Bad news for the Music Industry

Looks like the music industry is heading for a complete collapse. Years of gorging itself at the trough of the CD (where they were were making crazy profit off each sale), they are now reaping their rewards:

IN 2006 EMI, the world’s fourth-biggest recorded-music company, invited some teenagers into its headquarters in London to talk to its top managers about their listening habits. At the end of the session the EMI bosses thanked them for their comments and told them to help themselves to a big pile of CDs sitting on a table. But none of the teens took any of the CDs, even though they were free. “That was the moment we realised the game was completely up,” says a person who was there.

The music industry has declined from its heyday of the 80’s, but it was in this decade that it began its inevitable decline. The music industry discovered the profitability of “disposable music”, also known as the “one hit wonder”. They promoted one pop hit after another, and learned that they could produce music on a CD (which cost very little to manufacture) and sell it for outrageous markup until the average customer was paying up to $20 for a CD containing 1 hit and 8-10 other songs of questionable value.

I developed a rule in the late 80’s when buying music. I would not buy an album if 1) the first song released by the band was a cover of another song and 2) the band did not have 3 songs off the album that I liked. It was actually a pretty good rule. For Soundgarden’s “Superunknown”, I had heard “Spoonman”, “Black Hole Sun”, and “Last Wave”, so I picked up the album and was satisfied with the album. I went against my instincts and bought Smashmouth’s “Fush You Mang” after hearing “Walking on the Sun” and discoverd an album full of audio garbage. Did I really want to spend $20 to hear one song? No, but that’s what the music industry was forcing upon us.

Now, in the era of digital downloads, the music industry now faces a dilemma. No longer does the music industry reap large rewards off of one single. Instead, iTunes sells the song for $.99– a far cry from the profits they were reaping on the CD. The insane profits they are reaping on CDs are fading, and the music industry is no longer going to be able to operate as they had in the past.

Personally I hope we return to the era of good music. It’s a bad sign when the biggest tours around are The Eagles and the Police. Maybe instead of 30 bands that sound the same (Sugar Ray, Smashmouth, Barenaked Ladies, etc.), we can start exploring and promoting better music.

Here’s some advice for the music industry: watch YouTube. It used to be MTV that would promote music through videos, but as they don’t anymore, YouTube is a good gauge of what is popular and what isn’t. Just ask “OK Go”, who had a very clever video and a good song. YouTube and its ilk are also a good place for industrious bands to produce their own music videos and get some exposure, exposure that used to come from signing to a label.

I’m not exactly sad the music industry is facing inevitable decline. It’s time to put music back in the hands of the people, not music producers who have given us the tired pop hits from Britney, Lindsay, Paris, Hannah Montana, and a host of other lip-syncing Madonna wanna-bes.

h/t Instapundit.

Naomi Campbell “Mugged” At Zeppelin Concert

According to the FoxNews.

Would it be an event if Naomi Campbell weren’t somehow at the center of things? While Led Zeppelin reunited in London to memorialize Atlantic Records’ Ahmet Ertegun, the supermodel was in a luxury box at the O2 Arena getting mugged.

As the show ended I ran into her coming out of the VIP exit. She was having a fight with one of the security men. As we passed, she announced to me, “Someone stole my handbag. It had two phones in it!”

Naomi, are you sure you just didn’t have your “weapons” confiscated by security?

Why I Listen to Electronica

Because it kicks the crap out of anyone nominated at this year’s Grammy awards.

No noms for Markus Schulz, who’s album “Progression” is probably one of the best albums I’ve heard in ages?  Not surprising.  DJ Lange gets passed over to.  Instead we’re treated to same mountain of crap that we’ve gotten for the past 10 years– Kanye Wests, Amy Winehouses, and Justin Timberlakes all ruling the Grammys.

Poor Kanye West

He only wins Grammys, not VMA Moon Men. And now he’s alluding to racism because he didn’t win. He says he’ll never come back to MTV, and George Bush still hates black people (it’s the REAL reason he lost, don’tcha know?). Of course, he can’t really say that because in one category he lost to Rhianna/Jay-Z, and Gnarls Barkley in another category (the rest he lost to Justin Timberlake).

But the reality of the whole of the VMA– I don’t know any of these people. Or their music. Mainly because MTV stopped playing music over 10 years ago (well, there’s a strip of time in the morning, but that’s being pared down to make room for Celebrity Rap Superstar (I wish I was making that up)).

I haven’t seen any of these videos. I haven’t heard the music. But that’s because I’m old and I feel that Pop Music is uninspired and overproduced garbage for the most part. Sure there’s some good stuff, but I switched over to trance and electronica genres a while ago due to the lack of a good band.

You can tell music is in a sorry state when reunion tours are big attractions.

That and you have whiny primadonnas complaining they’re going to bolt if they don’t win. Again.

I’m just going to stop playing music all together

So, if you play your boombox at the basketball court, you can be sued.

“As long as it’s [played] outside a direct circle of friends and family, it is considered a public performance,” Candilora said. “A musical composition is somebody’s property.”

If your kid plays “Kids Bop 12″ on his clock-radio CD player at his lemonade stand, he can be sued.

If a school gathering has a cheerleading demonstration and pep-rally, complete with the latest music, they can be sued.

What if I belt out a few lines of “Wind Beneath My Wings” That’s a public performance. Will I have Bette Midler’s lawyer on my ass?

Well, it’d be better than Bette herself.

Net Radio spared for the time being.

Good news, I think.

The Listening Post is following up on it.

Save Internet Radio

Not a lot has been going on about a particular bone-headed move by the RIAA and the royalty rates Internet broadcasters would have to pay.

If you listen to music streaming on the Internet, then this affects you. Many of the stations broadcasting over the internet are small-time operations which usually provide a “niche” service. These stations range from electronica to jazz to bluegrass. Recently there was a royalty rate proposal that all broadcasters would have to pay between 9/100 and 17/100 of a penny per song played. Small-time broadcasters were “getting away” with paying a revenue percentage rather than a royalty per play, but that would change, and it would even change for radio stations which already pay a royalty per play. The net effect of this would be to push the small-time “niche” providers out of business and load up the larger providers with advertising just to make ends meet. Now, XM and other satellite radio providers pay a percentage, and it’s a percentage that’s smaller than what small-time stream providers currently pay. It’s unfair that businesses would be forced out of business to pay royalties on music that they can no longer afford to broadcast.

You can read more about it here. There’s also a petition system there that will locate your congressman and let you call and bug them about HR 2060.

Call today. The new royalties go into effect JULY 15th.

A State of Trance

Every Thursday, Armin Van Buren takes over Di.fm with “A State of Trance”. The latest installment (271) is particularly noteworthy. Give it a listen. It’s only up until Thursday the 25th.