Regardless of where you think music is going, you can rest assured that the opportunity to give a view of your own humanity in a performance is still there. It’s for the taking.
John Mayer, for all his talents, hasn’t been able to blend lyrics and blues with the same emotion as Chris and Rich Robinson (Black Crowes) do, and it shows every time they take the stage.
Taylor Swift, for all her talents, is subject to the same vocal corrections and studio musicians that make Kelly Clarkson a pop star - beige enough for everyone to enjoy.
If you want to be the next Bruce, you have to do Bruce things. If you want to be U2, you can’t write songs like The Fray.
Is it really a mystery why there are problems selling the musical product* to people?
*For the sake of this conversation, musical product is the music itself, performances, and the stuff around music.
A week ago, I bought some Christmas presents at FYE. They upsold me on the Lil Wayne “Rebirth” CD with a $3 coupon and a $3 deposit (bringing the final price to $4 on the day-of) that I was told would be coming out in the next week or two. Then two days later, it was announced that the CD would be delayed up until February. [Keep in mind this CD was supposed to come out around the release of its first single: Prom Queen. That was January 2009.] Is it really that much of a mystery that retail outlets are having problems selling music when the biggest artists can’t get their focus groups’ opinions sorted out before they release their albums?
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I tried to buy the Wale CD at Best Buy. Being about 20 minutes from Wale’s home base in DC, you would think that the BB would have extra CDs. After all, I had similar problems when trying to buy the Katt Williams DVD that was filmed in DC. That was a year ago… you would think that data would help drive future decisions. (Everyone has access to the same numbers nowadays.) Nope. Is it really that much of a surprise that the local demand for a product will be higher than national demand?
I eventually bought the Wale album on Amazon MP3, which is the best thing to happen to digital music since the iPod. When I tell people about it, it’s like they’re hearing about how I found a dragon in my living room. “What’s DRM?” they ask. “What about iTunes?” “You mean that you can actually pay LESS than $1.29 for a song I actually want??” “And it plays anywhere?” Is it any surprise that there are problems selling through a distribution channel that no one has heard about?
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I tried to buy TicketMaster gift certificates for a present. When I went on the site to order, the options I had for shipping were:
US $19.50
by 12 noon in 2 business days - undeliverable to PO Box or APO/FPO addresses.
US $18.50
by 7:30 pm in 2 business days - undeliverable to PO Box or APO/FPO addresses.
US $14.50
by 7:30 pm in 3 business days - undeliverable to PO Box or APO/FPO addresses
US $25.00
by noon on Saturday. Order must be placed by Wednesday prior - undeliverable to PO Box or APO/FPO addresses.
No additional charge
Your gift card(s) will be mailed to your billing address within 2 weeks from the date of purchase.
Why doesn’t the last option just say “We’ll drop it in the mail. If it gets there, it gets there. If it doesn’t, it’s your own fault.” Two weeks? Is this coming from East Africa? Does TM need to formulate the plastic? Is it a mystery why people doesn’t want TicketMaster to succeed? Is it a mystery why I’ve never heard anyone say that they can’t wait to go to TicketMaster?
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For those who didn’t know, I DJ. I really love it. It’s challenging enough to stay interesting and I like being able to expose people to new music. Sometimes they don’t like being exposed to that new music. Maybe it’s the crowd, maybe it’s a nature of the beast, maybe it’s that the radio plays about 40 songs on rotation and that’s it. If I play music outside of those 40, I’m taking a risk. Why? Because it’s highly likely, that even if the song was released as a single, with a video and a solid marketing effort, that there was limited buy-in from radio. Radio play resembles the schedule for infomercials: if people aren’t supporting you right away, you can count on being dumped. And with more and more shows going national (think Seacrest), there is even less regional separation. If you don’t have national appeal, you don’t have a platform to stand on! Is it any surprise that when you make ringtone artists, you sell ringtones and not albums? And then, is it any surprise that having a population that only buys ringtones doesn’t value albums for those who do choose to put them out?
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The culture of the business needs to change.
It makes me think about what Mos Def says in “Fear Not of Man”
People be askin me all the time, “Yo Mos, what’s gettin ready to happen with Hip-Hop?”
I tell em, “You know what’s gonna happen with Hip-Hop?
Whatever’s happening with us”
If we smoked out, Hip-Hop is gonna be smoked out
If we doin alright, Hip-Hop is gonna be doin alright People talk about Hip-Hop like it’s some giant livin in the hillside
comin down to visit the townspeople We (are) Hip-Hop
Me, you, everybody, we are Hip-Hop So Hip-Hop is goin where we goin.”
The industry is what it sows. In the late-90’s / early-2000’s, when the industry was able to churn out pop stars like hamburgers, there was no worry for the future. Create a culture in which style trumps talent, this is what happens. Do people value Us Magazine or the content it publishes? If the magazine went away and was replaced by “Them Magazine,” would anyone really be heartbroken? Jessica and Nick were replaced by Spencer and Heidi (who, incidentally, are better at being Jess and Nick than Jess and Nick were). If U2 went away, millions would be disappointed - there’s only one U2. … Tiger the Golfer is substance over style. He lasts. Tiger the Celebrity is (media created) style over substance. Soon enough, the Celebrity will go away and be replaced by someone else.
The hubris of the music industry is that consumers need it to survive. … Apple sells its logic software for $500. Another $100 gets me a mic, and another $100 gets me a keyboard. Capitol, Atlantic… do not think people will always need you. You are on the wrong side of this war until you get your act together and work with the new distribution channels, work with the energetic people from their basements, work WITH the customer base. The day is coming when a new artist will sell 500,000 without you.*
So the next time you ask yourself where Hip-Hop is goin
ask yourself.. where am I goin? How am I doin?
Til you get a clear idea …
*Drake could have done it. You are going to be very very lucky to be getting a cut of that.
One of the more mundane conversations you can have with someone is the “elimination of the middle class.” Ultimately, there are few solutions that you can do on a micro-level and it becomes just like complaining about the weather. (It’s not like you can make it stop raining.)
But there are some parallels with the shrinking middle class (economically-speaking) and the disappearing acts of some of the mid-major record labels. With big tickets like Universal and Sony looking to get tighter ships, the push behind the core group of artists is going to get harder.
And while I think that the ultimate future of these labels is something similar to what happened to Ken Griffey Jr.’s career, the big record company still has the benefit of being well integrated into the machine. They are not going anywhere anytime soon.
Just Blaze, starting at around the 5min mark, talks about the Saigon album and the issues behind the release of the mixtape. Listen to the whole interview though because it’s totally worth it. (Did you know that JB was the primary songwriter behind T.I.’s “Live Your Life?”)
Up to this point, I’d sometimes rant and riff on nothing in particular on this blog.
While it’s sometimes fun and stress relieving, I want to take the content to the next level by focusing on music, the music industry, and what we can all learn from it.
If in 6 months this is more boring than a Christopher Cross song, then we’ll make another format change.
Paul Rosenberg and DJ Cipha Sounds did their hip-hop Juan Epstein podcast recently (explicit) and the conversation immediately went to how Cipha is constantly on his hustle. Here’s his grind and how you can apply it to your career.
1. MTV VJ on Sucker Free Sunday - The gig you do for basically free, but is helping you build your brand. If you’re an entertainer, you do YouTube videos. If you’re a salesman, write a book about sales. This is not the first thing you should attempt, but it will help you sell your other products later by giving you credibility. The best thing you can do is find a niche and be the authority on it.
2. Sirius Satellite Radio, Shade 45 - 8am - 12noon, everyday - Your paycheck job. You gotta pay your bills. It also helps to have regular employment on your resume, no matter what industry you’re in. If you’re consulting, then you better have some sort of income coming in.
3. Cipha Sounds and Rosenberg, 8am - 10am Sat. & Sunday - Hobbies are good, getting paid for your hobbies is better. Continue Reading »
I'm a Marketing Coordinator for USA Football and a party time deejay whose moniker is DJ Feenix. ... Conveniently, I'm a tech and music enthusiast so that's what you'll be reading about here.
salesman, write a book about sales. This is not the first thing you should attempt, but it will help you sell your other products later by giving you credibility. The best thing you can do is find a niche and be the authority on it.
