Okay, so it wasn't quite as malicious as the title of this post suggests; it wasn't a personally directed attack on my livelihood, and I'm certainly not the only one (in my now defunct workplace or any other corner of the music retail industry for that matter) now sprucing up my tired-looking CV - but it still stings.
I love music. It's how I define myself, it's my hobby, my passion...and up until a few days ago it was my job. For the last three years I have been in that rare, coveted position of being happily employed in retail. Three or four days of the week I worked at an independent north side music store selling CDs (remember CDs all you digital downloaders out there...those little circular things with a hole in the middle? Anyone?) Now, after 40 years of business, as a result of continual decline in profits industry wide, coupled with fierce competition from the 'power-buying' chain stores, my little record store is closing it's doors. I have lost my job. And I have more than a strong suspicion that iTunes had something to do with it. Frankly it should be ashamed of itself.
At least, this was my first thought, but upon reflection I find myself wondering, is this reaction really fair? I certainly understand that stamping my foot and shaking my little fist at cyberspace isn't going to change anything, but beyond the scope of my immediate employment situation, is this a process we should actually want to change? Am I just collateral damage, a necessary sacrifice to the greater good, in the technological revolution?
It's not like this (soon to be) old model is so great anyway. Big-business record labels dominate the industry in a very closed and hierarchical system. Musicians are the 'talent', who need to be managed, produced and styled; their music is the 'product' and fans are the 'consumers'. The whole creative process is very tightly controlled by a small number powerful players who get to dictate what we want to hear and who we're going to hear it from, all by throwing the big bucks around. Basically, muso's and fans alike are left out of the loop, and the cracks are starting to appear.
You've probably heard of the fuss Trent Reznor of NIN fame created last year when he publicly shamed his Australian record label, Universal Music, in a blog entry on the official NIN website for what he believed to be the excessive cost of the latest NIN album at the time Year Zero. To add insult to injury, Reznor then encouraged fans at a live show to steal his music by illegal downloading and filesharing (see clip below), before finally giving his label the flick after fulfilling contractual obligations in October, 2007.
Ouch!
And this is where the story gets interesting. Not only did Reznor ditch the record label and start producing and distributing his music independently, but he did so online. Ghosts I-IV, the first album to be released post record label split, was first made available on the NIN website and was available in a number of both digital and physical formats, including a free download of the first nine tracks, $5 for a digital copy of the whole album and $10 for the dowload plus a physical copy of the 2-disc ablum.
The latest album The Slip is available at www.nin.com, in its entirity, completely free.
Of course the success of this little business venture was perhaps skewed by the fact that, well, it was Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor could pretty much release three hours of dial-up monitor tones to critical acclaim. However, the point is still valid - the model is changing, the way we use and access all content, not just music, is changing, and those who don't change with it get left behind (and those who work for those who don't change with it so it seems...)
The possibilities of this change are quite exciting, for producers and audiences alike.
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1 comment:
Firstly, allow me to thank you for the heads up on the free album. Always the poor uni student and always one to take advantage of the freebie, I am currently downloading. Whether I will be thanking you tomorrow after I have listened to it remains to be seen.
Secondly, allow me to offer my commiserations at you loss of employment. That has to suck.
And finally, to the post. I found the discussion thought provoking. Yes, it does seem a bit unfair that after years of promotion from top music labels, artists can ditch, declare themselves independent and then take full credit for the success that follows. But that aside, do you think that anything about the online medium makes this success easier? If Trent were to ditch his label, but then had to go and produce his own CDs, do you think he would have? And do you think he would have met with the same success?
You also made the comment that this is an exciting development (online distribution and the like) for talent and producers alike. I understand the advantages for the talent (clearly demonstrated by Trent and the thousands of bands on sites such as MySpace, CD Baby and triple J Unearthed) but what do you make of the impact on producers? Do you think that they should be evaluating their position in the musical food chain? To my mind, there needs to be some behavioural and attitudinal changes on behalf of the producers in order to both keep up with this trend and safely secure their place within it. They appear to be a potentially endangered species!
Anyway, just some things to think about!
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