relationship with them. One size can't possibly fit all and in fact it never has. There never was an old business model and hence will never be a new one.

Hype aside, what will be the new 'coin of the realm?' Historically the music business has always been, at best, a moving target. The point now seems to be, 'what will be the new vinyl, the new cassette, the new cd?' Even the mp3 seems poised for obsolescence already. Audio+video content in the same package (a 'virtual' package according to the article,) may be the next thing, and could be very cool. As you say, it IS stuff that we can do ourselves, which is very empowering on a personal level. However advertising budgets are pretty much out of the question for most independent artists. Perhaps that will be the role of record labels, strictly marketing. I saw a commercial on tv for 50 Cent's website and full catalogue of music, and that struck me as quite probably the way all mainstream, big bucks, artists are going to go.

[bunnerabb]

The fatal flaw in all "business model" talk is that every musical artist has a unique audience and a unique relationship with them. One size can't possibly fit all and in fact it never has. There never was an old business model and hence will never be a new one.

How much of all of this shouting and pointing and bad business approaches to the simple idea of creating music and trying to sell the recordings, do you think is a direct result of trying to corporatise it into some sort of chart that promises ~n amount of return for X amount of "product promotion"?

I.E:, sell it like burgers and shoes.

[Bob Olhsson]

The tech IPO hawkers are telling investors they can corporatise music and sell it like burgers and shoes.

It's actually kind of funny because they ought to know this isn't the way THEY buy entertainment for themselves. They want to believe they can become music moguls but fail to notice the fact that only a tiny percentage of what has been released by major labels has ever actually turned a profit.

[Oberlehrer]

Could you please expand on that for my own edification?

Absolutely. If you read through the whole "Fat Package" part you'll see the very obvious flaws.

It's essentially a rental model, not a sales model. Which means some heavy DRM would be needed. Which in my opinion means this is doomed from the start because DRM can and will be broken.
I find it also disgusting that music is viewed mostly as a tool for advertising. And - as I said - many kinds of music don't work too well in such a context.

It also starts with a bullshit assumption:

in 2007-2008 there is barely a circumstance where people listen to music – when a screen or monitor is not present; this includes the car, the gym, the desk, and the pocket. The ability to have a visual or interactive component is always there now.

Oh yes? How many MP3 players don't have a screen? How many car radios? In how many cases do people actually WANT a visual or interactive component?

My impression is that many people here went first after the artistic implications (a developing work and so on) - which may be interesting -while I looked more at the business idea behind it.

[Bob Olhsson]

Apparently the new DRM-free offerings have been met with a complete yawn by purchasers. Seems to be another case like lower CD prices where the actual facts of people's buying habits don't support the tech pundit's theories.

The new financiers of music will be large management companies. They were really the old ones during the singles era but a lot of the investment got put off on record labels beginning in the '70s and artists didn't need to pay it back from anything but record royalties. In my opinion artists were lots better off when the labels were putting up the bread instead of their managers. (Motown was a management company that owned its own indi label.)

[Ein Mangfaldig Kar]

On my end of the scale (young beginning artists trying to make a mark on the scene) it seems what is craved by the artists is management and PR. Something they can grasp, someone to get them gigs into the mags.
"Music they can record and release themselves." is what I'm hearing alot...

So maybe they are better of now, but do they know and do they care?

[weedywet]

he writes (back to back):

Artists should make their MP3s (at least demo versions) freely available for sharing and download.

Lack of product innovation is the biggest problem the music industry suffers from.
Innovation will change the music industry.




these two things are antithetical to each other.

[radiationroom]

It seems ironic to think cd's will be novelty items much like vinyl has become.

Vinyl is far from being a novelty. At the rate we are going, it might be the only packaged music medium with any kind of a future. Hell... It might eventually be the only music format which generate "paid sales".

What I wish would happen is that Toshiba and Sony would cross-license their technologies instead of having their format war between HD-DVD and BluRay Disk. The packaged music potential of a high-def optical disk format are staggaring. Just hope and pray that these formats avoid the same fate that DVD-A and SACD met. Not going to hold my breath. :Mad:

[radiationroom]

The fatal flaw in all "business model" talk is that every musical artist has a unique audience and a unique relationship with them. One size can't possibly fit all and in fact it never has. There never was an old business model and hence will never be a new one.

IMO the term "business model" is con artist talk. When someone talks "business model", my question is "What is the scam dejour this person is pushing?"