Music industry: The party's over. Haven't they heard?

The record industry is dead. Long live the music, says Cole Moreton

Sunday, 27 July 2008

Independent.co.uk

 

"Babylon's burning, baby. Can't you see?" The Ruts had their hit with that nearly 30 years ago, but someone should rush out a cover to mark the end of the record industry as we know it.

 

The internet is to blame, apparently. People are daring to share music with each other for free. The big labels are in a panic, unsure what to do. So they have approached six major internet service providers and persuaded them to "crack down" on the "pirates" – mostly not commercial bootleggers, but music lovers who download tunes without paying.

 

What will the punishment be? A letter. Scary. And after that? Er, they're not sure. They may tell the customers to go away. Always a good business move, that – particularly when countless smaller ISPs refuse to go along with the intimidation. Most of them know what the bigwigs at Universal do not: it's over. The genie is out of the bottle. There are too many people sharing free music to stop, prosecute or even warn them all.

 

Alan McGee of Creation Records says: "The only people who think music isn't free any more are the record companies." He gave away the last album by the Charlatans in the hope that it would boost their earnings from live performances. It did, by 400 per cent. That's where the money is now.

 

Someone else who knows what he's doing is Eoin O'Mahony, the lead singer with the band Hamfatter. You may have seen them on Dragon's Den last week. They walked away with £75,000 from the entrepreneur Peter Jones in return for 30 per cent of profits from two albums. Crazy ... until you hear the alternative.

 

The deals offered by big labels were ludicrous, says O'Mahony. "They screw you. They only offered us about 30p per album. You have to sign away any right to how your songs are recorded and you have to pay your advance back. You can end up owing the label hundreds of thousands of pounds." What's to stop fans of Hamfatter copying their music for each other, cheating them out of payment? Nothing. But here's the thing: most people are willing to pay. They just don't want to pay all the other people who take a cut. If Hamfatter had done that big deal, the rest of the money from a £15 CD would have gone to the manufacturer, the distributor, the promoter, the record company, the lawyers and many others. New technology offers a way of cutting them all out.

 

When Radiohead made a record available for whatever people wanted to pay, the industry said they were fools. But they say they made considerably more on every copy than by conventional methods.

 

Why do people still pay? Because they feel a direct connection with the artist. British Music Rights, which represents music writers and publishers, wants an annual levy of about £30 for file sharers. The man with the plan is Feargal Sharkey, the former lead singer of the Undertones. Elsewhere in the paper he argues that we will always need an industry, but he's wrong.

 

As an ex-punk he should know that every great pop culture movement has been a rebellion against an industry set up to rip people off. So Babylon is burning? Let it burn, baby. Burn it down.

 

Would you be prepared to pay an additional annual £30 levy to legally share music files or not?

Another relevent piece:

 

The shrinking music industry

Lean times for the Jing Jang Jong

Chris Salmon The Guardian, Friday July 25 2008

 

Back in 1991, HMV in Derby charged me the princely sum of £13.49 for my very first CD. Amazingly, if compact discs had stayed the same price in real terms since then, an album would now cost more than £20. Instead, a new BPI report has revealed that the average price of a single physical album in 2007 was just £8.63. CD albums have never been cheaper. And, by the same token, their profit margins have never been lower.

 

That, inevitably, is having a significant effect on record labels, who already had enough problems with illegal downloading. Quite simply, there isn't as much cash in selling music as there used to be. And if the labels are struggling to make money, then there's an inevitable knock-on effect on the acts they sign. "In the old days, the industry would earn enough from the one in 10 albums that succeeded to cover the losses on the nine out of 10 that didn't," a major-label insider tells me. "These days, that isn't the case. They need to make money from every project. If they know an album isn't going to sell, there's just no point in releasing it."

 

Certainly, cancelling albums shortly before their release seems to be a growing trend. For instance, the second album by Sony BMG's scouse ska-punkers the Dead 60s was released in France last summer, but after limping to 135 in their chart, never saw the light of day in the UK. And despite an initial burst of hype and publicity, both Sony BMG's the Little Flames and Virgin's Palladium saw their debut albums pulled shortly before their release.

 

"These days, new bands have to develop a head of steam beyond that early hype," explains the insider. "They need to get positive coverage across a wide range of publications and they really need the support of Radio 1. If they don't tick those boxes, then the big retailers are not going to bother stocking the album." And if the big retailers - which now means supermarkets more than high street record shops - aren't going to stock an album, then major labels are less likely to release it.

 

This week, the latest and most high profile album to be pulled just days before it hit the shelves was the self-titled debut by Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong. This is a band who caused an A&R frenzy last year, who've had major support from the NME ("Great tunes, great presence and great style," as their editor, Conor McNicholas, put it) and who featured prominently in most "top tips for 2008" features. But the band have singularly failed to bridge the gap between initial hype and genuine popularity; they haven't had significant radio airplay or anything like a hit single, and are already suffering a media backlash (something not helped by the enormous hubris of their frontman). "I think they were just one skinny-jeaned band too far," says the insider.

 

However, the band and their management have insisted it was their choice to pull the album, and not that of their label, Mercury. They apparently now plan to rerecord it, for release next year. "They've grown as musicians - the album was recorded too early in their career," their manager Raye Cosbert told NME.com. "The band have all agreed that's it's the best thing to do [to rerecord the album]."

 

You could argue that, following a glowing lead review in this week's NME, the band have shown impressive courage to withdraw their album because they're not happy with it. But you have to wonder if they'd have made the same decision if their latest single hadn't reportedly peaked at No 93. "The album had probably only shipped a couple of thousand copies [to retailers], and they'll have known that," says the insider. With the band presumably aware that second bites of the cherry are increasingly hard to come by in music and the label seeing that the album wasn't shaping up to be profitable, it's hard to avoid the whiff of everyone simply trying to cut their losses.

 

Do you think the record industry as we know it is dying?

 

 

Actually looking at the release schedule for the next coming few weeks, there seems to be nothing worth noting that will blow the market, sales are down, albums are cheaper now than they were a couple of years back. Its only the big artists and new artists are having their current status in the charts

 

I just feel the music industry is losing stock of the situation completely.

Maybe not dying, but changing and shrinking to where today's technology will put it. Serve the record companies right frankly!

Actually looking at the release schedule for the next coming few weeks, there seems to be nothing worth noting that will blow the market, sales are down, albums are cheaper now than they were a couple of years back. Its only the big artists and new artists are having their current status in the charts

 

I just feel the music industry is losing stock of the situation completely.

Again I feel this comes down to the Radio 1 point. There's so much stuff out there that would do really well with support. But they never get the support needed because the likes of Radio1 would instead prefer to A-list all four Scouting For Girls singles and keep flop singles at the top of the playlist for weeks after release. Last week I downloaded 6 of the releases, all of them atleast worthy of 8/10. One will go top 20 and one maybe top 75...

Again I feel this comes down to the Radio 1 point. There's so much stuff out there that would do really well with support. But they never get the support needed because the likes of Radio1 would instead prefer to A-list all four Scouting For Girls singles and keep flop singles at the top of the playlist for weeks after release. Last week I downloaded 6 of the releases, all of them atleast worthy of 8/10. One will go top 20 and one maybe top 75...

 

I completely agree with you.

 

I've been following popular music now for 25 years, and I'm certain it is not my imagination, the real reason the charts are getting boring is because the likes of Radio 1, so called Independent Commercial Radio stations & especially music video channels are playlisting the same old, same old stuff over and over again.

 

Take Radio 1, just look at their quite frankly lame & frequently uninspired playlists that they come up with on a weekly basis where they rarely add more than half a dozen songs to the playlist per list, because they are too busy playing the utterly derivative track by the likes of the Pigeon Detectives that peaked outside the Top 40 over and over again.

 

Now go back to the high level days of the early-mid 1980s. Radio 1 used to play in their early evening show (ie. Peter Powell's the daily 5 45's (for younger members the old vinyl single was the main source of record sale and the 7" single played at 45RPMs) at 5:45 PM, always playing new single releases, and these 25 tracks were guaranteed a minimum of 5 airplays during the week (rather different to what happens now).

 

Quite simply the charts are boring, because the casual music fan who does not frequent boards like this or care how the midweeks are going like an addiction, is not buying new singles, because he/she is not hearing these singles played enough on Radio/Music channels because they are not playing nowhere near enough diversity of material. Hence you've got the likes of Nickleback's Rockstar spending its nth week in the Top 40.

Quite simply the charts are boring, because the casual music fan who does not frequent boards like this or care how the midweeks are going like an addiction, is not buying new singles, because he/she is not hearing these singles played enough on Radio/Music channels because they are not playing nowhere near enough diversity of material. Hence you've got the likes of Nickleback's Rockstar spending its nth week in the Top 40.

 

I agree with the charts been boring, for instance the NOW album was released last week, cherry picking :lol: I have to listen to Mint Royale & Gabriella again this afternoon on the singles chart for the upteenth time, and ABBA Gold in the albums, saying that I know its a good album, I'm not having a go at ABBA fans but what other releases was there this week, apart from Primal Scream that got in the top 10 and a 60s act The Bachelors :D , the ABBA album just got to #1 because it was a dead week and sales were hardly mind blowing for the week. ABBA just got to #1 on the Mamma Mia hype and the low sales.

 

I can predict Katy Perry will be #1 for at least 5-7 weeks until we all get sick of it by the 5th week, :lol: until something big comes out. Don't get me wrong I love the single but after so many weeks listening to it, it probably drive me mad. And who do we have to blame for it, the buying public :D

The buying public can be like Sheep - if they are given loads of new acts to listen to and choose from, then they will buy at least some of them! As has already been said, the reason why the charts are so dull is due to Radio 1 and the Music Channels deciding what people like and buy. DULL to the extreme I agree.

Well free music is the way forward. I tried explaining this to my friend (who is in a band) the other day and he found this hard to believe, especially when I said that you get the most money nowadays from touring. He mainly didn't believe this because of the fact at the moment he makes literally nothing from gigs, even when he's played with some semi-well known bands (Pearl, with Meatloaf's daughter and the guitar player from Anthrax) he still makes nothing.

 

But despite this, free music really is the way forward. I'd have no complaints paying £30 a month to download music at my leisure. You only have to look at the first 7 months of this year to see times are changing with giving albums away for free - this really is the way forward. I know Radio 1 and the music channels don't support new British acts as much as they do, but does it really matter? The internet is a big place. Loads of bands have started off on the internet and got a fanbase from there. Just look at a band like Kids In Glass Houses for example, they built up a fanbase by uploading their music to MySpace etc. and then word of mouth spread through blogs, and while although they don't maybe have so much chart success, they still manage to sell out venues.

 

The charts are so dull at the moment because of downloads on iTunes. I remember people complaining because there used to be too many entries in the charts, and now people are complaining because there is barely any new entries! The charts are dull, but that's because of the physicals dying out. 2nd singles can do OK, but 3rd and 4th singles doing well in the chart at the moment is scarce, but that's just the way the chart has evolved.

I Just think the sales are dead the public are so hooked on big artists like rihanna and ne-yo so they buy them even more and keep them top 10 for a year whilst the likes of The Feeling,Alicia keys,Sophie ellis bextor,Panic At The Disco,James Morrison etc have all either released 1 or more songs out that would be popular with the old rules but are flopping all the time thus being a possible end to their musical careers or era. I just find it so annoying when songs that are good either flop or are lower than their opposed section of the chart and others Cr@p like Flo Rida,Estelle,Rihanna,ETC Do well and stay in the charts for weeks end so the point i'm making is the music industry is going downhill rapidly and I DON'T LIKE IT :D

Edited July 27, 200817 yr by Kid Bounce 08

there is a definately a slowing down. radio and tv need to showcase new or upcoming tracks better, cut the dead wood quicker. if an acts has a hit single then radio 1 will most likely playlist the follow up so we get the same acts hanging around fuelling the previous single cause the awareness is on them squeezing out new upcoming talent which should be taking that slot.

 

the record companies are complaining cause they aren't making as much money as they used too but they are making a profit its just less and they are pissed off its not like the 80s or 90s. and they should be worried cause it'll get worse for them. not only do they have to deal with online sharing but i think artists will move away from them too and do it all by themselves.

 

radiohead and prince knew the money was in touring and not music sales. its a definate sign of the times when an all out pop act sets up their own label like mcfly. even jane mcdonald set up her own record company :lol:. anyone can do it, its no big deal cause these acts know the theory goes that they "make profit from touring" to cover the cost of the album and hopefully fund the next album, however they have alot of pressure to sell out venues the bigger the better. a big international act like radiohead and prince need not worry they are in a different league.

 

but mcfly and jane will have to do lots of radio/tv promo to get awareness and it doesn't cost them much cause its about them just turning up. but they won't spend money like record companies do on tv/radio/print advertising with big budget promo. making profit from album sales is a bonus for them. the album is a now a tool to go touring. its a good thing that its becoming more about live music and putting the emphasis on the tour. some manufactured pop acts are going to really suffer if they can't cut it live.

Edited July 27, 200817 yr by perfecto

if an acts has a hit single then radio 1 will most likely playlist the follow up so we get the same acts hanging around fuelling the previous single cause the awareness is on them squeezing out new upcoming talent which should be taking that slot.

 

Well on the other extreme if radio stations and music channels didn't playlist the 2nd song then the new artists might go away even quicker because no-one would here a possibly very good song, i think they just need to realise when a band/artist's time is up :P

The buying public can be like Sheep - if they are given loads of new acts to listen to and choose from, then they will buy at least some of them! As has already been said, the reason why the charts are so dull is due to Radio 1 and the Music Channels deciding what people like and buy. DULL to the extreme I agree.

 

yeah they are too scared to divate from all their market research as they might lose precius audience shares (both radio 1/commercial radio groups)

I think making legal downloads free would be a good move, as so many people download for free, why not get good high quality ones? And it's only a file

 

Besides, artists make money off gigs anyway;

 

If say Duffy sells 21k this week, and her album is a tenner, then it will have made £210,000

But if Duffy sold out at the Manchester Evening News Arena, at say £40 a ticket, she will have made £840,000, and then if she did 20 of these gigs throughout the UK, with 21,000 seats sold at each one, that £16,800,000 shes made compared to the £9,000,000 she's probably made off the album so far, it's quite a big difference. But then compare that to say, Cascada's album, if she did the same amount of gigs for the sameish price, that will be a HUGE difference from what the album has sold.

I think making legal downloads free would be a good move, as so many people download for free, why not get good high quality ones? And it's only a file

 

Besides, artists make money off gigs anyway;

 

If say Duffy sells 21k this week, and her album is a tenner, then it will have made £210,000

But if Duffy sold out at the Manchester Evening News Arena, at say £40 a ticket, she will have made £840,000, and then if she did 20 of these gigs throughout the UK, with 21,000 seats sold at each one, that £16,800,000 shes made compared to the £9,000,000 she's probably made off the album so far, it's quite a big difference. But then compare that to say, Cascada's album, if she did the same amount of gigs for the sameish price, that will be a HUGE difference from what the album has sold.

 

True, there's money to be made from touring, but not on the grand scale you've implied in your post. For a start, the MEN holds about 12-14k the other arenas between

6-10k and the O2 about 14-16k, but there's all the overheads to take care of before you get your cut, just the same as there is in the recording industry. Road crews, electicians, insurance and hiring the venue and security staff, promoters and ticket sales staff, musicians, band, dancers and backing singers, not forgetting all the catering and advertising etc. So while there's more money to be made from touring, you have to either do a hell of a lot of it or sell out stadiums.

and if you tour instead of releasing an album no1 will go to see you perhaps as they haven't bought your album and heard enough to like you! I think both are required for big success

I completely agree with you.

 

I've been following popular music now for 25 years, and I'm certain it is not my imagination, the real reason the charts are getting boring is because the likes of Radio 1, so called Independent Commercial Radio stations & especially music video channels are playlisting the same old, same old stuff over and over again.

 

Take Radio 1, just look at their quite frankly lame & frequently uninspired playlists that they come up with on a weekly basis where they rarely add more than half a dozen songs to the playlist per list, because they are too busy playing the utterly derivative track by the likes of the Pigeon Detectives that peaked outside the Top 40 over and over again.

Exactly! The majority of the british public are just getting spoonfed the same old c**p over and over again and unfortunately they're buying it over and over again. These days a major label would sign you and radio would play you BECAUSE you sound similar to someone else and they think so and so's fanbase would like you. Not to mention the DJs don't care what they play and are employed because they are 'personalities' -_- Hence the only time I really listen to radio is Zane Lowe.. At least if you're on an Indie label like XL or Domino you don't get that much interference and you get more creative freedom which is what music is all about!

 

The internet is where it's at if you want to find exciting new music nowadays and that's the way the cycle goes (someone finds band they like > tell friends > posts about them on forums/blogs, adds myspace etc. > other people find out and the cycle continues) and more and more people go to their gigs if they're that good!

 

The worst thing about the music industry is the fact that the people high up are just not getting it and are even trying to bring OLD things back like old manufactured acts and thinking throwing money at new ones like they used to is the way to go which may have worked with Take That and still works with Girls Aloud but it's just not gonna work in the long run but the Spice Girls coming back and doing a tour illustrates the point of the fact that money is made from touring now.

The worst thing about the music industry is the fact that the people high up are just not getting it and are even trying to bring OLD things back like old manufactured acts and thinking throwing money at new ones like they used to is the way to go which may have worked with Take That and still works with Girls Aloud but it's just not gonna work in the long run but the Spice Girls coming back and doing a tour illustrates the point of the fact that money is made from touring now.

I think they do get it, they just don't want to try it. Maybe because "music success" will become out of their "control" and they won't be able to make so much money.

I think they do get it, they just don't want to try it. Maybe because "music success" will become out of their "control" and they won't be able to make so much money.

Well I was basically implying the sooner the big record companies have less power the better tbh.

The charts are so dull at the moment because of downloads on iTunes. I remember people complaining because there used to be too many entries in the charts, and now people are complaining because there is barely any new entries! The charts are dull, but that's because of the physicals dying out. 2nd singles can do OK, but 3rd and 4th singles doing well in the chart at the moment is scarce, but that's just the way the chart has evolved.

 

very well said, there will never be another Spice Girls, Take That or Westlife scoring 4 number ones from the same album...

the trend nowadays is for top 5 first single, top 20 second single and no third or 4th single....which is a real shame