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owners, itchy for quick profits, and driven by rigid corporate imperatives.
This wreaks havoc with artist development; hell, it wreaks havoc with
business development, and necessitates high turnover of both artists and
employees. Major labels are also saddled with legacy problems regarding
production and retail. Thus the geologic tempo of industry change.
But the same forces undoing the larger music companies are
empowering individual musicians and micro-businesses.
As with most modern industries, a silent computer on a desk is the
wildcard that makes so much tradition redundant. Perhaps the term “record
company” itself is becoming outdated – “Music Services Company” might
be more relevant. Many music biz execs echo the words of Steve Becket of
Warp Records when he says, “I think we’ll mutate into a new type of
company – a mixture of artist management, publisher, marketing
consultant, agent and promoter.” “We’re a communications company, ”
agrees Marc Jones of Wall of Sound, “and that’s what we’re becoming
more everyday. I don’t think the model for a traditional record label will
exist in this environment anymore.”
But we don’t have to solve the dilemma for the mainstream music
business about which future to embrace. Indie artists are living the sidestream
music movement that may inspire the majors but, God willing, will
never be completely controlled by them.
Unlike mainstream commercial music, the farther you get out onto the
fringes, the more helpful people become. The more participants, the greater
the chances that something truly interesting will emerge from the collective
r a b b l e .
A new generation of music entrepreneurs is rising with a power in its
corner it has never had before. The times are ripe for change and these
creators are the spearhead.
What You Can Do About It
• The appetite for music only grows around the globe and you are the
one who can satisfy it. You’ll need to employ your maverick instincts
over conventional “business rules”, take fuller responsibility for your
own success, and beware of “standard industry practices” that can
chain your career.
• Concepts like “company”, “work”, “job” and “career” are morphing.
The entire business economy is passing through a transition the likes
of which haven’t been seen since the industrial revolution. Rather than
seeing your “career” as a ladder, think of it as a rouge wave full of
rises, dips and switchbacks.
• I t ’s time to think outside the normal channels of business and imagine
new kinds of companies. Creative alliances and partnerships are the
k e y. Combining good music, cheap, global distribution and business
savvy almost guarantees success in today’s music-hungry world.
M E TATREND 4: Segmenting Music Markets & Niche
Music Cultures
I often hear musicians moaning about how consolidation and the
monopolization of the media by companies like Clear Channel and Vi a c o m
threaten musical diversity, yet I can hear and obtain more interesting music
today than I could ever hope to in the 1960s.
The menu of music choices and styles expands daily.
When the Grammys started in 1958 there were 28 categories of
awards; last year there were 105. Check out the “Music Styles” page at the
allmusic.com and you’ll find over forty styles of music, each with a dropdown
menu of several “sub-styles.”
Even the pop charts, which have made room in recent months for PJ
H a r v e y, Modest Mouse, Diana Krall and Franz Ferdinand, suggests there’s
an audience starving for something other than junk food.
The music market continues to segment and each segment is a
“world”, a portal, through which small companies can create value and
s u c c e s s .
While good news for niche companies, this is bad news for the
musical industrial complex. The major labels cannot justify going after
these smaller markets because they are optimized instead for the larg e r, pop
mainstream. These niche music cultures can’t generate the sales needed to
float the major label boat. While 20,000 unit sales are a cause to celebrate
at a micro-label, they hardly register a blip on big company radar screens.
The times call for focus. Mass customization and a segmenting market
encourage the development of products and services of a “niche” nature.
Since few of us have the time, money or energy to mount national
marketing campaigns, it is in our best interest to discover and concentrate
on a niche, a segment, that we can explore towards successful enterprise.
Whether your specialty is house, trance, bluegrass or neo-soul, learn to
work that niche and scope out relationships and opportunities within it.
Micro-media targets the tributaries off the mainstream and if the artist
occupies one of these “niche streams”, they have an open and ready
channel for exposure to their target audience. Each niche stream has its
own burgeoning media culture and the smart combination of high-quality
music, creative event-making, perseverance and strategic alliances gets
people talking.
What You Can Do About It
• What is your niche? Maybe it’s arranging music, or the history of
rock, or the intricacies of music software. Whatever it is your niche
will lie at the crossroads where your most compelling desires intersect
with your background resources and current opportunities in the real
w o r l d .
• What is your music’s niche? If your music can be slotted into an
established category, then master that area both musically and
business-wise. Know the inlets and outlets for your music, become
familiar with the influencers and tastemakers in that realm, and start
communicating with them. If your music defies categorization then
lead with that.
M E TATREND 5: The Next ‘Big Thing’ is Small
The analogy is television. 30 years ago, the three broadcast networks
(ABC, CBS, and NBC) had a ninety percent share of the viewing audience.
Today it’s less than forty. W h e r e ’s the other 50%? Watching cable
channels. Though cable channels have miniscule ratings, they’re profitable.
Why? Because they’ve discovered and developed their niche.
And this is what smaller, indie labels do – the Americana sounds of
New West Records, Red House Records’ focus on singer/songwriters, the
creative acid jazz of Instinct, and the deep reggae catalog of Trojan insures
listeners they can expect quality discs from each company within their
respective niche. Indie market share is on the rise!
Lacking vision beyond their own profit lines, major record companies
fail to see that the revolution in music delivery occurred in reaction to the
i n d u s t r y ’s mismanagement, not to mention its complicity in force-feeding
the public a flavorless diet of sonic pabulum. With the increasingly
conservative (read, “risk-averse”) stance of the majors today, indie market
niches become all the more important to the creative development of
m u s i c .
The implosion of the musical industrial complex has also resulted in
the availability of many formerly-signed artists and talented executives.
The past ten years have seen veteran artists like The Pretenders, Rod
Stewart, Foreigner, Aimee Mann, Sinead O’Connor, Carole King, Sammy
H a g a r, Dolly Parton, Hall & Oates, Hanson, Steve Vai, Sophie B. Hawkins
and dozens of other either starting their own labels or signing on with
smart indies.
What You Can Do About It
• The paternalisms of yesterday have given way to personal
responsibility for your own success. The holy grail is NOT a record
deal; it’s waking up to your own power.
• Signing with a major label today in most cases is a career risk. T h e s e
divisions-within-corporations are unstable and anti-art environments,
and best avoided by aspiring recording artists.
• If you’re up for it, start your own company and release your music
through it. If you want to delegate the heavy lifting seek out a
successful indie label to partner with. But only do so when you’ve
achieved a level of success appealing to a business partner (that is,
you’re showing net profit for an extended period of time).
Record company bosses think society’s top priority today must be restoring
record-company revenue and profits. But music lovers and artists have a
The Indie Bible – 10 th Edition www.indiebible.com