Another road trip, another conference and another panel. I’ve just returned from 2 days in Seattle after attending the Grammy MusicTech 08 Conference where I spoke on the Multi-Platform Branding panel [more on this later.]
This year’s keynote address was given by Ian C Rogers former VP of Music at Yahoo! and currently CEO of Topspin Media. [Ian and I have some history - back in the days of running my record label World Domination in Los Angeles, Ian came out of nowhere, well Indiana actually with a degree in computer science, and sent along to the Beastie Boys management a web site that he'd built for the band. He was soon hired to do more including building a site for my label.] We became reacquainted recently not through just our music/web connections but via Ian’s good friend Mark Lewman, Nemo Design’s Creative Director. Small world, I love it.
Ian C Rogers
Ian’s speech was fresh for two reasons – It was chock full of great ideas and it was not a heavy pitch for the Topspin platform although it would have been ok to do that in my opinion. One of his slides that caught my attention followed a quote from the great Chuck D – “there’s nothing wrong with the music business, the problem is the CD business.” Here’s the sound bites I pulled from the slide:
- CD Business = Music Business
- In conversations going forward, let’s talk about profitability for artists
- A middle class of artists will appear and this is good for culture
- Ask yourself – Is the company I work for based on ethical artist relationships?
- Let’s focus on the relationship between artists and music fans
Those five points sum up for me everything that was/is wrong with the old paradigm, the recording industry. Think about it. The recording industry’s interests do or did not lie in that conversation. In fact it was the polar opposite – let’s run through those points through the lens of the music industry:
1. They still embrace the CD.
2. Not interested unless they are superstars.
3. No interest in supporting middle class artists or culture [see point 2.]
4. Not necessarily.
5. Nope. The focus was always on distribution and retailers.
Ian recounted something that he’d heard from Brett Gurowitz. The guitarist for Bad Religion and owner of Epitaph Records pointed out that these days “a record label is not about distribution, it’s about branding and marketing.” And that is so true.
There was more, too much more to detail here so I would recommend that if you are a working musician or band or a label, check out Topspin’s platform for your self. Also take a look at what Topspin did for the latest Byrne and Eno album.
[Update: When I mention the recording industry I do of course exclude independent labels.]
“a record label is not about distribution, it’s about branding and marketing.†And that is so true.
Is this supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing?
November 8th, 2008 at 2:04 pm[...] Dave Allen, over at the awesome Pamplemoose, has some great insight into Ian’s keynote too… Possibly related posts: [...]
November 8th, 2008 at 3:00 pm@Justin, I’d say that it is neither. It’s an observation. The point here I believe is that bands used to sign to labels for their pull in terms of distribution and marketing and promotion – all of that is now at the bands’ fingertips, online. But, if a band is on Epitaph, Sub Pop or Kill Rock Stars for example, they are part of a brand, in fact they become a brand within a brand. One more cog on the gears that help exposure…
November 8th, 2008 at 3:03 pmThanks for Responding Dave!
Well then, might I respectably submit that I deem the industry trend of Record Labels acting more like a marketing company than a distribution company to be a good thing.
Distributing is simply a branch of the music industry that should best keep its own interests in mind rather than that of the record labels. So what’s wrong with labels focusing more on artist development and helping musicians channel their artistic message clearly? That sounds like a healthy bit of evolution for the state of artistry in the music business.
Will it make bank? Thats the real question. Which labels are moving away from distribution and finding it profitable? Are any? This could be an opportunity for some good music journalism. I, for one, hope we would find that companies that focus on marketing, digital media, and making their artists image interesting are the labels that are pulling ahead today. At the very least, a record label can’t break out with a company-wide marketing plan that includes marketing their own “label-image”
I’m Interested to hear any thoughts on that…
November 8th, 2008 at 11:35 pmhey dave, mark montgomery here. sorry we didnt connect after the panel, was really interested in talking more with you. seems we are reading out of the same playbook. loved your ability to approach things philosophically, but then to drill down into nuts and bolts of the doing. ian’s a bright guy as well, we need more voices like ours talking about whats possible, rather than complaining about whats changed.
a great quote from eric hoffer sums up your post:
“In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.â€
keep going, lets connect soon…
November 9th, 2008 at 7:46 am@Justin,
November 9th, 2008 at 9:39 amWelcome back! It seems to have been a while since you posted one of your insightful comments. And yes, I agree with all you are saying. The opportunity for a label to become a holistic company embracing the ‘band and label as brand’ concept is a great step forward and yet ironically a few steps back too – think 1976 and Stiff Records in the UK – Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Ian Dury, awesome roster, awesome label. In other words it’s about time. Currently Epitaph, Anti and Vagrant, as well as Sub Pop and Kill Rock Stars are the labels off the top of my head, who are ‘branding.’
As for which label is pulling away from regular retail distribution I doubt that any of them would do that. Retail is still a powerful friend in the mix if they get it right. The Byrne/Eno model is interesting – use Topspin to put up a site on their platform and service the customers needs online, create multiple packages for the customer to choose from, then pick a distributor to do the ground work at retail (I think they picked Red Eye Distribution for the job, maybe Ian will correct me.)
Bottom line – this all very exciting and offers new areas of success for the labels that embrace the idea….