demonbaby, a discourse on recording industry suicide
Rob Sheridan, like me, is someone who might be called a ‘music industry survivor’ [is there a support group for that I wonder?]. His blog Demonbaby has an ‘about’ area where you will find out the details of his work in the music industry and his connection to Nine Inch Nails. Anyway that was the appetizer here’s the main course - Rob has put to electronic paper his thoughts about the current state of the recording industry and the title of it starts out When pigs fly… so you’ve probably got the drift of it already. It’s a long piece but definitely worth a read - maybe an example of a paragraph will entice you further..
“Stop buying music from major labels. Period. The only way to force change is to hit the labels where it hurts - their profits. The major labels are like Terry Schiavo right now - they’re on life support, drooling in a coma, while white-haired guys in suits try and change the laws to keep them alive. But any rational person can see that it’s too late, and it’s time to pull out the feeding tube. In this case, the feeding tube is your money. Find out which labels are members/supporters of the RIAA and similar copyright enforcement groups, and don’t support them in any way.” Enjoy.
October 31st, 2007 at 11:56 pm
he makes a great point that the majors, at their height of power, were masters of selling their physical product in retail outlets. their ability to adapt to the online world is questionable at best.
this is an over-simplification but…….a band makes their album available online and it instantly has more potential than a cd distributed by a major sitting in a walmart.
the standing argument is that a major gives releases marketing power and reach. uh…album sales have never been lower so clearly the playing field is being leveled. also its becoming clear the the playing field is the online space where the indie can fight it out wih the same distribution technology. (the browser)
lastly while the playing field is level currently \”net neutrality\” is increasingly going to be a piece of legislation that the indie must fight for. if net neutrality is not enforced a major could pay more money to have their web content load faster than the indie without the same dollars for online distribution. so, keep the net fair. support net neutraility!
November 1st, 2007 at 1:12 am
rob also has a healthy perspective being the art director for nin. nin recently gave the big finger to being on a label.
November 1st, 2007 at 8:30 am
There’s a similar theme on this blog too…
November 1st, 2007 at 9:30 am
It’s like a disease…
Charlatans. Clicky.
November 1st, 2007 at 10:27 am
look what just popped into the latest mp3s. magic.
November 1st, 2007 at 11:33 am
I don’t understand your dark magiks, Josh. It scaaaaares me.
November 2nd, 2007 at 5:58 pm
no more major label cds for yours truly…