jeffxandra (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jeffxandra) wrote2005-09-09 09:39 am
jeffxandra) wrote2005-09-09 09:39 am
Entry tags:
Good music may win out!
I love the internet. A friend, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lee_c_rip, of a friend, drewshi, whom I only know through LJ, posted that he didn't understand I Tunes etc.. He reasoned, that those who wanted to get songs legitimately would buy the albums, while those who weren't would go ahead and find free ways to get the music anyway.
While I posted some thoughts over there,
I've long despised the path popular music has followed. The producer has become the most important part of any album. That's not to say that a producer should not be important, nor am I saying the producers who are doing this work aren't doing a good job. But it means that people who have the appearance but lack the talent, *cough* Britney Spears *cough*, get a lot further in the music industry than they should, because talented producers make up for their faults. It is my hope, believe it or not, that I Tunes and the like solve this problem.
Now I know what you're saying, "Jeffxandra That makes no sense at all! Doesn't it make music all the more disposable? Won't cheap hooks drive individual downloads of forgettable pop songs prompting even more sales for no-talent hacks with good producers?" Probably. But here's why I have hope and where I believe the balance will fall.
In my experience, invariably the "no-talent artist, good producer", henceforth NTAGP, has no more than three listenable tunes on their album, usually only one or two. Meanwhile talented acts tend to have an entirely listenable album for every single track, with at most one or two duds. Furthermore, people who listen to and appreciate that music are more likely to pursue tracks much more avidly than those who pick up the latest disposable dance hit.
So let's do the math here.. two songs times 10,000,000 people that's 20,000,000 sales for NTAGP. Ten songs times one quarter that number of people for our talented artist? 25,000,000. Who's coming out ahead? Am I being overly optimistic about the numbers for my secondary act? Possibly. But that's a good start.
Furthermore small acts who don't get the kind of national exposure that a big label provides have a better chance at survivability through the beauty of viral marketing. Typically your starter album for a band might sell a few hundred copies, mostly at shows at local clubs. Now let's say you capture lightning in a bottle for a song. Once again, this is an optimistic scenario. Your single track happens to catch fire and is passed around on the internet. People download say, a million copies. Even at a penny a sale royalty, that's 10,000 bucks towards that next album. Nevermind that one of the aforementioneed "big labels" will probably listen to the single track, as opposed to happening to stumble acros your band in some club.
Is it realistic? Who knows? But I can only hope things get better.
lee_c_rip, of a friend, drewshi, whom I only know through LJ, posted that he didn't understand I Tunes etc.. He reasoned, that those who wanted to get songs legitimately would buy the albums, while those who weren't would go ahead and find free ways to get the music anyway.While I posted some thoughts over there,
I've long despised the path popular music has followed. The producer has become the most important part of any album. That's not to say that a producer should not be important, nor am I saying the producers who are doing this work aren't doing a good job. But it means that people who have the appearance but lack the talent, *cough* Britney Spears *cough*, get a lot further in the music industry than they should, because talented producers make up for their faults. It is my hope, believe it or not, that I Tunes and the like solve this problem.
Now I know what you're saying, "Jeffxandra That makes no sense at all! Doesn't it make music all the more disposable? Won't cheap hooks drive individual downloads of forgettable pop songs prompting even more sales for no-talent hacks with good producers?" Probably. But here's why I have hope and where I believe the balance will fall.
In my experience, invariably the "no-talent artist, good producer", henceforth NTAGP, has no more than three listenable tunes on their album, usually only one or two. Meanwhile talented acts tend to have an entirely listenable album for every single track, with at most one or two duds. Furthermore, people who listen to and appreciate that music are more likely to pursue tracks much more avidly than those who pick up the latest disposable dance hit.
So let's do the math here.. two songs times 10,000,000 people that's 20,000,000 sales for NTAGP. Ten songs times one quarter that number of people for our talented artist? 25,000,000. Who's coming out ahead? Am I being overly optimistic about the numbers for my secondary act? Possibly. But that's a good start.
Furthermore small acts who don't get the kind of national exposure that a big label provides have a better chance at survivability through the beauty of viral marketing. Typically your starter album for a band might sell a few hundred copies, mostly at shows at local clubs. Now let's say you capture lightning in a bottle for a song. Once again, this is an optimistic scenario. Your single track happens to catch fire and is passed around on the internet. People download say, a million copies. Even at a penny a sale royalty, that's 10,000 bucks towards that next album. Nevermind that one of the aforementioneed "big labels" will probably listen to the single track, as opposed to happening to stumble acros your band in some club.
Is it realistic? Who knows? But I can only hope things get better.