Posted on 08/04/2014 7:56:26 AM PDT by Squawk 8888
As record labels repeat tired formulas and watch their business model collapse, they should turn on the television to see how another outmoded industry came back from the brink.
Of all the lies told to musicians, here’s the biggest lie of them all: you have to give your talent away for free.
Creative people in a wide range of fields keep hearing the ridiculous mantra that “content wants to be free.” The music industry is the worst offender. Many label execs tell artists—maybe the execs even believe it themselves—that musicians shouldn’t expect to generate income from their recordings. But no worries, mate, you will make it all up by selling T-shirts at your gigs.
The experts who offer this bad advice need to watch some more TV. While record labels have been shrinking, TV networks have reinvented themselves by selling content via a profitable subscription model. TV has reversed the trend: households once got it for free, but now they are willing to pay for it. Yes, you can still get broadcast TV channels without paying a monthly fee, but only seven percent of American households go that route.
Not only has TV switched successfully from “giving it away” to a subscription model, but the shift has also spurred a new golden age of television. The same economic pressures that are killing the music business have led to the highest quality shows in the history of the medium.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
Not a bad article, but I prefer to get content I like over the internet. I find links to various series that I enjoy, and access them online.
Another poster on a thread a little while back put it best when he described most people preferring to watch content that they like rather than simply a particular channel or network affiliate. Burn Notice, Chuck, Firefly, Justified, Longmire, Lost, NCIS, Psych...
The only “channel” I watch on a regular basis is FoxNewsChannel -but even with the occasional skipping and dropouts, watching it online is preferable because it provides the ability to pause it during the commercials or for instance when Hannity puts on that bloody skank Tamra JaksonHolder AGAIN.
Then I just ignore the rest of his show until the top of the hour when the next one begins.
Really helps to keep the blood pressure down, I must admit.
There is some good stuff out there.
Walking dead, Justified, mad men, sons of anarchy, vikings, sherlock...One just needs to look. Netflix is a really good way to find entertaining shows
Interestingly, when I dumped TV in 1997, the first thing I did was learn to play the bass.
“I really miss the days where one could buy an album with the confidence that every track is worth listening to.”
Unfortunately I never experienced those days.
I still just listen to music too, and on a good hi-fi system. We are in the minority by far, to my understanding. And the new acts I like produce their music with that type of listening in mind, because they are always going to have a vinyl release as well, and they mix to that. I just get the CD. But initial production and mixing makes a bigger difference than what the actual music happens to be on, at least to my half shot ears.
Really, the stereophile or music person is in a better position now in a lot of ways. You can sample before you fork over for an album, and the ability to find and be able to buy new things is better than it has ever been. The person to person touch is gone, I think that’s part of the reason why so many are going with vinyl. Little shops that sell vinyl, the process of readying a record, all these little routines make listening to tunes special and out of the norm. It takes time. Also the likely hood of listening through a crappy system is self limiting—why go to all this trouble when you actually are going to hear it through tiny tin cans or something.
I don’t think there can be a resurgence in music for the mainstream, because there is already new stuff out there that is really great but folks are never going to give up how they listen to music. I mean, I’m not going to stop listening to my car stereo either, or wash the dishes in silence. But I also am never going to give up times when I give my complete attention to music at volume either. The problem is the majority probably have never listened that way at all or haven’t for years.
Please add me to your ping list when you get a chance.
Freegards
Yeah, but there is great music being made today. It’s just never ever going to make it to the mainstream in most cases. It would be like if True Detective was this tiny niche thing that no one ever heard of. To most people it’s acceptable to sit in front of the TV for an hour, but not sit in front of the hi-fi. For most today tunes are for making other activities less boring. It’s a condiment, not a meal.
Freegards
In the old days we had all sorts of music on the same station from rock to jazz and they were not auto-tuned.
They had variety which is lacking today. You did not have to PAY!, the commercials worked just fine. These people could sing and play musical instruments.
It is now 1 type of ‘muzak’ and it is the sameness that drives people to get good music elsewhere from Amazon to iTunes to Youtube then add it to their computers & cellphones and play their own mix.
Go to google and type: bro country songs suck
I cannot listen to the only country station that I can pickup from Santa Barbara, CA (I am in the San Fernando Valley dude). There is a couple of rock stations but they just do not rock. The pop is not popping.
The tv shows the writer talks about are dramas. If you want to be depressed and root for the criminal then these shows are for you. I ain’t paying.
Barry Mann — Who Put the Bomp (In the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22L5fJ_oHBo
Not so much, I gave up on television in 2008. I still listen to new music.
Streaming (especially streaming “random” but “trending bands LIKE what you listen to”) content (for pay, no less) doesn’t interest me.
How about the radio stations turn off the top 75 tracks “of all time” limited rotation lists and start spinning cuts again (old and new)? Doesn’t take a “pay radio station” programmer to figure that one out.
Little known follow-up.
Alice doesn’t give away diddly-squat.
Hasn’t in over 40 years.
You pay for your tickets.
You wanna a meet-and-greet, it’s another 500 clams.
Then you go buy his CDs, tees, hats, pins and tons of other swag.
He’s filthy rich.
If it’s good, it’ll sell.
Of course, he then sinks his profits back into his Solid Rock Foundation, so maybe God is blessing him.
Go, Alice.
http://www.alicecoopersolidrock.com/
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