The music industry is experiencing its greatest day ever and at its worst day. What do I mean by this? The industry has been transforming in the past few years, mostly due to the explosion of the internet and the popularity of sites such as Purevolume.com and Myspace.com. There was once a day when a band had to get signed to a major label in order to become famous, wealthy, and successful. While this is somewhat the same today things are indeed changing.
Getting signed was the ultimate goal of most bands, because the thought was that after a band got signed they immediately made a ton of money and no longer had to worry about promotion, CD formatting, merchandise, and scheduling tours. Getting signed by a major label has become easier in part due to the fact that their are more labels than ever and these labels are eager to make a profit as soon as possible. That being said, it would be incorrect to assume that it is easy for any band to get signed; if this were true every band would be signed. Today getting signed by a major label is not necessarily the first thing on the minds of artists thanks to advancements in technology. Today’s technology has allowed artists and bands to go without the major labels, to record and promote their music without the label taking a large piece of their profit.
While Bands who are not signed are unable to sit back and let the label bring professionals and opportunities to them, they are able in today’s market to bring their music to their fans and succeed in ways that no independent artist thought possible before. New online media outlets and file-sharing have been beneficial to these bands in some ways; allowing bands to promote themselves with ease. Today bands have a way of connecting with other musicians, music professionals, retailers, arenas, without the assistance of music labels.
When sites like Purevolume.com and MySpace.com came to be a major shift occurred and who knows if major labels will ultimately be able to compete with the services and opportunities that these sites offer to unsigned bands. Bands and artists now have the opportunity to reach a global audience without having to spend money and without having to be signed with a label. In addition, there are companies today that work with bands and artists directly to create merchandise, CDs, and promotion packages. These companies are more important today as the industry continues to evolve. The old industry system used to be a place where major labels dictated the music people heard and purchased. In addition it used to be customary that bands and artists conformed to the style and sound that the major label felt was more profitable. It is evident today that this is changing, slowly but surely.
Today bands can gain a worldwide audience through MySpace.com and sell their CDs and merchandise through the internet. That being said, there is one piece of the puzzle that secures a place for major labels in the future of the music industry. Distribution deals are the piece of the puzzle. Major labels, because of their size and market power can act as distribution managers to their signed bands as well as bands that are finding success of their own through the use of sites like MySpace.com.
Stay tuned………The Future of the Music Industry – Part 2 – Tuesday July 18th, 2009
Post by Mike K - Meet Me
A musician since 5th grade, guitar is my instrument of choice. You'll find my posts on a wide variety of music related subjects.
