David Sherbow is a visionary in the new music business with a clear understanding of where the record and radio businesses came from, why their current business models are failing, where the new music business needs to go in the digital age — and the passion to take it there. Currently, David is spending much of the music collateral he has amassed building a music discovery website and music booking platform that people are saying will revolutionize the music business. LiveMusicMachine.Com, a ground-breaking music booking website and widget, launched in September, 2009 is his magnum opus that will help take the new music business where it needs to go in the digital age.
If you are or want to be a working artist or band, follow these 8 simple things and more money than you ever imagined will roll in:
1. Any band you want to open for or swap gigs with contact them and offer to help them in any way you can when they are in your town.
2. Under no circumstance ever disrespect or criticize another band, manager, agent, promoter or club owner or manager. It will always come back to bite you in your ass.
3. Don’t wait for people to sign up for your email list, ask them to do it. Before and after every gig go out into the audience with a pad and pen and personally ask everyone whether they are here to see you and if they are would they give you their email address and zipcode. Your fans feel your heat and your email list grows exponentially.
4. Whenever you play a gig, always be polite and treat your host with the utmost respect even if you know they are a pig.
5. When you play live, no matter how small your audience is, play as if every person in the room is the most important person in the world. Before and after you play go out and tell them so. Show them your human side and leave your ego at home or up on the stage.
6. If you are a headlining act under any circumstance, never screw your opening act. You never know who will turn out to be the big dog in town.
7. Man your own merch table no matter how big and important you are. Direct to fan relationships are everything. The funny thing is the more your fans bond with you the more money they will throw your way. Put out a tip jar and if you are really nice and engaging you will see it fill up with free money.
8. Always be on time. There is never an excuse for being late. If for some reason you have to be late call and let the other party know before the time you were supposed to arrive.
I am sure I missed some good things so please, by all means; add, by way of a comment, any other helpful suggestions to this list. It’s only the beginning.
The salvation and reinvention of the music business lies within the meaning of three little words, “choice and control.” Until 1999 and the advent of Napster, the traditional record business sought out artists with unique music and nurtured them until they became household names. However record companies came upon them, new artists were found and signed. Depending on the level of support given them by the powers that were, they received a budget and then were dumped into the prevailing radio and record retail distribution chain. Ultimately, the public would decide which artists made it and which didn’t. Our choice of music was controlled by a system, corrupt though it may have been, that worked reasonably well from Thomas Edison’s day until the beginning of the new millennium.
In about the year 2000, consolidation in the radio industry really began to take hold and slowly started to squeeze the life out of the free expression, creativity and community upon which the airwaves had been built since the demise of McCarthy and rise of rock and roll and rhythm and blues. Record companies became gripped by fear of the digital unknown and the disruption of their money machine which had been built upon ever changing physical formats with which they could convince an unwitting public (myself included) to buy the same records over and over again. The great record men and women of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s who took reckless chances with their choices in music had been replaced by lawyers, bean counters and megalomaniacs, none of whom really cared about the discovery and development of new music the way the old school used to.
So here we are almost in 2010. Technology and the Internet have made our choice in music overwhelming, disintegrating any filters that used to enable the old music discovery process to do what it did. That system clearly worked, for the most part, for a very long time. Then Napster came along and begged it to change and it didn’t. Record company executives played it safe, took no chances and virtually shut the door on finding and developing new talent. Fiefdoms headed by big producers, lawyers managers and street savvy entrepreneurs have controlled practically all artist development for the past ten years, leaving label A&R’s to mostly administrative duties. Doors once opened have now been slammed shut in the collective face of the independent music community. The music discovery and selection process must be reinvented. Music people and technology people must collaborate for the greater good. Reasonable choice and control must be brought back to the people.
Emerging artists bubbling under saw their chance at obtaining the elusive record deal beat into submission. Other than American Idol and America’s Got Talent, no mechanisms are currently in place to give the public a real easy choice in new music. Artists have been forced out of desperation and a need for survival to fend for themselves. Thus we have the current, ever evolving, DIY business model. What does the future entail? The fragmented independent music community needs to come together and help each other out. Entrepreneurs need to create their own music discovery money machine that benefits the independent music community. I have built www.LiveMusicMachine.com ,a user generated music booking widget. What have you done to change the way we do music business and make it better for the independent music community?
A working artist’s Internet strategy is usually comprised of the following components:
SOCIAL NETWORKS: Most who know what they are doing, will have a personal web site, a MySpace page, a Twitter account, probably a Facebook fan page and, if they are really smart, their very own YouTube channel. Those who think that the more places they are the more exposure they will get, will have numerous other profiles elsewhere, most likely on iLike, Imeem, Purevolume, Bebo, Last.Fm and Pandora.
EPKS: Depending on your knowledge and/or loyalty you will also have an EPK on Sonicbids, Reverbnation or OurStage ready for submission for gigs and conference consideration.
MAILING LIST: You will also probably use some kind of email collection widget from FanBridge or Reverbnation.
CONTENT AGGREGATOR: To manage all of this information the resourceful artists will be using Artist Data where they can input data in one place and have it distributed to every profile page they have.
MUSIC DISTRIBUTION: For music distribution most artists use Tunecore, Reverbnation, Nimbit, CD Baby, The Orchard, IODA or INgrooves distribution platform. The first two are the cheapest and probably the most effective.
MERCHANDISE: For merchandise, if an artist is not organized enough to set up their own merch table, which is by far the cheapest route to go but takes the most time, energy and resources, then an artist will probably look to Zazzle or Audiolife’s merchandise manufacturing and fulfillment platforms. If you are a mid level or up artist, maybe Music Today will take you on as a client.
PLATFORMS: If you want to aggressively approach things from a direct-to-fan platform that incorporates everything under one roof, you will probably be looking at the Topspin Media platform or Reverbnation’s newly integrated platform with Audiolife or perhaps even Echospin’s software solution.
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT: Finally, If you are a really well organized artist or band and you want to manage your affairs in one system that you control, you will want to consider Bandcamp or Bandize.
METRICS : BandMetrics enables artists to identify fans, measure social engagement, find hot markets, track radio plays and discover the latest trends and attitudes among their fans.
There you have it. Most of the key sites that artists use to promote and monetize themselves. However, there is one key element missing. BOOKING. None of these sites have an immediate, realtime booking solution.
This is where www.LiveMusicMachine.com enters and can change the way you do music business. At this time, its the only solution on the Internet where anybody, e.g.. a club, fan, college, fraternity or sorority, can directly book artists they love from wherever that artist has put their LMM widget, including MySpace, Facebook and directly from their YouTube videos. The LMM calendar should become every artist’s calendar of choice and should supplant whatever they are using. It instantly changes from a list of dates to a tour map to a booking availability calendar from which the artist can be booked immediately by anyone. Regardless of how many of the other tools and sites an artist uses, LiveMusicMachine is an absolute necessity. It’s the only portable artist booking tool in the Internet music space where anybody can book you at anytime and practically from anywhere. How can an artist afford not to use it?
There is more music than ever spewing out onto the Internet. Technology has made it possible for virtually anyone who wants to crank out a song to easily and cheaply do so. User generated music used to be a really cool phenomenon but now it’s become more of a pain in the ass. Just because you can, doesn’t mean that every song anybody ever does, belongs uploaded onto the Internet. Compare songs that you create to songs written by artists you respect and to those songs you hear on terrestrial, satellite or Internet radio. If you leave your ego off the table, most people really can tell if their music stacks up to whatever artists represent their competition. Please don’t turn people off to new music because it’s really bad, turn them on to new music because it’s really good. Seek out opinions about your stuff other than from friends or family. Talk to other artists, mangers, agents, producers, critics and industry professionals and see what they really think about your music. Do you really have something or is it just another sonic waste of time. Will your friends and family buy your music or want it for free. Anybody who pays for your music really likes it and wants it. Definitely when it comes to discovering new music, less is always best. So help us out and think before you indiscriminately put your music out for the world to hear. I, for one, will greatly appreciate it. (By the way, www.musicxray.com has a ton of people who will review your material quickly and cheaply and let you know how good it really is.)
Below you will find an interesting email exchange between Refe Tuma of Creative Deconstruction and David Sherbow of MusicBizGuy Speaks.We hope you enjoy it and by all means please put in your two cents in a comment if you feel like it.If you would like to read the original piece Refe commented on, you can find it at http://musicbizrealitycheck.com/blog1/2009/04/06/unite-in-the-name-of-exposure/
From: Refe Tuma/Creative Deconstruction.Com To: David Sherbow/MusicBizGuy.Com Sent: Monday, August 24, 2009 at 4:00 PM Subject: [MusicBizGuy Speaks] Comment: “UNITE IN THE NAME OF EXPOSURE
Napster could have been the beginning of the consolidated solution that you propose here, but the labels botched it. They later realized the same things you indicate here: that controlling where listeners go to get their music (i.e. – What Napster Could Have Been) allows them to maintain their edge. Their edge, of course is scale. The labels are big, so they can do things like national distribution more cheaply than an individual artist.
Now that technology has splintered the music marketplace into a host of different competing platforms (radio vs. satellite radio vs. streaming radio vs. P2P vs. etc….) they are losing their reach and artists are gaining reach like never before. Sure, it’s a lot harder to go platinum, but it’s a lot easier to get a record made and distributed in the first place. That trade off may harm a few but it benefits many.
So it just depends on your goals. Make lots of money? Look for ways to consolidate. Create lots of opportunity (albeit smaller ones)? Embrace the competitive splintering of the market and do your best to rise to the top of your niche.
I think it’s all cyclical. Eventually an enterprising few will successfully re-consolidate the music business and the industry will become more streamlined again. Then we’ll all get fed up with that and a new army of malcontents will bring it back down.
To: Refe Tuma/Creative Deconstruction From: David Sherbow/MusicBizGuy
Sent: Monday, August 24, 2009at 6:35 PM
Since Napster, the music business I grew up with has basically imploded and through its own stupidity and greed has charted a course for almost certain self destruction. In case you haven’t read it, take a look at Steve Knopper’s brilliant tome, “The Appetite for Self Destruction” which gives a chapter and verse description of the breakdown of the music business since the advent of the CD in 1979. Technology and change has brought us enormous amounts of user generated music, its easy distribution and a music world that is wrought with extreme fragmentation. I agree with you that these changes have brought a certain amount of opportunity to a group of people that prior to 1999 would never have even been on the music map. For those who enjoy this increased popularity, it is a new day and the new music business is working for them.
I grew up in the three most significant periods of cultural change in American life over the past 50 years. First was the period from 1955-68 when post WWII America first started coming apart at the seams and baby boomers started to rebel against the All American image acceptable to my parent’s generation. Things changed soon after McCarthy fell in the mid 50’s and, in essence, parts of Texas and the deep south and its country, blues, and R&B music converged and rock and roll began to evolve. I got my first radio in 1957 for my 7th birthday and soon after became addicted to Top 40 radio then R&B radio. Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Eddie Cochran, Hank Williams, Sr., Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison changed my world along with R&B groups like The Platters, 5 Satins, Smokey Robinson and Little Anthony and the Imperials and bluesmen like Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf and John Lee Hooker. No disrespect meant at all, but you are much too young to have been moved by such amazing forces of music that changed my life forever and moved millions of others like me in ways that today are unimaginable.
Then came the Vietnam War, free speech movement, civil rights movement, the drug culture and sexual freedom all heaped upon my generation. Groups like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Who, Cream, Jeff Beck Group and Led Zeppelin from England, The Beach Boys, Bruce Springsteen, The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Doors, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan along with Otis Reading, James Brown, Temptations, Supremes, Four Tops and Aretha Franklin and many others changed the American music scene forever. Then there was Woodstock to bring it all together. It’s is impossible to understand how powerful this period was without living through the majesty of its immense political and cultural change. Then the 70’s brought unbelievable heavy metal music and Disco. The 80’s brought Michael Jackson, U2, and Madonna and the 90’s brought grunge with Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Every decade brought another group of artists that clearly articulated the feelings and moods of that generation. People were totally swept up in the music.
Then came 1999 and Napster and over the next 10 years music became diluted, homogenous, and less than inspiring. Today it is plentiful and ubiquitous. In my opinion, part of what truly makes music great from the days of Beethoven, Bach and Mozart to the present day, is the connection certain artists have been able to develop with the masses who then have a shared common experience they all can relate too. It is this shared experience which takes music to another level. Its is something that your generation feels and sees in bits and pieces in between video games, surfing the Internet and Texting. Music is ever present but it is no longer the focused force for change in our society. Music is still a part of everyone’s day to day life but it is no longer the focused cultural and political force it once was. A platinum artist is nothing more than a monetary designation that became the standard by which great bands were judged since Creedence Clearwater Revival was the first group to ship 1,000,000 albums.
Music has always evolved and changed without the help of the record business which has only been good at co-opting great talent and rarely developing it. I totally agree with you that it’s all cyclical and look forward to the next game changing music scenario. We are a world of many niche artists and very few genuine original popular artists. What American Idol continually tells me every year it maintains its immense popularity, is that is that the masses want artists to believe in and to connect with. So do I but I want them to be of substance, not manufactured by the remnants of the record hit making machine but instead I want my new music to emerge from the grass routes of the new American psyche motivated by meaningful cultural change.
I am by no means trying to say that my insight or love of music is deeper than yours or your generation. My perspective over 58 years is different than those in your generation. I truly miss discovering and sharing music the way I used to. I believe that eventually the Internet will develop a better mechanism for the discovery of popular music and I look forward to that day.
From: Refe Tuma/Creative Deconstruction To: David Sherbow/MusicBizGuy Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 at 10:52 AM
No doubt about it, my experience of the music industry is recent at best. To put it into perspective, Kurt Cobain was already dead by the time I began to develop my own musical tastes (outside of my Dad’s Beatles and Led Zeppelin records!) Although I did not experience the musical or cultural transitions of your generation, I am armed with the understanding that this puts me at a disadvantage when attempting to make sense of what’s going on today.
Nevertheless, I generally operate under two principles: 1. Change is inevitable and, in fact, often progress; and 2. There’s always (at least) two sides to every story. Maybe #2 could also be called “Nobody has all the answers.” Those are in a way the foundation of Creative Deconstruction, and my editorial model. They allow me to remain somewhat detached from the hype and bias that is so prevalent in the world of music industry blogging. Not immune of course, but protected by the understanding that I can’t know everything and neither can those who challenge (or endorse) what I write.
I was preparing to say that I think that my generation may look back on this period of time similarly to the way you look back on the 70’s, but I may have already talked myself out of it. There are some similarities – huge cultural upheaval (this time thanks to technology, social networking) significant political transition (war on terror, first black president, an ever expanding federal government.) Yet, at the speed at which things are changing I’m not sure we’ll ever have another ‘defining era.’ Maybe I’m wrong – maybe that’s just the lack of world experience talking. But when something as simple and silly as Twitter can so drastically alter the way business and communication are approached in only a couple of years, imagine how quickly and how often that kind of change could potentially come in future years! The cycles may just keep getting shorter and shorter, making it more and more difficult to plant your feet and build the kind of cultural significance that some of the bands you mentioned achieved in the 70’s.
A bit of rambling, but I think you get what I mean. Either way, it’s good to know that there are those who are willing to share their knowledge and experience with those such as myself who haven’t had the benefit. Feel free to comment, challenge or just add your two cents anytime.
Recently TechCrunch criticized a particular PR firm for its so called “gaming” of the Internet to gain advantages for its clients within the iPhone App Store.It appears the firm’s efforts created excellent results for its clients and they made a lot of money. The ethics of a company’s PR tactics only comes into play if its clients are successful. The Internet is a large fragmented space with billions of participants where gaining an advantage is usually an incredibly difficult process.I have been in the music business for 35 years.It is interesting to note that whenever, wherever and however the traditional record business could gain an advantage it did, regardless of the ethics of its tactics.It’s only concern was success and a very profitable bottom line. Given the incredibly fragmented Internet music space, new and developing artists are faced with a daunting task to be discovered, to achieve success and make money. At this point, I say that any tactics that bring a large audience to your music are acceptable.Where there’s a strong will there’s definitely going to be a way.Will anybody really care if the success of “JK’s Wedding” on YouTube turns out to be a major manipulation by YouTube and Sony coming together to seize an opportunity?
Before 1950, the music business was controlled by RCA, Columbia and Capitol, large corporations more interested in what they could sell than what they could create.Barriers to entry, though much lower by today’s standards, were still able to keep most entrepreneurs out of the mainstream music business.However, since the end of World War II, alternative music, every ten years or so, has always been able to muster exciting new and extremely creative sounds and origins that have continually disrupted the major label music business.
Starting with early rock and roll in the mid 50’s, the British invasion and R&B in the mid 60’s, heavy metal and disco in the mid 70’s, new wave and hip-hop in the mid 80’s, grunge in the mid 90’s, each of these waves of alternative music brought opportunities for outsiders to break into the business of music. Almost all alternative music, initially, rebels against traditional major label thinking and business models, builds massive grass roots support without traditional channels of distribution like radio, and makes a whole new strata of music business entrepreneurs rich until eventually even they are co-opted or bought out by the major labels. Good or bad, money, power and great success have always been the endgame for all in the music business except a relatively few purists like Samuel Charters who spent his life preserving and writing about the Blues.
Unfortunately since the mid 1990’s, there has been no disruptive creative force in music like those described earlier, only in the way music is currently being made and distributed.Each of those types of alternative music was fashioned out of political and cultural forces that evoked angst and passion in enough people who then became motivated to create another round of culturally defining music. With each disruptive musical force, came transparency and for a short time, true revolution. There are those that may argue that the Internet and digital technology are this decade’s culturally defining forces.There is no question that together they are the greatest equalizing changes mankind and its music business has ever seen.However nothing about either change has inspired people to write great music. They only enable more people to create more music than ever, most of it really bad and enable them to distribute it simply and freely to the world.
For over five years, our lives have been flooded by this excess of music which is four times greater than it used to be.Sooner or later a substantial filter will again evolvereducing the amount of music people have to listen to, allowing them much more choice and control over their music and, hopefully in the end, developing another core group of exceptional mass appeal artists.Forces of great change are once again clashing in our world. We can only hope that they will help create and then leave behind some truly powerful and engaging new music in their wake.
This show discusses the 10 most important characteristics and tools a musical artist must really have to become successful. The MusicBizGuy talks passionately about this formula for success.
1. Heart – This is the single most important attribute that every “true,” great artist must have. Without it, great music cannot be felt, imagined or created. It is the essence and spirit behind one’s own art. It is the powerful force behind the drive, perseverance and originality that brings art to life and creates the charisma that bonds great musical artists with their fans.
2. Conviction – In the context of making music, this is the total and absolute belief in yourself as an artist and in your ability to write great songs. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will and greatness will always be just one step too far away.
3. Drive – This is what fuels an artist’s belief that their music is great. It’s the unrelenting force that makes everything an artist needs to do to succeed a realistic possibility.
4. Perseverance – Over time, this is what permits an artist to become successful. The amount of it that is required to succeed is different for every great artist. No one ever knows how much perseverance will be necessary before their music becomes accepted by enough people to make it really matter. You just have to hang in there until it all comes together. Those who do hang in win big.
5. Originality – It is the game-changing quality that embodies an artist’s persona and music. It’s what separates great music from the music everyone else makes and allows it to stand apart from all the rest.
6. Great Songs – A great song is made up of words and melodies that embody the artist’s spirit and soul. Together they forge a sound so special that those who listen to it are moved to emotionally bond with it and ultimately own it in some fashion. Some artists write one great song and live off the proceeds for the rest of their lives. Great artists never stop trying to achieve a musical high by challenging themselves to constantly raise the bar and write better and better songs. If they could do it, great artists would roll this feeling and smoke it 24/7.
7. Appealing Image – Create and develop an appealing image that is comfortable for you yet edgy enough to define and differentiate who you are as an artist. You must have the confidence to live your image and explore it in every way you can. Great artists evolve their image and eventually it becomes a brand unique only to them. A true image can not be contrived or forced. It comes naturally, feels right and fits you and your artistry. Most importantly your image must be one you can convincingly sell to your fans both on and off stage. Ultimately your image must become a part of who you really are and is the visual link that connects you with your fans and they back to you.
8. Great People Skills - The ability to communicate with your fans one on one as well as connect with a large audience has become more important than ever. Be passionate about your music both in the studio and live. Retain your fans by including them in your creative process and doing things that make them feel exclusive. Ask fans to create graphics, videos, lyrics or mashups that require your feedback. Every artist should personally host exclusive chats, videos or live performances. To make either of these tools truly effective requires your hands on communication. It’s never the same when others do your talking or communicating for you. Somehow people can figure out it’s not you regardless of the medium you are in. Your honest communication only strengthens the connection you have with your fans. You can practice what you say to your audience at a live performance until you feel so comfortable that talking to your audience becomes second nature. Don’t be self conscious about how your fans will perceive you. Be real and be yourself. No matter how many mistakes you make, a true fan will love you for who you really are.
9. An Accomplished Live Performance - The greatest musical artists combine incredible music with a compelling performance. Of course, a great song can stand on its own without an accompanying live performance. But great music played live by a powerful, exciting, charismatic performer gets taken to a much higher, more memorable level. Some people are born to play live and others have to work at it to be good. Work through your fear to perform if you have any. Practice until your vocals are flawless and your instrument becomes a part of your body. Fearless execution is the goal. Work on integrating your chosen image carefully with your live performance until it is seamless. Deliver the same high caliber performance whether there is one person in your audience or 10,000. Live music connections are all important and almost singlehandedly drive every aspect of an artist’s success financially and otherwise.
10. Understanding the Ever Changing Music Business Environment – The art of your music should never cater to commerce but it should always be aware of it. As technology and innovation constantly change the channels of music distribution in our world, embrace these changes, and never turn a blind eye towards them. Always remain on the cutting edge of this change and never allow yourself to be co-opted by whatever system is in place. Always be flexible. Dare to be different, keep your sense of humor and most importantly keep things simple. Life is just never meant to be that complicated nor is the music business.
Regardless of the record companies’ ever increasing efforts to stop it, their existing business model is in an ongoing state of decline. To regain some of their former financial stature and growth, record companies, majors and independents alike, along with unsigned artists, too, must cultivate and create, as quickly as possible, a new digital marketplace where competition can flourish and where some semblance of control over music discovery and distribution can be exercised. In this brave new world, record companies must immediately combine their forces together and move quickly to consolidate as much of their depleting customer base into a single digital location where fans can make quick decisions about new music.
This new DRM and royalty free, digital environment must be organized into a new business model that allows anybody trying to build a career as a successful musical artist to be discovered, exposed, branded and monetized. Additionally, before it’s too late, record companies must take advantage of the clout their remaining legacy artists have, while they still have control over them, to get a stronger foothold in this new digital world. Doing so will bring millions of people looking for less choice and more control over their music to one place to fight it out for exposure. Unsigned and DIY artists will be able to piggy back off of this scenario and build bigger fan bases much quicker.
In the old business model, all of a record company’s distribution, marketing and promotion efforts were centered terrestrially and, up until recently, these channels of distribution were strictly controlled by the record companies and their close friends at radio. Now with the Internet and the advent of digital music distribution, this axiom is no longer true. In the digital world, record companies can no longer exercise the level of control over the marketplace they once had. Unfortunately, there are a multitude of Internet sites that use music as some part of their mix of activities. This limits the ability of record companies and independent musical artists to easily promote their music in any kind of truly effective or meaningful way. However, if artists and labels were to consolidate their support and efforts into one digital environment on the Internet with a global reach, they could foster the development of a much more promotable community than they now have and thereby create greater exposure for any artist and better control over the financial fate of their music.
Just think how much more effective it would be for record companies and artists in general to have one destination on the Internet where people went to find their new mainstream music and where people could influence and be influenced to make decisions about that music. Both the cost effectiveness and efficiency of new music discovery could be scaled down and become more manageable for record companies, independent labels and unsigned artists. Artist development and branding could be focused into one place. By developing an array of special tools to promote and consolidate a base in this major new digital music world, record companies, artists and managers could much better maintain and retain the attention and interest of the average music consumer. Once again fan choice and control could take over.
For this to happen, you have to buy into three assumptions: 1) that it’s still important to create popular mainstream artists; 2) that to successfully monetize an artist the bigger the base they have to build for themselves, the greater the potential to monetize themselves; and 3) to accomplish 1 and 2 quickly, effectively and successfully there has to be a better way to promote artists in the new music business because the terrestrial market place is disintegrating. If you assume these three assumptions, it then becomes necessary to reduce the excessive fragmentation in the Internet music space that makes it almost impossible for any new artist to build a critical mass of emotionally vested fans quickly.
In recent years when radio was still powerful, once an artist made a great enough impact at radio, millions of people could hear their music and a quick decision could be made by the masses as to which artists would succeed in the mainstream. If everybody competed in the same space and had certain promotional tools at their disposal to get noticed immediately, then artists could continue to build enormous popularity which will satisfy the masses hunger for “stars.”
In my brave new world, various entities will able to build large networks, e.g. bloggers, internet radio stations, individual driven A&R machines like Crazed Hits, any of which can influence the tastes of many people at one time. It will then be possible for large, powerful networks to connect with each and combine into a critical mass great enough to push new artists into whatever is left of the mainstream. By promoting to those that can seriously influence the aggressive artists and, I am sorry to say, those with more money will be able to mount serious campaigns quicker and more effectively than has ever been possible because of the way the digital landscape is currently structured.
Think about it. This is not just a sensible and practical decision for record companies, artist managers and artists to make and emotionally own, but it is a sound business decision that can potentially solve many of their current problems dealing with music discovery and financial scale.
