Is the music indiustry imploding?

[coyote]

From the posts I've seen here and the news from the entertainment world, it would seem so. Overall record sales are down. Live concerts are down. Local live music scenes are dwindling or have disappeared entirely. This makes it difficult to develop new talent. Is Napster to blame? Is the plethora of 'free' music available on demand killing the industry? Is it just that the real era of experimentation is over? From early classical recordings and early swing & blues, there was a steady march of new & different for a long time. Avant-garde, bebop, doowop, 60's pop & Motown, prog/AOR, disco, synth-driven New Wave, rap, world music.... Don't you sometimes get the feeling that, whatever you do now, it's been done before? That there's very little new ground to break? If it's all just a repackaging of the old, is it any wonder Elton/Billy are the top draw on the concert scene now? Just food for thought....

[Deathtoallwhoopposeme]

Napster isn't to Blame..It's Shit music and lack of talent....It takes people a while but they eventually get around to getting a clue...Maybe they are starting to realize what we here, have known all along...

[Kris]

The local scene here in Tallahassee has definately gone through its phases, but recently its been really great... Lots of local music lovers, and bands are making a bunch of money on a good night. Also there's so many killer bands around right now... it's a great time for live music... check out the linup for the Jazzfest in NO... or check out this "modern day woodstock": [url=http://www.bonnaroo.com]Bonnaroo Music Festival[/url] ... That's just the tip of the iceberg.

[Lee Flier]

I don't really think that "sales" are down so much as they are spread a lot thinner. Lots of people are feeling liberated from being force fed the crap that major labels feed us because they can find whatever they want on the Internet. I am wondering how much direct sales of independent CD's by the artists themselves, are impacting overall sales figures, for example. These sales would not be documented by the RIAA or credited to any record label so we have no way of knowing this. Probably 70% of the CD's I've bought in the last few years have been from indie artists. The trouble is of course that there are so many sources of music (live bands, DJ's, electronic artists, CD's, Internet downloads, etc.) that it's hard for any one source to generate much income. As a music fan you can say, "I want to hear some new music. Should I go to a club, or should I stay home and surf the web?" Etc. And in either case there are zillions of options to choose from. The ability to record cheaply and distribute your own music on the Internet has made it possible for anyone to do this. And, it seems, everyone does. :D The question is how many of them are any good? Quite a few, actually, but a lot of them have very limited appeal and, of course, lots of competition. So we have a ton of music out there to be heard and each artist only gets a small following, as opposed to the old days when only a few artists even had the chance to be widely heard so lots and lots of people bought each of their records and concert tickets. I think there is no lack of innovation out there either, but you have to look harder to find it, as with everything it seems... --Lee

[Wewus432]

Well what if the music INDUSTRY did implode? Would that be such a bad thing? People have and will always make music and maybe the system we have now does not serve our best interest, which IS to bring the best music to the most people, and let me add AT THE BEST PRICE. Let me give you a model for great business success. 2 Rules 1. Give people a great product for less than they expect to pay. 2. Give them more customer support than they expect. Do you think the so called music industry follows either one of these rules? I don't think so.

[Themuzic]

I run a small recording studio here in Wheeling IL out of my basement. I've been doing alot of business lately since about late January. I've had everything from Rap to Jazz down here just in the last week or so and I'm booked through May. SOLID! at least 6 nights a week :eek: If the music industry is imploding, smaller bands arn't being affected as yet in my area :D Or maybe they're seeing it as a good thing (like someone suggested) Who Knows :thu:

[AudioMaverick]

Lee, I'm with you on that sentiment. You said at least 90% of what I was thinking. The "cookie cutter" sounds of the major label's CDs have seemed to have dulled some of my younger friends. Just yesterday, one of them actually bought a copy of the new "Jars Of Clay" CD when another person told him it sounded like their first 2 CDs and not like their last one. Possibly a trend...? Being in my early 40s, I'm definitely getting into that scene where I'm hearing remakes, and rather like the earlier renditions I grew up with, better. I just hear another Beatles remake, today... I wondered where's my old Beatles album was. I'm not into the new techno & dancefloor stuff, so I'm out of that demographic. So, I have found that recording local bands that I personally like (as a hobby), I am hearing music and styles that actually appeal to me! And, I am helping get their careers going in the local venue (except that thread I wrote about the CD killing some bands). From my perspective, I can see the clientele shifting to more independent labels and local followings... or at least a secondary path for some. This would tend to cater to the groupies of particular bands. I am sure that there will still be the *mega* stars/groups and plenty of people to follow. But, you can see that even commercial television is lacking. People are moving toward a different kind of intertainment... and the internet seems to be providing it. One of my big concerns has always been the "free/pirate music download" programs. For some reason, computer-related applications have been associated with the *it's OK to just copy some one else's CD* syndrome. This is one of the few venues where this happens, while removing the livelyhood of others creating the object(s) of theft. Music can now be obtained over the internet, and seems to have been similarly associated. And, this is a real travesty. As a career, this would initally look like bad move. That would seem to leave the ones creating music as a *labor of love*. The movie industry survived the early 80's scare of the VCR ruining the theatre industry. I don't see an exact correlation, but am hoping that something similar will happen with the professionaly recorded music industry.

[aeon]

[quote][i]coyote asked:[/i] [b]Is the plethora of 'free' music available on demand killing the industry?[/b][/quote]I spent nearly $4000 USD last year on recorded music. Virtually none of it went to the Big 5, and virtually none of it would be seen as sales by the RIAA. [quote][i]coyote asked:[/i] [b]Is it just that the real era of experimentation is over? Don't you sometimes get the feeling that, whatever you do now, it's been done before? That there's very little new ground to break?[/b][/quote]A solid and definite [i]no[/i] on all 3 counts. ;)

[Chip McDonald]

Marketing music as "disposable" is to blame. Period. The industry has spent the past 20 years hyping glitz over substance, and now people are responding in kind. People throw away used razor blades, not fancy electric shavers. People throw away plastic cups, not crystal goblets. People toss paper towels, not heavy woven bath towels. People likewise look at music the same way. Since our culture is rapidly approaching an almost 100% disposable possession situation, people think of music the same way. Preciousness has been lost.