The Music Industry’s 800 Pound Gorilla
Guest post by music industry consultant and Loyola professor George Howard who blogs at 9GiantSteps:
I was inspired recently by a post from John Gruber about avoiding the distraction of 800 pound gorillas. Mr. Gruber's post made me realize that, for years, I've been trying to get people to stop worrying about 800 pound gorillas with respect to the music industry.
Specifically, the majors are the 800 pound gorillas for 99.999% of people in the music business. They create distraction, false expectations/hopes, and cause people to generate "strategy" that is predicated on a logical fallacy. The artist thinks, "Artists get signed to major labels. I'm an artist. Therefore I will get signed to a major label." The artist ends up engaging in a bunch of random acts of improvement because they think – based on their logical fallacy predicated on the 800 pound gorilla – that their actions will lead them to their manifest destiny.
Of course, this doesn't happen. The artist then determines that her music just isn't good enough. This may or may not be true; the music was never the issue. The issue was that the 800 pound gorilla led them on a quixotic progression of meaningless acts in search of something that isn't there.
Had they removed the gorilla from their minds and instead focused on developing a plan that would allow them to monetize their passions and create art on their own terms (over the long term), they might (sure as heck are no guarantees) have been able to attain that goal. Certainly, their odds would have been better.
Here's the thing. It's not just the majors who are 800 pound gorillas in the minds of people in the music business. Nope. It's radio (any format above non-com AAA), it's print media, it's MySpace. These are all 800 pound gorillas that really have no bearing on your success as an artist.
To be clear, radio, print media, and MySpace are not inherently bad (well, they sort of are…or at least inherently lame, and that's bad), and they can (conceivably) have a place in an artist's career. However, their places are subservient to other things.
What things? Things like creating real emotional connections with your constituents in a face-to-face (non virtual) manner and then leveraging the tech to accelerate this (see "The Straddle" related posts).
Things like viewing records as a tool set; a set of social objects that your constituents can use to develop and spread the Tribe.
Anyway, leave it to Mr. Gruber to perfectly and succinctly articulate what I've been wrestling with for quite some time now.
I think a lot of bands need to hear this. The reality is that these are not new rules – even when major labels ruled the jungle, the truly successful artists were putting their audiences first and doing everything in their power to make the labels work for them. Most of the bands that let the labels call the shots were burned before they even got a record out.
One point, however, on the irrelevance of print media: While it isn’t the gatekeeper it once was, it is still a powerful tool that can, depending on your genre, reach a huge swath of your audience, and that will likely be the case for at least another ten years.
Labels, press, and every fly-by-night artist website on the Internet are a means of getting your art to your audience. They are neither the audience or the art.
I hear you! Last summer I defined a plan for how I wanted to connect with people, using everything from my newsletter to concerts, from online social networks to conferences. I think that conferences might be overrated, for example, but if you pick and choose carefully, then it doesn’t have to be an 800 pound distraction. It is absolutely no different with the online version of conferences! Both are just another way to meet people. For the online networks – I assigned a purpose to each one that felt right for me. For me, it isn’t a numbers game as much as it is about building a community. I agree with Matt that continuing to keep your connections with Print Media is important and I also think that reaching out to radio stations where you have an audience can make a difference. It is like the Obama campaign: you cannot abandon the traditional means entirely in favor of the latest technology. You wouldn’t forego an interview in the NY Times just because you were being circulated on all the music blogs. If you are limited on time, then of course the email newletter is most effective, but every now and again sending out a letter to some fans that don’t have an email is probably a good thing. (Yes, at the last gig, 3 people signed up with snail mail addresses instead of email.) Balance is critical. When so many people who don’t understand the industry (like family members) push you toward the traditional routes, you feel alone in the quest for making your own way, but I’m going to keep on, keepin on – and try to stay balanced.
@Matt and @ Manisha,
Thanks for the comments. I exaggerated certain things (print being one) to make a point. Certainly, print can have an impact (I ran a label where if we hadn’t had print, we would have had nothing). That said, I’ve witnessed for too many bands lose focus of the objective because they’ve over-emphasized press. I’ve seen them, for instance, hire publicists, etc. at a time when they should really be focusing on more efficient ways to build a community.
thanks again.
best,
George
Eloquently stated. Though as an artist, I think that you have to indulge in fantasy to some extent, it’s part of what makes people enjoy your art – that ability to transform every day feelings, thoughts into something more.
Could I play Devil’s Advocate here?
Please give me 10 – count em – 10 – examples of unsigned, unpublished artists that have had successes greater or equal to artists on major labels that have been embraced by radio, print and online media and MySpace…
@Lyndsey Robison
you’re missing the point Lyndsey. ‘success’ isn’t going to happen overnight, and the definition of success (or celebrity?) itself is also changing… we just aren’t going to hear as much about artists that may earn a ‘middle class’ income through their music. they are growing their fan base slowly and surely, they don’t want to be the next big thing because they know they’ll be yesterday’s news pretty quick too.
and what of those lucky bands who get into the major label machine, how many of those are ‘successful’? 1 in 10? 1 in 100? and what of the many that don’t succeed? if they can twist free of the legal chains of their masters, they might just put the lessons they learned to use… if the bastards haven’t ground them down.
@ Rich
Well said. Just because you are signed does not make you successful. The majors don’t have the power to tell us what we should listen to anymore. The internet has democratized music, and artists are using the power of social networks to take advantage of this.
Companies like Audiolife are helping those unsigned, unpublished artists make a decent living. They are reaching out to those musicians who have a decent following but don’t know how to monetize it. I honestly feel that a “middle-class” of musicians will emerge during this music revolution.
Rich and Narjan, I understand that the major label system doesn’t work for all artists that get signed.
My question is – please point out ten artists that have had equal success to a major label artist that has been embraced by radio, print and online media.
There has ALWAYS been a musical ‘middle class’. That’s a non-point. Big deal.
Artists doing it on their own, no matter how many new tools pop up that make it easier to get word out, will never have the level of awareness of their material that an artist has with a major label backing them.
@Lyndsey
That’s probably true Lyndsey, but i think we’re redefining ‘success’ as we redefine how music is consumed and artists are remunerated. I’d rather have moderate, consistent growth and a dependable income rather than being eaten up, chewed upon and spat out by a machine that doesn’t really care about my music and my reason for being.
@Rich: Isn’t that kind of like saying, “Eh, I didn’t want that hot girl to go out with me anyway. I’ll take the chubby girl who will care more”?