I grew up in the 1980s. That was the era of big labels, big tours, and long hair! Much $$$ was made. Bands from the ’60s and early ’70s were talking about how they had been screwed over but that these ’80s bands were killing it. Come back and watch episodes of “Behind the Music” by Billy Joel or John Fogarty. Bands were getting screwed left and right by everyone, including promoters, managers, and record labels. The attitude among the ruling elite of the music business was: “These are hippies. Keep them high and make sure they have lots of groupies and they’ll be happy. They don’t know how to handle money. So we’ll take care of that for them.” That’s why so many artists of the late ’60s and early ’70s ended up penniless once the ringing in everyone’s ears died down.
Fortunately, by the late 1970s things were changing and in the 1980s with the advent of MTV, smarter artists, and a legacy of horror stories from a decade before the musical artist ruled the planet. Artists from that area were some of the most influential people in the world and some of the most financially successful. Some of the artists of the ’70s and ’60s also enjoyed huge comebacks and financial success during that period. The image of the musical artist. The exact opposite of today.
So what the hell happened?
Gene Simmons and many others would like to blame grunge for the current state of affairs. In the early 1990s, rock music underwent a sea change. From an artistic point of view, it seems to have been necessary. Grunge was something of a reset button, and while some artists in that movement were very low-key in their performances, bands like Rage Against the Machine had crowds gathering in mosh pits. It wasn’t all dark stages, depression and looking at your shoes. Keep in mind that whenever there has been a major change in the world, there are always several motivating factors. For example, the Vietnam War, the Kennedy assassination, psychedelic drug experimentation, and Watergate all went into the pot that created the hippy movement. It wasn’t just one factor. With that in mind, let’s go back to the “glory days” of the late ’70s and ’80s.
In the 80s it was very expensive to record an album, master it, make a video and promote it. Record labels would spend thousands before the song or album was released and not knowing what kind of return on investment they could expect. Why was it so expensive? Actually, it takes a town to record, videotape and promote a band. Many of you reading this now have learned it the hard way. We’ll get back to that in a minute. Albums like Purple Rain and Born in the USA had dozens of people making sure everything was done and done right. This was still no guarantee of financial success, but the records were really well made. The artist focused on writing good music. The band concentrated on playing that music perfectly live and in the studio. The video director and his crew gave the video their full attention and the people at the label worked hard to get the record and play the video and support (pay for) the tour. He was a good model. Quite expensive but it worked, and it gave many artists of that time a lot of financial and social capital. Then someone had a “better” idea…
Winy crybaby whining…
So we’ve got this well-oiled machine, but still some people weren’t happy. Many artists felt that the major labels controlled the business. Big evil corporations were crushing the real artists. Many yelled “It’s not fair!” That was his right to do so. The war went on for about 10-15 years and when the smoke cleared. The tag system was dead. Independent artists had won. The music business was now completely “democratic.” We wanted a “fair” system…and guess what? We got our wish. The business is completely democratic. You can record a great sound record at home. There are mastering services that will master your record very well for a very low price or you can even do it yourself. Technology also makes creating a video very cheap and fast, and there are literally HUNDREDS of marketing services aimed at the independent musician price point. The Internet allows you to promote yourself day and night for practically free. Now everyone can be a rock star!
Where are all these rock stars?
With all this technology and free promotion, why isn’t EVERYONE a rock star? If you’re a musician reading this, you’ve probably noticed that while all this democracy sounds good… I mean democracy HAS to be good, right? Why am I not having the success that I feel I should or even feel I deserve? About 20 years ago something disturbing began to happen. You would buy a CD of your favorite artist only to realize that the only good song was the one you heard on the radio. This is REALLY what happened to the music business. The drive to make more, spend less, and get that ROI faster leads to albums being produced with perhaps one good song, rather than a worthwhile album of great material. The fans began to turn skeptical. I’m not making this up. This became a big topic in the music press in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Bands like Hootie and the Blowfish would put out an album full of great material. They sold millions and in an effort to duplicate that success they rushed to make another record. The second album flopped. This happened with many artists of that time. You can’t pull a hook and turn on your customers. You will lose EVERY TIME!
Album sales were falling. Internet downloads were on the rise. People thought…”Hey, your last record was pretty weak. Why should I spend $14.99 on your CD just to be disappointed when I can get it for free on the web?” I’m going to digress here for a minute. Did you find the price of $14.99 for a CD quite high in the last sentence? Actually, that was a bargain price for a CD at the time. Many CDs were selling for $17.99 and some as high as $19.99. It’s hard to imagine people these days spending that kind of money on a CD, if they would buy one at all. That’s how bad things really are. The combination of weaker material, customer disappointment, internet downloading, money running out, and more options for people to spend their entertainment dollars on non-music things is what got us to where we are today. .
Democracy in action!
So… fast forward and it’s 2014. The business is very segmented. Most of the music that comes out on the radio doesn’t translate well live unless you’re the original artist. So even the cover bands are struggling. Hip-hop and country have many times surpassed the success of rock. Now that everything is democratic, the artist has too much on her plate. She needs to write, record, produce, mix and master her own album. She books her own shows, does her own promotion, shoots her own video, and brings her own equipment. Most record labels are just that “labels”. They are nothing more than the business structure that the artist herself must set up. There is a lot of freedom these days, but with freedom comes responsibility. That’s why not everyone is an indie sensation. Very few can maintain this work ethic. It’s a bitch to do everything yourself. Remember you STILL need to keep the lights on and feed yourself. A lot of people get excited when they see how open the business really is. It’s wide open. There’s a lot of really unique, interesting, fun, catchy, and downright great music out there. Many artists who couldn’t find a platform 5 years ago are touring and making a living out of it. But they worked their ass off to get there. They partnered with other artists and companies. They learned to outsource many of their promotional costs. They barter. They find a way. They have learned that it really takes a village.
louis lombardi
http://loulombardi.com