BigChampagne's Ultimate Chart (a/o February 10th):
1. “What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger),” Kelly Clarkson
2. “Set Fire to the Rain,” Adele
3. “Turn Me On,” David Guetta
4. “Rack City,” TYGA
5. “Good Feeling,” Flo Rida
6. “Smooth Criminal (Glee Cast Version),” Glee Cast
7. “Young, Wild & Free,” Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa
8. “Domino ,” Jessie J
9. “Sexy and I Know It,” LMFAO
10. “Ass Back Home ,” Gym Class Heroes
Most are mediocre at golf. They drive balls into the woods, make embarrassingly bad putts, and massacre an otherwise pristine course. In fact, the number of "scratch" golfers, or those hitting scores that are "par for the course," is slim. Yet, these so-called "duffers" come back for more every weekend, and often plow thousands into equipment, greens fees, and tournament tickets every year, not to mention hours supporting advertisers through television and internet engagement. These amateurs play crappy golf, no doubt, but they are critical for the golfing industry on a number of levels.
The similarities to the music industry are worth noting. Last week marked the beginning of the "Great Hobbyist Debate," as one onlooker coined it, and opinions on the matter are all over the map. Perhaps a distinction needs to be made between the pure hobbyist and the aspiring artist that may lack the talent, dedication, time commitment, resources, or originality to truly reach a serious, self-sustaining level.
Certainly, these distinctions get blurry - pure hobbyists can become quite serious, and aspiring artists can improve and refine their material to attract serious fan bases. And some notable musical movements - including blues and punk - were hardly created by virtuosos. But the hobbyist group - however defined - is critical for the future of this industry.
The proof can be found in an often ignored sector of the industry - musical instruments. Sure, instrument sales are taking a serious hit in the Great Recession, but the general trend has been sharply upward - as in, billions upward. CDs dropped more than 50 percent last decade, but more and more music fans are picking up instruments and playing.
In fact, sales of musical instruments were $14.8 billion in 2009. That was down 15.4 percent over 2008 based on slimmer wallets, but more than double the 2003 tally of $6.92 billion. The latest number was counted by Music Trades and reported by the IFPI, which counted recording sales of $17 billion last year. These are two sectors within the same music industry, but with completely opposite arcs.
Somehow, underneath the rubble of a crumbling recording industry, some serious fertility remains. The industry has collectively recognized that musical appetites are incredibly strong, thanks partly to unlimited access to music, lyrics, videos, tabs, and everything in-between. Of course, part of that is happening at the expense of the recording and publishing industries, but not everyone is losing. More fans are downloading for free, but more are picking up consumer electronics devices, phones, and musical instruments as well.
More importantly, more are reigniting or starting lifelong relationships with music across lots of different genres. Sure, that includes plenty of amateur players that will never "go pro" or reach virtuosic levels. Most will be "crappy" in the end, and hey, many are simply enjoying themselves on the weekends.
But playing music often goes hand-in-hand with listening and buying music, an appreciation that often lasts a lifetime. Obviously this is benefiting musical instrument manufacturers, but it's also benefiting direct-to-fan channels like TuneCore. People are in the game, as listeners and participants.
Does that make it harder to market a talented artist? Absolutely. The "cluttering" of the channels is not as much of an issue on iTunes, simply because of its search-driven architecture. But for most aspiring bands, iTunes is just the beginning. The rest includes Facebook apps and pages, email accounts, and competition for blogger mentions. In other words, 'push' platforms. This, in turn, is part of a much more crowded media and communications environment.
But better to have more crap - lots of it - than the opposite. It makes marketing and scaling bands much, much harder, but it also creates lots of opportunities for filtering concepts, hardware and physical sales, and companies that eventually work. It also represents the output of a population that really, really loves music. Not every industry is so lucky.
Paul Resnikoff, Publisher.
Comments Closed
PartlyCloudy Monday, July 19, 2010
Reminds me of how important music education is. It's putting an instrument into a kid's hand early. Did you know that most go to Carnegie Hall? As audience members!
jbedbus Monday, July 19, 2010
1) The idea that there is a separation between hobbyist, artists and "industry artists" based on talent is completely absurd. Total fabrication. Hit radio has proven for at least 30 years that it is not the most talented, but the most pliable who make it to national recognition.
2) In practical application, recorded music and musical instruments and completely different industries. Most listeners don't play, and most actively gigging musicians don't own or listen to much music anymore. Additionally, I'd suggest any increase in music instrument and accessory sales is due to the fact that we're witrnessing the death of the music industry, and many aspiring artists are believeing again that they may have a chance to succeed.
3) The music industry is using a lot of print these days to put forward the idea that they are a "quality filter." This is, and never has been the case. Seriously, do you know anyone in the last 20 years who celebrated the great talent on the radio? Of course not.
Listeners don't need non-artistic people in white shirts to tell them what is good. In fact, it's time that the white shirts start listening to the listeners, that's where real music knowledge is.
NathanJE Monday, July 19, 2010
jbedbus, hate to say unfortunately its not that simple. sometimes untalented crap rises to the top, b/c its promoted like crazy. but other times, really talented artists get their due. don't believe me then check out Outkast, U2, Jay-Z, i mean the list goes on and on.
iDream Studios Monday, July 19, 2010
I totally agree jbedbus! The white shirts need to listen to the talent for a change. iDream Studios is getting ready to launch THIS VERY business concept! Talent rules!!
@iDreamReacher
http://idreamstudiosinc.com/aboutus.htm
Maxwellian Monday, July 19, 2010
The popular media covers the demise of the labels, rise of the d.i.y. artist, touring etc. because that is what's sexy. But the music business is broader than that. I rarely see articles that get involved in topics like publishing or musical instruments. Or devices and phones. They are totally inter- related. Buy a young kid a trumpet, he might be the next Marsalis, or more likely a life long music nut.
My $0.02
-MAX
keithmohr Monday, July 19, 2010
Paul, I get your golf analogy.. but lets imagine if those hackers ran onto the course at Augusta National during the Masters, and started hacking away at the course, ripping it up, not fixing their divots, and raking the sand after landing in the traps. The course would soon be unplayable!
Have you have seen the commercial where spactators in the stands run onto the tennis court and start trying to play the game? They are out of shape, can't swing the tennis racquet, and clutter up the court to where the pros can't play their game.
This is how the indie scene looks these days.
Sure, it's great that there is a new crop of musicians who are trying to make it, but they should learn the craft of music, how to command a stage and put on a good show before they get out there in front of people.
Everyone is in such a hurry to be the next big thing.. to be BIG. I say, get BETTER and the BIGGER will come. The cream always rises to the top, just make sure as an artist that your cream isn't curdled.
Keith Mohr
President
http://www.indieheaven.com
http://www.indieuniversity.com
digeri Monday, July 19, 2010
Music hobbyists!!!
That analogy is right-on. I used it a while ago describing Chris Anderson who, as you know, has built a myth around his Long Tail story. He pretends to show how this new economy helps all, but does not prove or show how little money is made as that tail extends. $500 home studios and broadband have given those folks tools that are much more accessible than anything us "pros" ever had. We needed cash to go into the studio and the patience of a saint to get anybody to be able to listen to what we had recorded. But a well-recorded bad song becomes a well-recorded boring record.
Those of us whose job is to create recordings that can move millions of people know what it takes to do this.
I have been producing "records" for the labels since the 60's. The real goal has always been to move as many people as one can. Over the years radio has been able to spread music to fans. A jazz record played on a small FM station in NY helped create a buzz for that artist. The Internet and all those amazing companies we read about can help and when a great song starts to spread, it can do well.
I like the idea of a music hobbyist but see the difference between a hobbyist who does not have professional aspirations and the many wonderful musicians who pump gas, deliver groceries that spend their off hours running scales and rehearsing in the hope that they may excite lots of people.
Songs rules.
Elliot
alias2u2 Monday, July 19, 2010
Only the technology industry and their tech press claim that the internet makes the equivalent of Little League Baseball players competitive with Major League stars. Anyone who believes that all music makers make music that masses of people will pay to hear and that the George Steinbrenners at labels are all stupid, I'm looking for investors just like you. Send your checks c/o Paul at Digital Music News, he knows how to reach me.
bydesign Monday, July 19, 2010
as usual: learning just as much from the ensuing discussion as the article itself which is great. anyway, I think there is so much to be said regarding the long tail theory, of which many artists are still following like blind sheep.
but it's way worse than that, because I fear that Anderson created a little bubble unto itself, largely based on this utopian dream that every musician was good, and could match with their fans. and all along the way, skipping the realities of how media congestion and the power of mainstream.
maybe it was so koombaya but investors bit on the vision like so many other distorted digital predictions. but I also fear that guys like Jeff Price are trying really hard to keep this fantasy going strong for selfish reasons, and really brushing the hobbyist thing under the rug - after all, aspiring bands want to believe that digital success is a hair away, and hanging out with the hobbyists is not that dream. so instead of representing his business for what it is, namely a digital platform that can be used by anyone, most of them not making it but who knows, Price sort of puts across this fiction that the masses will be heard and embraced and tunecore is the way to get there.
and I'm not the one to step on a dream, but idle dreaming means not living in reality, and not really understanding what the true challenges are. it's like trying to be an astronaut and thinking you're studying to be a commerical airline pilot, so two different things with totally different mindsets. artists are already dreamers, and Price is taking advantage of them I fear.
Eric Monday, July 19, 2010
I think the rise of the musical instrument market and the decline of the recorded music market reflect changes in demography that, well, kind of explains everything.
Aging baby boomers now have the money to spend on toys that they couldn't afford when they were young: That (reissue) Fender Deluxe Reverb and "relic" Strat. Conversely, those boomers listen mostly to their favorite music from the past, which is why Aerosmith and Journey are still touring. They aren't collecting new music any more.
Young people, who drive the new music market with their insatiable desire for the next thing, don't have the money that aging boomers do. But they don't need to, because they can download (illegally) for free.
It's the perfect storm (from hell) for the recorded music industry, and the savior of the MI industry. And it's hardest on the producers and hitmakers, because their collective "expertise" on creating popular music (and yes, there is a valid talent there) isn't being paid for like it used to.
Uh, no, I don't have a solution.
And Elliot, "producing... since the '60's..." -- can you be Elliot Scheiner?
Eric
the baby boomer bass player
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