I recently read this fascinating article by the NY Times about Rick Rubin and his place in the future of the music business. Its no secret that the industry is in terrible shape right now and less and less records are being sold. Capitol Records (one of the largest and most historic record labels in the history of the music business) has recently hired him to right the ship. The article gives insight as to how the business is suffering and what Rubin wants to do to fix it. So go read it.
Rubin thinks the future of the industry is for record labels to make all the of the music in their entire catalog available online via a subscription service. I guess it would work like Napster does at the moment, you can listen to anything you want while you are a subscriber but nothing is available for direct download. While Rubin has some good ideas I think this one stinks. I'd never join an online music subscription service. I want to own my music, people will always want to make playlists and 'mix tapes' and personalize their collection. Unless you want to be a lifelong subscriber to a label (which I'm sure is his plan), that would be impossible.
And if you hadn't noticed FOOTBALL SEASON STARTS TOMORROW!!!
FINALLY!!!
The Colts will defend their Championship missing a lot of team members from last year's roster. The media would have you believe that the Colts are in bad shape because of all of the free agents who have left the team, but they are wrong! Most of the defensive players we lost are of no concern, there are young studs ready to fill in at DB and LB who will be as good as the vets they are replacing. The biggest concern is the DT position. With Booger McFarland out the defensive line is pretty weak. We'll see if these young players can step up. Another concern is the unexpected retiring of Pro Bowl LT Tarik Glenn. There's a rookie in to replace him but there's no way he can fill Glenn's shoes. But offense has never been a concern of the Colts.
I expect a great season from the Colts and it all starts tomorrow. I plan on watching the game with my son as he will see for the first time the football team he will cheer-on and root-for for the rest of his life.
The State of the Music Industry/"Are You Ready For Some Football!?"
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- at 6:17 PM on Wednesday, September 05, 2007
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6:49 AM
Amazing article, very provocative. Thanks for pointing it out.
You know there seems to be a lot to think about here and I think it mostly distills out to the distinction between music and the music industry. I'll say it a hundred times if I have to: artists, particularly musicians, do more to improve the human condition than others. Music elevates and soothes. I have always eschewed what the industry does to music and you must certainly feel that way a bit. For sure, I need for my artists, particularly those that are beloved family members, to earn respectable livings and lives so that they can continue to please me and the rest of the world.
But much of what is being responded to in this article, what is feeling cataclysmic is the notion that somehow losing hard-media sales dollars will mean that artists don't get paid and that we won't have any music. That's just not true. We could no more stop music from being made and shared than we could elect to stop expressing ourselves in speech, or in color, etc.
Rubin is a heavy dude; I have always admired him but his choice to rescue Columbia is a bit odd to me. Columbia has a business problem, not a music problem; Rubin has great musical sense and even a bit of a commercial sensibility, but I don't know that Columbia should be looking for those qualifications just now. Interestingly, I think they need someone more like Steve Jobs--someone who will identify opportunities, craft solutions, for exploiting the digital age of music.
Music industry forces may simply have to respond to diminished value of the goods to be sold. I don't think we have a crisis for artists beyond answering the question of how digital music will be delivered to listenters so that musicians' work is compensated. I'd be interested to know what this discussion sounds like in countries with less of a capitalistic dogma.
Digital music has been difficult for me; I grew up with Album Oriented Rock radio formats, I place great value in "knowing" artists and what you might expect from them. At the same time, I definitely slowed my popular music purchasing when it became clear that 13 bucks was only going to give you a single or two. The record industry is guilty of greed and I say screw 'em. Let them pay the price for fleecing listeners for the last 25 years. Reluctantly, I've actually begun to buy more popular music these days by going for the singles purchases at iTunes. I never thought that would happen. But you know what? It has increased my enjoyment of popular music. I don't feel duped by hype for a whole cd and I have cool songs I like. Deal.
And man are they ever right---terrestrial radio is d-e-a-d. I know you get a lot of your new music tips from friends and MySpace; for me its magazines and the internet. Radio is Over. Did you ever see the movie FM? Times surely do change... -
8:51 AM
I think pretty soon the industry is going to fragment and you're going to see more and more independent labels pop up who know how to properly utilize the internet while still being able to pay their artists.
And I couldn't agree with you more about radio. The only radio I listen to is talk radio. But every time I've taken a ride in a car with satellite radio I've enjoyed it. -
10:18 AM
I dig the XM. To me, its almost like having a pile of dynamic mix-tapes at your disposal.
When I was in High School, when I rode dinosaurs to the beach, you'd have favorite DJ's---they had more control over what they played, the kinds of information they shared about the music, that kind of stuff. That's when I wanted to be a DJ. I guess I'm glad I didn't go that way. Instead, I should have been Rubin. I'd like to be an indie producer... - 12:25 PM
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