how to fix the recording industry

6/8/2015

When I was in LA a few weeks ago with my producer, Gary Gray, Gary asked me a hypothetical question. If you had a billion dollars, Gary asked, what would you do to fix the recording industry? I thought about it for a few seconds, and unable to come up with a satisfactory answer, I joked that if I had a billion dollars I would spend enough money on promotion and recording to make myself famous and then keep the rest. Screw the recording industry I joked! After all, if I had a billion dollars that would surely be enough to put myself on the map, one way or another. With that kind of money I would just function as my own record label and pay for all the promotion needed to make myself famous. With a billion dollars that would be easy. But fixing the recording industry, that’s a little more challenging and requires a lot more thought.

Well, I’ve thought about this question a lot since then. It’s a fun intellectual exercise to spend time thinking about issues that are this big. After all, the recording industry is in dire need of fixing, I think we can all agree on that. The sale of recorded music has declined dramatically over the last two decades. Digital downloads were expected by many analysts to make up for the decline in CD sales, but that simply hasn’t happened as more and more consumers are shifting to streaming music. Streaming music is up, but that really isn’t great news for most musicians since streaming music doesn’t really equate to substantial revenue for the vast majority of musicians.

The Internet Killed The Recording Industry

Let’s face it, the internet is an amazing invention and I couldn’t imagine my life without it these days, but it’s destroyed the recording industry. It’s simply way too easy to find your favorite song and stream it, or listen to it on youtube, or download a pirated copy of it. In other words, it’s way too easy for consumers to listen to music they like without really paying for it. It’s simply supply and demand economics. There’s an enormous supply of music, and most of it can be listened to for free.

In the old days, if you heard a song you really liked on the radio, you either had to wait until your favorite radio station played it again, or you had to go to your local record store and buy the album, tape, eight track, CD, etc. There weren’t many other options. Sure, you could have your friend make you a bootleg copy, but it wasn’t nearly as easy to listen to music you liked on demand without someone actually paying for it. It was either you or your friend, but someone was buying the record.

These days a kid in Iowa can download a CD to his hard drive and upload it to the internet in a few seconds, where millions of people around the world can listen to it for free. Or, if they’re real music fanatics they can do what my friend Greg, who considers himself a die-hard music fan just did, and buy a membership to Spotify. For 99 cents for the first three months and $9.99 thereafter Greg now has access to millions of songs. For less than the price of what it used to cost to buy a single CD, my friend can now access Spotify’s entire library of like a gazillion songs. Let that sink in.

Here's a graph showing the decline in CD sales over the last twenty years and how it correlates to the advent of the internet and internet related technologies.

It's important to point out that the sale of digital music is also declining. It's easy to make the argument that CDs have simply become obsolete and that CD sales are being replaced by digital downloads, but that's unfortunately not the case. Here's a chart I found on The Atlantic.com showing the decline in both CD and digital music sales for 2013 - 2014, along with the rise in streaming music.

Here's a quote from the same article I found the above graph in, "The Death Of Music Sales" about last year's music industry sales overall, "Nearly every number in Nielsen's 2014 annual review of the music industry is preceded by a negative sign, including chain store sales (-20%), total new album sales (-14%), and sales of new songs online (-10.3%). Two things are up: streaming music and vinyl album sales."

Is it really any surprise that less people are buying music these days?

Of course, pinpointing the problem is a lot easier than finding the solution. It’s not that hard to figure out why the recording industry is struggling so much. But the solution? That’s a little harder to come by. After all, the internet isn’t going away anytime soon and you can’t force consumers to buy something they don’t want or need.

Humans are pretty easy to figure out when it comes to what motivates them to buy something. Most people simply want the best product, for the best price. Sure, there are a small percentage of thoughtful, conscientious consumers who think through their purchases and how their buying decision affects the big picture. But I think it’s fair to say that most consumers just want to buy what they want, when they want it, at the best price. Wal-Mart has been successful for the simple fact that they’ve been able to provide things that people want at a very competitive price. Most people aren’t thinking about how buying something from a store like Walmart is affecting small business owners in the same way that most people that are listening to music for free or close to free aren’t thinking about how it’s affecting the livelihood of musicians they love. In both cases, they’re just opting for the best price.

So, what’s the answer? How do we fix the recording industry? Well, if I knew the answer to that question I definitely wouldn’t put it out on some silly blog. After all, there’s a lot of money at stake. The recording industry is less than half of what it was twenty years ago. Anyone with the know how to fix what’s broken in the recording industry stands to make a gigantic fortune. If I knew the answer, I certainly wouldn’t spell it out here. I’m not saying that I do have the answer, but I think I can at least point you in the right direction.

Creating Demand

In order to fix the recording industry, we have to return to a time when there was an incentive to buy music. I can remember being a kid and listening to Casey Kasem’s top 40 and hearing songs that I liked and then rushing to the record store the next day to buy the 45 or the whole album. It was such a simple sales process. Play song on radio – listener likes song – listener buys album. It worked. Sure, there were problems and there were some unscrupulous record label executives that took advantage of artists. But it was a real industry that flourished for many years. There were huge advances given to unknown artists, there was money spent on development deals and when artists were successful, a lot of money was made by both the label and the artist. It was always a business for dreamers, but you could sense that if you were determined enough and hustled enough, anything was possible. All you had to do was look at the hundreds of bands that seemed to make it big every year.

These days, the recording industry is a fraction of what it once was. Record sales are less than half of what they used to be. Big advances to most artists are a thing of the past. The whole industry seems confused about what direction to go in and the last few years have given new meaning to the term “struggling artist”. Musicians and artists have no problem struggling and working as hard as imaginable to realize our dreams, but we need to know that there’s an industry there to support us once we’ve paid our dues. By industry I don’t necessarily mean major record labels, but simply that the business of recording and selling music is vibrant and healthy enough to sustain the musicians that are a part of it.

I’ve given this a lot of thought and I won’t spell out my exact ideas here. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll get around to fixing the recording industry, once I’m done solving the world hunger and world poverty issues. But think about this: what if there was a way to create a real demand for people to buy music again? What if when someone heard a song they liked, they had to actually buy the song or the album it was on in order to listen to it on demand, like in the old days, but using current technology. In other words, what if there was a way to create a demand for purchasing music again? What if there was no other choice? Do you think then people would start buying music again?

As I see it, the majority of the problems facing the recording industry boil down to this simple issue of supply and demand. People aren’t buying music right now for the simple reason that they don’t have to. Whoever can fix this fundamental problem, and by no means is it any easy problem to fix, will go a long way towards fixing the current state of the recording industry. We have to incentive paying for music again. We have to create an environment where it’s easier to pay for music than it is to listen to it for free. If we can do this, I’m convinced people will return to buying music, as the demand for music has never gone away. Consumers simply have way too great a supply of free music.

People are never going to stop loving music and listening to music, and musicians are never going to stop being inspired to create music. But the music industry needs to find a way to get people to buy music again. We can’t keep giving it away.

25 Comments

Keith Kehrer link

6/8/2015 01:20:54 am

Well Aaron,

The cat is out of bad. There is no going back. I think for me (and I felt this way 10 years ago), the billion dollars should go to bring back artist development. That is pretty old school, but I think having more time to learn your craft and not worry about working 40 hours a week and having more time to develop your craft would be a huge benefit. Practicing, writing, recording and performing and honing your overall package would be a great thing. Of course sometimes when you have so little time, you use it more wisely. I wrote full length film score while working 50 hour weeks, all in a weekend. I guess discipline is something that needs to be worked on in order to benefit from artist dev money.

Keith

Aaron Davison

6/8/2015 03:22:34 am

Artist development is awesome, but if there's no system in place for labels (or artists) to recoup those costs it's not coming back.

Joe Pickering Jr. link

6/9/2015 05:01:41 am

We have to create an environment where it’s easier to pay for music than it is to listen to it for free. If we can do this, I’m convinced people will return to buying music, as the demand for music has never gone away. Consumers simply have way too great a supply of free music.

WELL IS APPLE I TUNES ANNOUNCEMENT OFTHEIR STREAMING MUSIC SERVICE AT LEAST A PARTIAL ANSWER?

Alixandrea link

6/8/2015 02:03:14 am

Before the record industry - which, let's face it, isn't that old - there was the patronage model. There seem to be several fairly well-known musicians using this model to good effect these days; for example IAMX and Amanda Palmer.

There are enough people on the Internet these days that the patronage model is a viable one; there are plenty of people out there who are willing to pay for band memorabilia and other such ephemera, including signed or otherwise customised copies of albums. Bands just have to get a bit more creative about their offerings.

The advantage of this model is that you retain more creative control than in signing up to a record label who try to make you 'the next XYZ'. Sure you have to keep the fans happy, but presumably the reason the fans are on your patronage site at all is because they like your output. And having such a close and personal relationship with them means that you get to ask them what they want, rather than having a record label guessing (wrongly) for you.

I think it's easy to get down on the numbers and say that the music industry is going down the pan. But I'm not so sure it should have ever been an 'industry' in the first place. And the Internet solves many more problems than it creates, allowing fans and artists to get much closer than they ever did before, to interact meaningfully, rather than having the record company as a barrier between them.

I think what the Internet and technology in general has to offer music is amazing. Right now we're all struggling to see the possibilities because it's all so different, but the sooner we start looking forward rather than harking back to 'the good old days' (which I happen to think were actually rather crap), the better. Let's creatively solve this 'problem' rather than just moaning about how things have changed.

6/8/2015 02:21:38 am

Well there's no going back that's for sure. But there were things about the old model that clearly worked better in terms of driving sales. I'm suggesting we take what worked with the old model and combine that with new technology. I'm pretty sure somewhere someone much smarter than me is already working on this.

Kim Goldsworthy

6/8/2015 02:59:43 am

There is article put out by ASCAP on artists "taking back control of their copyright".
As you know, ASCAP and BMI, the performing rights organization, have sabotaged the income of independent songwriters by negotiating royalty deals with the streamer companies whereby the statutory rate is not obeyed.
In theory, a songwriter would get 2 pennies (rounded) per performance of the song by any given artist.
But the royalty deals by ASCAP and BMI now in place with the streaming companies means that the songwriter gets the equivalent of 0.001 pennies per performance.
Imaging waiting for 1,000 plays of your song occurring before you earn your first penny. That is outrageous.
Remember, the two performing rights organizations could have prevented this.
What should have happened is that the songwriter continues to get 2 pennies per play, regardless.
So if a million subscribers play my song via a streaming company, I would get 2 million pennies (i.e., $10,000.00). But no! The two performing rights organizations failed the songwriting community. And Congress stood by and waited for ASCAP and BMI to inform Congress what they decided, since Congress has zero expertise in the area, and let the two P.R.O. do the negotiating.
Bottom line: If I were to fix the music industry,I would make the mechanical rate firm across the whole spectrum. -- Two pennies to the songwriter/publisher, no matter how many subscribers download my song.
Yes, that would imply that the subscriber plays 2 pennies per song, and thus increase the listener's out of pocket cost by -- say -- 50 cents per day, or $15 per month. So what? The song belongs to me! Give my my two pennies!

6/8/2015 03:17:28 am

Makes sense to me and I agree on that more regulation is a part of the solution. I'm not for excessive regulation, but this is a clear example of where government intervention makes sense.

Don Schott link

6/8/2015 03:56:19 am

Taking a minds eye and looking at the dilemma , the "music industry marketplace of today is busted back to where it was in 1965" it has not gone away but has seriously and socially been adjusted to old values. And, when we address this situation, we need to address the situation in many countries and not just U.S.A.

Let's now take a look at what the potential market of today "doesn't want"versus what the people of my generation felt it "needed in order to belong".

To get into listening to music, we either listened to AM pop radio (does barely not exist anymore) , listened to the specialty TV shows of the day ( more or less specialized and replaced by MTV ilk of today) , went to a friends house or our cousins house and listened to their collection, saw a live band or show, along came FM and it played the music that the magazines were talking about. BUT it was new, adventurous , fresh, inspired, part of the new youth culture (most of it, the majors never stopped selling candy to kids and pap to the old folks) and the fight was on to get this format "in our cars" because cars didn't have FM at the time. Then they did. Then we wanted cassettes but they were too shakey sounding so they took a broadcast cart machine and turned it into a POS that everybody would buy and have their cars broken into to be stolen. Eight trax they called them. Then cassettes came into being with a vengeance and they improved to near perfection about the same time as LPs going out and CDS coming in. NOW, FM is a totally different playground. We can bless the corporate radio concept for reaching the mindless masses and OUR blessed FCC for stealing what belonged to the public and selling it to the major corporate interests. (That concept of steeling from the public and selling to the corporate is still a daily battle) . We taped off the radio, they download. We had transistor radios , they have iPhones. We watched TV at 4:00 or the radio at seven, they stream at anytime they please . We got FM in our car for free plus commercials, they satellite the music of choice (baring any outside influence) for a fee plus commercials.

Now in general, the statements above mentioned little about "purchasing music" but the market was driven by hardware sales and availability and the changing times trying to make this world a "better place to live" (albeit by making it worse).

People are always "adapting" for survival in the wild and preying on the unsuspecting for their next meal or cool car/house. Some have other priorities. That's where the music comes in. Access on demand. Well, we all wanted it. Now we have it in varying degrees of development and we all don't get to make a buck off it? Game changed. I don't know if you have noticed but....what the consumers of today don't want is excess baggage. Most of them anyway.

As a youngster I owned a modest collection of over 2000 LPs. The major industry looked at my kind (most of my friends) as a fluke, not a real expression of the record buying public. With great power comes great responsibility. Every time I moved the labor of carrying all of those LPs employed many extra hours of crating and transporting. Not so in today's disposable world. We saved everything, they save nothing. Here today, gone tomorrow. Ain't it just like life.

Let's look at it a different way.

Today, the live music is driven mostly by bars and night spots (not by dance halls) who object to paying ASCAP & BMI their just dues because there are enough "kids" willing to play "original music" (and endless supply) (my generations dream fulfilled in the lifetime of our kids)

Now that everybody has been saturated with guitars and amps, music stores box, family or otherwise, are having a tougher way to go. Many are closing. A glut market.
The places one can play has gone from 40 to 400 in sample markets. New music is everywhere and the consumer is ........
Well, every band out their worth their salt has a CD to sell. This keeps the national record sales out of the radar. They also sell download cards for those not interested in "who wrote it, who produced it, what studio, lyrics and band photos (ugly kids make records too)

The other end of the live market is driven by radio. There is very little opportunity in between and promotion is a very hard ball game played by rich people. But the festival promotors still exist in droves and may be considered middle ground. Radio owns the concert business at the sheds and arenas. They tell people what they want them to buy and they and their friends buy it.

Let's look at it another way.

The Grateful Dead (like them or not) have been a wholly owned business since their inception having taken cues from their here's and the BEATLES Apple Corp.
they from early on, bought good equipment and tape machines and recorded almost every show they ever performed. They owned their own publishing. They eventually managed their own label and hired majors for distribution. They sti

Don schott link

6/8/2015 12:43:22 pm

Just found a video (also playing on Netflix) very informative without telling secrets. WHO THE F**K is ARTHUR FOGEL.
Sorry the rest of what I said didn't print out. Even computer attention spans are short.

Ed Dunn

6/8/2015 11:16:06 am

It isn't just the internet that has damaged the income of the music industry. It is the internet and computers. There is much less need for artists to record in a studio when they can set up their own recording studio right in their home.

The music industry is not the only industry that has been hurt the advent of computers and the net. Photographers are not in the demand that they used to be. There are so many sites where stock photos can be bought for pennies compared to the dollars photographers used to make. The same holds true for printers. Whose needs books when there are kindles. Many printers have lost their jobs because of the computer and internet. Even the Postal service has seen a steady drop in revenue and saw it coming from the beginning. Unfortunately, people in the music industry didn't see it coming.

It seems as if the recording industry has gone full circle. 100 years ago the first sources of recorded music were just being sold and I'm sure there wasn't a lot of money to be made in selling cylinders or 10 inch discs. But the industry was new and we didn't have streaming or all the various devices we have today to reproduce recorded sound. I chuckle when I think today about how in the 1980's the record companies warned kids about unauthorized copying of music. We've gone way beyond that, now.

I am noticing more music is becoming available on vinyl and the industry can only pray that record buying will make a large resurgence. Maybe if the industry made the packaging more inviting to the purchaser or as I see some records offer a free download of the songs when the disk is purchased. Maybe only allowing a song to be streamed for a small amount of time or writing great songs that are not available for broadcast or streaming but available for album download or disk only. The only way money will be made is if there is an incentive attached to downloading or buying a hard copy of the recorded music.

The last hope will be that the internet will go the same way as the CB. Seems impossible? Well considering the recent breach the government has told us about and how many people have had their identities stolen, one never knows. Just how secure is any site, really? Maybe big brother has finally arrived and he's listening to you on your computer bwahahahahaha!

Chuck Hughes link

6/8/2015 05:40:18 pm

I don't think there is a future in selling recorded music, except as a signed memento after a live performance. To sell a lot of streams, publicity will be important.

6/9/2015 12:12:17 am

I respect that, but I don't think anyone can foresee the future. If technology exists to destroy the recording industry, surely technology can be created to revive it. But I agree that is certainly the way it looks now.

Brent Standridge link

6/10/2015 08:17:12 am

Aaron,

I have to agree. The old model was built on new technology making it more desirable to have the next best access to your favorite music. Think about it TV still follows this concept with newer forms of media and hardware to play it on. Have we lost or ability to improve the way the consumers receive our great creations. Hackers will always exist but keys are used to regulate the use of software why not music. As Paul Williams recently said the chip behind your ear. Maybe control like games with 3D streaming Concerts or Videos. Could we see the revival of MTV? All I know is that the technology is surely under development and I don't have the billions to invest in its development so I sit and keep my eyes open ready and waiting for it to come.

Liam link

6/8/2015 10:34:19 pm

Hello Aaron.

I found your article on 'How to fix the music Industry very compelling'. The irony of it all is very simple. In the old days Record executives creamed both the artists and joe public on the basis of pure greed most of the time. Until a few artists took a stand and fought for their rights for a fair deal and 'Won'. This was fantastic for artists at that time and started a trend of fair contracts for recording artists, but not for joe public who demanded less costly music. Had the industry reduced the cost of albums at that time it is highly likely that the current trend would not be so severe and profit margins would be good albeit not enormously good. So! What has this got to do with Irony?

Streaming is here to stay and in due course this will become Everyone's first port of call for music. And I mean everyone. Until the Executives in the streaming companies stop acting like there greedy predecessors in the CD/Vinyl/Tape industry and learn to value 'All' artists I think we will see a deterioration in the quality of music we here over the airwaves in the coming years, and in all probability those songs/musical journeys we all cherished in the past will eventually disappear.

In conclusion. If the value of a songwriter's music was given it's full worth and had much tougher legislation and protection when used for profit by streaming companies I think us recording artists might have a better chance of getting some reward for the weeks and months of hard grind it takes to create something that stimulates peoples emotion, namely 'Music'.

Once again thank you for the article Aaron.

Sincerely, Liam

George Wallace link

6/9/2015 12:19:24 am

If music continues to be sold so cheaply, then all we'll eventually have is...cheap music. We're well on our way already.

6/9/2015 12:22:32 am

The one thing that is constant is change.

Gary Gray link

6/9/2015 01:09:48 pm

Wow Aaron!

Little did I realize at the time that asking you that "1 Billion Dollar" question would generate so much communication! I think it's awesome to see so many people participating in this discussion.

One thing I am doing to help save the music industry, based on 9 years of research, is this: I'll be launching a new Record Label in 2016 called GrayJay Records. Besides digital content and media, GrayJay Records will focus on releasing VINYL RECORDS.

One shining silver lining in the gray cloud that is the current Recorded Music Industry is, and has been for over a decade now, Vinyl Record production, marketing, distribution and sales.

I'll be building Record Pressing Plants and opening National Record Store Chains. Investors love long-term steady growth with stable future market projections. And this can be found deep in the heart of everything that is the Vinyl Record Sales Industry. 2014 was a RECORD BREAKING YEAR for Vinyl Sales! (Pun intended). Seriously, the EXPERIENCE of listening to Vinyl Records is unmatched. Some consider the quality of the playback experience superior to digital. Whether true or not, many consider the EXPERIENCE superior. They can touch the large Album Covers and appreciate the Artwork, they can easily read the Album Liner Notes. Many SHARE the experience with friends.

Markets both young, old and everything in-between are getting into Vinyl like never before, and the growth continues, month after month after month after year after year.

And guess what? That's right. It's hard to pirate an album. Think about what that is doing for the music industry and what the continued growth in Vinyl Record sales will do for the industry.

And the other, even more important step in fixing this issue is Teaching Songwriters:

MUSIC THEORY
ARRANGING
ORCHESTRATION
MUSIC STYLE AND GENRE APPRECIATION
MASTERING AT LEAST ONE INSTRUMENT

This, all by itself, will help create a new renaissance where songwriters WON'T rely on listening to writer's who listen to similar other writers for inspiration, creating the same thing, slightly adjusted, over and over. And this hasn't happened only in music. Look at the car industry. In the '70's you could spot a car make and model from half a mile away. Now, you have to be 2 feet away to see the logo on the car because they all basically look the same, and to many eyes, boring at that.

When songwriters really learn their craft, REALLY learn their craft, they experiment more with their art and dive deep into their own personal universe and create amazing art. Unique art. And THAT CREATES MORE DEMAND!!

Anyway, I guess I've inspired not only you and many readers, but MYSELF TOO!! Thanks for posting this and reminding me that I asked you the "1 Billion Dollar" question!!

Gary
p.s. Congrats on having your latest recording from the EP we worked on picked up for an exclusive publishing deal within 24 hours of release!!

6/9/2015 02:00:24 pm

I have to disagree about the "not easy" to pirate. Maybe if your new label has international lawyer based leverage you could afford to fight. My small label doesn't. I have an album that has been pirated in Greece and in Australia by two different companies. At least ARKARMA bothered to write before just making a DAT of my LP and never making a contract or paying me a dime. They sell the records for about $60 retail too. But, I am all for vinyl coming into view again. I love the medium. Loved disk mastering until I had to get a different job due to bottom falling out of LP market in 86.

6/9/2015 03:28:08 pm

Not sure if I buy all the hype about vinyl, it's still just 2 percent of overall album sales. Here are a few interesting articles:

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2015/01/20/vinyl-comeback-really-looks-like

http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/nov/27/vinyls-making-a-comeback-dont-believe-the-hype

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/vinyl-wont-really-make-a-comeback-until-we-have-more-record-presses

Freejay MacLoud link

6/10/2015 02:34:52 am

Enjoying the discussion here on the rapidly evolving music industry and the internet-driven economy in general.

Possible key sources of financial support for musicians may be found in considering the gift economy, patronage and crowdfunding, and licensing opportunities. There is certainly no going back to past glories (nor tragedies, thankfully) of the recording industry, so I prefer striving to perceive the new opportunities currently opening for all of us. Streaming of music, though yielding zero income, is a tool for distribution and is clearly going to continue growing, simply because it's what people want. Though I wish to be paid for my creative musical works and believe in supporting artists financially, I have no interest in owning CDs, vinyl records, nor hard drives full of downloads. How can I expect others to want these things and furthermore to pay for them?

Fortunately, the opportunity to have a direct conversational relationship with those who love our music has coevolved with the internet economy, and thus the opportunity to ask directly for financial support. If a fan wants me to make more great music, they can help by buying me more time to do creative work. Part of my work towards getting paid is educating music lovers about how a direct patronage relationship functions, as well as getting very creative in how I engage my listeners.

Another way to go where the money is flowing is becoming savvy about music licensing and putting in the work hours needed to make these deals. Grateful for Aaron's teachings on Licensing.

As mentioned by Alixandrea above, Amanda Palmer's TED talk 'The Art of Asking' is worth watching and rewatching...
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMj_P_6H69g>

Also a fan of the insights offered by musician, Berklee College of Music grad, & futurist Gerd Leonhard. This talk is a good one...
'The Future of Music: Creators, Consumers and the Industry'
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMJB5TN-69U>

Michael Casali link

6/17/2015 10:29:49 pm

What a great read! Thank you

Scott Kirby link

10/20/2015 06:46:16 am

All GREAT comments by Mr. Davison. The one thing that hasn't been tried is to address the dysfunction between the music and broadcasting industries caused by the VERY obscure and misunderstood PAYOLA LAW of 1960. The law's purpose was, in truth, to segregate radio so that guys who were white played vanilla pop and artists like Chuck Berry stuck to what he did. Never the twain shall meet right? The real effect of it was much more egregious. It broke up a business relationship - Music Makers and Music Distributors that needed to form a common ground and synergy to prosper. The Payola law squashed that. It made it impossible for them to work together on any level but behind the scenes 50 dollar hand shakes setting up the disaster that we have now. And will the law be shifted to streaming sites like Pandora and Spotify? if so it'll be another 60 years of failure. But a vested interest by music distributors to get paid by how well they distribute would be a HUGE step in the right direction. Kind of like the film industry and streaming Netflix has an incentive to connect film fans and film lovers. Shouldn't the same thing apply to the music industry? FOOD FOR THOUGHT??

Gregory Beasley - A&R ,C-Town Records link

10/20/2015 07:22:45 am

Excellent treatment of the current problem facing the industry. If only the major labels had the foresight to embrace digital technology in the days of Napster, instead of fighting it tooth and nail, the industry would be in a much better position today. Instead they have allowed non music industry based technology companies like Apple, Spotify and Pandora to gain entry, cannibalize and control music distribution. The result is plummeting music sales, diminished artist royalties and consumer apathy. Why didn't the major labels get together and create their own digital distribution and streaming platform? The future may be in music streaming, but we need to strenthen old outdated copyright laws as well so that songwriters and creators of original music can once again make a decent living from their craft.

Scott kirby link

10/20/2015 09:15:04 am

Excellent post by Mr Beasley- my short take would be that the major labels have two huge problems! They are control freaks who are plagued by acute myopia ! They need take a page from THE GRATEFUL DEAD school of music business - be generous and spread good amongst the people and benefits will back a hundred fold! But they just are headed for extinction ! They aren't smart enough to get out of their own way!

Steve Craig

10/21/2015 09:58:04 am

The industry and label execs bare a lot of responsibility for the decline in music sales. As a dj and collector a dj's collection is everything to him, however with these labels releasing disposable music dj's are not investing into buying hard copies of today's music. We constantly ask what artist will be revelant 5 years from now, and the answer is not many of them; years back a cd/album had 5 or 6 decent songs on the album, now if you get 2 or 3 songs on a complete disc your lucky, to begin fixing the problem produce a product that I must have and then I will buy it......

how to fix the recording industry

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