Right on, Noel.

Also, quit shaving/waxing that unibrow. Be proud of what God gave you, mate.

LOL!

Right on brother!

Noel is also made some insanely dumb comment about spending 250,000 British pounds ($400k USD) on his entire album and demanding to recoup off of that in that same interview.  

Spending that kind of money on production is an antiquated way of doing business and clarifies that Noel's comments should be taken with a grain of salt.   

Here here. 

An excellent point.

Absolutely true

Absoute genius here and an extremely spot on comparison with respect to the fashion industry. We definitely need to get back to specialization in the music industry concerning knowledge of consumers and music itself. I personally think it's  absence is the root of piracy.

I don't have the actual figures in front of me, but I am willing to bet that more marketing invented music product is being pirated than anything else.  Also, do you think fashion design houses that push fashion forward are making as much money as Gap Inc?

True, but then, I'll bet even the more niche fashion houses are making substantially more than the Merges and Jagjaguwars of the world.

I think his point is that profitability estimates should not be the only factor in evaluating music. There's another criterion: artistry.

The prevalent discourse has become totally biased. Even Gallagher talks about "consumers" without skipping a beat. I hate that word. Consumers might get what they want but the human beings underneath won't necessarily be happy about it.

Excellent point. Somewhere along the line we went from being people (or citizens) to being customers to being mere consumers. Corporate types always use the term, but now it's common among politicians, journalists, ...and apparently, even musicians. Very sad.

- Versus

"Content Providers" is another dehumanizing term used by politicians and corporate types to describe people who actually create the music, art, sound recordings, photos etc.  Don't trust anyone that uses this term.

Record company's used to be run by people who didn't follow

consumers taste or trends.They looked for things that were

great,different ,thinking out of the box.

Apple under Job's with it's product run of the last few years as

been using this as there model.

Consumers don't know what they want ,they want to be told

what they want.

Music to my ears

right on! mustc is art not focused thinking. 

De ez a legjobb !!!

The modern music business has degenerated into risk averse "committees and focus groups". Good points made by Noel.

He made some very valid points. Steve Jobs said made a statement similar to this as well... ". A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them."

Noel misses on this one.  First of all - to compare the music and the music business of the late 60s to today is ludicrous.  The overall economics of music has changed in incomprehensible ways.

You're talking about an era that produced <1500 albums a year to the consumer to an era of >100,000 albums a year.

You're comparing an era in which the major festivals paled in size to today's gargantuan multiday events. 

You're comparing an era where AM radio ruled, and most people still had black & white television - and many many rural people still had party line phones.

What was being done musically then can not be replicated today -- that era produced music that had NEVER been heard before, and recordings that baffled and intriqued the minds of erstwhile neophyte engineers.

Today, consumers did not demand the Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons, or any of a number of other acts that have risen in popularity in the past few years.  Bands like the Lumineers came out a very small room in Denver.  The Fray?  Totally organic.  I was there.  I saw it.  OneRepublic?  Hello RYAN TEDDER - folks are crafting modern pop in their own living rooms and studios.

Now, the promotion and placement of any product damned well better be based on what the expected core audience is.  If I'm producing a jamband record I'm not going to promote it to CHR radio.  By the same token I'm not going to promote Justin B to hippies in Colorado.

Understanding your market niche is critically important.  It is within those market niches that new music and acts are discovered.

Noel Gallagher is one of the world's most popular idiots.

Jimi Hendrix was going to be a star because every musician that worked with him for years was blown away by him.  The Jimi Hendrix Experience was a laebl-created group - he needed a band to back him up and he didn't pick those guys himself.

Sgt. Pepper's was merely a progression of Revolver.  And Revolver WAS a focus-grouped LP - the songs from that session were released to British radio in dribs and drabs to gauge interest before the LP was finally compiled and released.  Hell, Frank Zappa called the Sgt. Peppers LP a cash-in at the time.

Awreety

That era also predated:

a)  The major labels being subsumed into larger publically-owned companies with stockholders demanding quarterly results, and

b)  The rise of Soundscan made it impossible to hide artistically-worthy but poor-selling albums from those same stockholders.

Gallagher is right. Consumers don't actually want Top 40 and Top 40 is indeed focus grouped.

if consumers did not want what is being aired on "TOP 40" based CHR, AC, Active Rock, AAA, Alternative Rock, or Modern Country radio, they would not buy it. 

Look at the iTunes charts - http://digitalmusicnews.com/charts/itunes100

TOP 40 based radio formats are focus group focused.  Just as television is.  Just as any marketing is.  KNOW THY MARKET. 

If I'm programming a CHR station I am not going to air Widespread Panic or Gov't Mule.  If I'm programming a AAA format I am not going to air Lady Gaga or Justin B. 

Interesting comments...

Fuckin' right on, Noel

Make great music that you love and maybe others wil too.
Duh.. its not rocket science. 

A million times 'yes'.

great thoughts.

Rant? Yes, but spot on.

Noel Gallagher's rage against the music biz

Blimey. A Gallagher says something worth listening to.

+100 to Noel Gallagher!

All musicians should read this.

Spot on!!!!!! Things have evolved over the 12 years..... Good article!