Long before the record industry was, in their estimation, attacked by downloaders and people believing music should be free, the record industry itself compromised its own business through questionable decisions, corruption and the corporatization of music. - Jeff Balke, Broken Record
The music industry gutted their own distribution chain, killed off the DJs that would introduce the masses to new music, forgot about the stars that got them where they are, and thought the huge jump in CD sales (sales by people replacing their LPs) would last forever. The lesson for independents labels and artists is clear: recreate the people connection that is missing from the major label’s machine and you will profit. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it. And those savvy enough to utilize the social aspects of the internet will find that you may be more efficient then the old system ever was.
Good Luck!
Very good points. And with the proliferation of Social Media out there it should make it a lot easier for artists to promote themselves and to connect with their fans.
But the question I wonder, will mainstream distribution ever really disappear or will it be forced to re-invent itself when it reaches the point of near-death?
Amen Brother!!
Its hard to reinvent the hand-to-hand, word-of-mouth aspect that the old system had… even with social media. There are a few mp3 blogs that stand out, but most just add noise to the signal, pushing the ratio over the top to the point of making the entire medium nearly moot.
To this day, my friends turn me on to the hot shit. I only get news on the ‘big’ artists on my radar from the web… e.g. “Portishead has a new album? No way!”