“Where did we go wrong?” seems to be the proverbial question that record company executives are begging in this day of business recession and that of a bleeding economy. The most hard hit, of course, would be those top heavy labels who continue to lose focus on the very essence of their economics – the artists. And in their ignorance, set the wheels in motion for their own demise. While vendors who offer services to and for artists continue to, not just thrive, but grow and expand.
Why? Because artists will always invest in themselves no matter how bad the economy gets.
Why? Because creating music for an artist is a way of life, not just a living.
Why? At the end of the day, it’s always been about the music, not the money. An artist will continue to make music whether they are starving or not.
While labels continue to rape and pillage artists for the “flavor of the week” cut that will stick to the ear buds of 11 – 15 year old white females, the remaining consumer listenership finds itself on digital outlets that have little to do with music business, and everything to do with the music. But it is music business and music is being sold. The only difference is, most of the proceeds are going back into the pockets of the artists and songwriters who create the music.
It’s interesting really. Every job within the music industry or related to it literally wouldn’t exist without the artist first. Think about it. The paparazzi certainly aren’t going to follow the Sr. VP of Marketing around and sell their pictures! There sure wouldn’t be prestigious law firms grappling back and forth regarding this royalty or that 360 deal. And what would Michael Lippman do if there weren’t the Rob Thomas’ and the Bernie Taupins of the world? I guess there’s always high dollar horseflesh, but the absence of the other kind of high dollar flesh would hurt a lot of everyday “life as we know it.” Business would not be so usual. Business might not be business at all.
On a recent flight home from having been on the road for two weeks running with the ever POPular Justin Bieber, I read an article in SKY Magazine explaining how the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is in danger of being destroyed by climate changes, pollution, and too warm water temperatures. And how the Dead Sea in Israel, the DEAD SEA, could literally dry up within the next fifty years due to increased human water consumption and the diversion of the Jordan River for irrigation–just another in the long list of “natural disasters” to occur over an extended period of time but possibly within my lifetime. And while we certainly aren’t going to starve to death if Bieber were to drop out of the music industry and become a rocket scientist, a whole lot of my friends and colleagues would be left holding their “you-know-what” in their hands if the artist pool suddenly turned to salt. Besides, there are way too many studies that conclude devastating results to those civilizations that have devalued the impact of music and lost their appreciation of art within.
When the music business begins to again recognize the true value of artists and their contributions to all things advertising, all things promotional, all things marketable, all things bankable, all things economic, and to all the standards of living that they have become accustomed to living within, perhaps THEN the business will thrive again–focused on that which created the business that revolves around it to begin with. Imagine that – the MUSIC business. What an original concept.
Jan Smith
April 2010
