HOW TO SAVE THE RECORDING INDUSTRY PART 3: Media and Society

In part's 1 and 2 I looked at how modern culture, business and technology had affected the recording industry. I fantasised about how record shops and independent record shops could be allowed to exist in a world where they could flourish. I assessed the impact that file-sharing had on the music industry and to what extent the lack of quality in modern music over the decades might have played a part in how pop music is currently defined and its declining sales. These pieces are written from the vantage point of a music 'fan', hence the off the cuff nature and style. So apologies if the structure is loose and free. This is just my take on the climate. What I find when I looked deeply into these areas and what people are discussing on the forums and the various debates still going on is that the decline is not merely down to one thing. The discussion and debate moreover, in recent years, has been about how the recording industry will evolve and what business models would support it. (More below) What this means culturally still remains to be seen.

In this part I will look a bit more broadly on how music is accessed and broadcast and how it has 'evolved'.

As we know in the olden days you had record shops, radio stations, magazines,clubs, concerts, sheet music, friends made you mixtapes and television even had shows dedicated to showcasing new music. Style played a small role in it but you felt music wasn't a side order to lift muzak, to a brand/sub-culture/fashion iconography, or aspirational product. Indeed we still have the above outlets but they really are so few and far between in terms of volume, quality and accessibility. We do, we are often told by people on the radio and in the handful of music magazines that are actually available, have a vibrant live music culture. There are more festivals than ever, more in store performances, more concerts, tours and gigs. Of course there would be. Artists aren't making money from their records. We know this. There are practically millions of online radio stations as well, the most well known, 'user generated' one being Last FM.  Maybe you, the reader have your own Last FM station. In fact since the internet became the beast it is, everyone can indeed be famous for 15 minutes or famous for life thanks to social networking.

If you're a listener , musician and consumer there are of course numerous resources available to you. As with everything else this can be a good thing, depending how much or little research/effort you want to put into it. You can either sit back and allow iTunes/Amazon and Spotify to recommend new music to you (their bots aren't as complex as your or I...yet) or you can do some further reading, chatting to others groundwork yourself and make your own discoveries. Let's have a look at some of them.

Myspace

Myspace is a waste of space. In Myspace no-one can hear you scream. It was one of the main social networking sites in its day (its day being about seven years ago). Have a look at it now. Looks a fucking mess. Its filled with crap. Its homepage is splattered with glossy-looking-airbrushed band pics and commercial artists. In fact its one big commercial. Of course it was always about selling adverts to you but now it doesn't even try and pretend to give you a space for you to connect to others, upload your music and actually make friends. The 'making new friends' thing is the biggest myth about social networks. It was supposed to be a space where if you were a band/artist you could post updates, accept friend requests, make requests and upload your new music. The flaw of course was us. Partly. Us and Information. Us, Information and Them, Myspace.  It's the same today but even worse. You see in an era where we can communicate through multiple channels to multiple audiences, we are still engaged in one way communication. No-one wants to listen because they haven't got time, haven't made time and don't care anyway because they are the only interested receiver of their own message. But generally, they don't care. With information, bulletins and status updates, you tend to gloss over them. This is the flaw with most 'user-generated content'. Mypsace has also become less user friendly to use which is part of the reason people have abandoned it in droves.You haven't got time to care or make an emotional investment. Social networking is in effect Anti-Social Networking. As you may discover from similar models unless you have a PR/marketing machine behind you, your creative efforts are left drowning in an ocean of information. Myspace played its role in fragmenting the audience further than satellite/subscription based television. Why bother having a circle of friends or a community when, along with Friends Reunited and, later, Facebook, you could just keep everyone and everything at arms length, while idealising your life?

Soundcloud

As with Bandcamp Soundcloud allows you to some extent promote and sell your work as well as discovering new music. Now in the main these websites are okay if you want an outlet to express yourself, as long as you don't take it too seriously. They also include things like stats and trends, which try to make you believe that you are a one person focus group who can shape and refine your audience. The claim is that somehow they are giving control back to you and you can take or leave the information about which tracks you've uploaded or are popular in certain territories, but if you're original or see yourself as original you will do what you like anyway. It won't bring you mass success or make you tons of money but at least you won't sound like millions of other artists. Originality. Difficult. Bandcamp and Souncloud don't nurture you really. You kind of have to rely on your friends to post constructive feedback (if you get any feedback at all, beyond 'cool', 'crap', 'come to Athens!') What you really need, what most artists probably need is a small community and group hug of a record company that can help you refine your sound, put you in touch with the contacts who will really make a difference and evolve your career. Of course Soundcloud isn't a record company, so going alone can be very lonely. You can sell your music on here as well but no-one will buy it because 1. they won't know you exist and 2. they could get it for free. Even if you made it available for free, you'll be lucky if anyone listens to it, so you have to spam everyone relentlessly.

However I have and you can still discover music that you wouldn't generally hear on Radio 1, Radio 2, classic FM or BBC 6 music if you look for certain niches, based on your own personal sensibilities, whatever that means these days. Soundcloud features a user friendly interface and allows easy sharing to other social networks. Whether anyone has the time or inclination to listen to a link you post is, as ever, another matter altogether.

The Hype Machine

This is actually a very popular music blog aggregator that features music posted on peoples blogs, often record company leaks and promos. It's probably less random than it used to be but I've made many a discovery on here in the past and is one of my first port of calls when I'm looking for something different or fancy checking out some more information about an artist who pricked my ears up. Essentially it does the job that big radio stations should be doing all the time, instead of pandering to mediocre records and artists. However as its name implies, it does present the risk of hyping inexplicable trendy acts like King Krule as well, so you have to read/listen between the lines.

Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr

I haven't put a link to these websites because you'll probably have one of them as your homepage. I'm not being bitchy, just practical. These are of course outlets for new music as well, usually promoted by artists and record companies themselves in the forms of links, status updates, etc. Whether you're positing a Youtube link to S'Express performing 'Hey Music Lover' on Top Of The Pops on your Facebook page or breaking the new EP by James Blake, these outlets offer the opportunity at least to express your tastes and provoke limited discussion or approval. With Facebook it's the 'Like' tab. There should be, for democracy sake, a 'hate' tab too but Facebook isn't actually a democracy. Adam Curtis, broadcaster and author of 'The Power of Nightmares' said as much.

'People have a simplified view of the world...Systems that purport to be open and free... are ways of shutting debate down. They're self-policing...On the internet we monitor the choices of others to see if they think like us, maybe we seek to...make them conform.' Extracts from this interview given in 2007

Pitchfork

Online music-based magazine. Not bad but you feel at times as if it's an extension of the Tumblr hipster community, where new music is made by and for (produced on cassettes 'cos they're cool, fuckyeah) themselves. That said there are some great recommendations and a passion for music which, like many recent-ish music websites, is manifested in the features, interviews and reviews which moribund publications like the N.M.E used to pride themselves on. There's always something to discover and check out. The UK-based Drowned In Sound is another one as well and there are others. I like The Quietus which is a bit broader than the others in terms of its features and feels more honest in its approach to articles, reviews and write ups on those who are seen as 'coll' or as cutting edge as they once were or never were.  However there is a lack of certain genres featured in these online publications, which feel as if they are more aimed at the 'indie' market rather than anything wider.

It's looking a bit dense, this feature, so here's a picture of Chicago housemaster, Darryl Pandy, before I continue...

Spotify were in the news recently. I followed this story last week and then got lost in the debate about Ownership models vs Subscription models and how Spotify were at least trying to make the industry evolve just as much as iTunes were, blah, blah. I read lots of debates and forum arguments over this one and was lost in stats, and cultural ideas about what consumers and audiences of the future would feel about owning actual physical products when there would be a lack of space, emotional connection to plastic, etc. Personally all I get from Spotify is that so far (unless someone can suggest a better way) I only use it to share certain playlists/mixtapes with anyone who visits my blogs, follows me. I can organise the tracks based on the music I already own at home and have myself in iTunes. I have the free version of Spotify. I don't want to pay a tenner a month. I own a lot of music as it is. I get round the annoying adverts by skipping the track before it finishes. But since I'm only using it to arrange playlists occasionally, I don't really have a need for Spotify. As soon as iTunes offers the ability to share owned/uploaded music/playlists, I will be able to delete Spotify.

Since Spotify doesn't seem to offer much to artists it appears that record companies/artists won't support it as well.

iTunes

I would have loved this when I was younger, even more than I do now. I have CD's and loads of records, and I hope I always will because they are important for many reasons, the most important aspect being sound quality. Now iTunes and Spotify are not there in terms of sound quality but it's still an improvement on the ropey compressed sound of my cassettes and cheap stylus of that cheap plastic boxed 'Midi' system in the 1980s. It used to take ages organising my 12" singles, b-sides, album tracks and artist/themed compilations onto blank tapes for train or bus rides to school, college and work. I'd have loved my own stylish jukebox, that I could, accessed via the computer, connect to a decent sound system. This was before I bought an iPod.  For better or worse iTunes Music Store recognised the market for digital music and did what Napster failed to do and what many record companies failed to do at the turn of the century.

Forums


This can be fan forums or general music forums. In an old fashion sense, word of mouth is the best way to check out new music or old, lost classics.

So these are some of the outlets that we have, maybe they are part of the legacy of the recording industry's decline, I don't know, but as ever, they are always going to be at risk from homgenisation, cynics and marketeers squeezing every drop of orginality and creativity out of them to sell us something that we don't care about or want. As ever, it really is up to us to make sure that popular music and culture is valued and not a mere status update, aural wallpaper for tweens, or a imbecilic trending topic.

In the final part I will conclude by summarising Part 1, 2 and 3 and looking into what the future could have in store for the recording industry, but also what it will probably involve.

HOW TO SAVE THE RECORDING INDUSTRY PART 2: Business, Technology and Culture

At a recent lecture, the John Peel Lecture as it happens, Pete Townsend reckoned that Apple should be leading the field in nurturing talent and new music. It's actually an interesting lecture and does delve into some of the areas that I've been thinking about, and you should all click the link and look at it, but, breaking news, Peter...Apple is only a retailer. Sure they are influential and iconic, and I'm sure if they formed a record company it would probably be the best in the world, if, perhaps, rather bland and commercial. Not sure John Peel would be comfortable with Apple employing A&R workers to discover new talent. You just feel we'd get less stuff like The Field or the Fuck Buttons and get the kind of inoffensive Acoustica that crops up in the final montage in any given episode of House, Grey's Anatomy or Brothers and Sisters. At least that's my view. Try asking Andy's Records (yes, I realise they are no more) or even HMV to shape the musical landscape as well as struggling to flog CD's. I can see what Townsend is getting at however. Something has to happen.

In a way, unless you're the type who just accepts whatever radio or X-Factor television serves up, many of us have had to become mini-John Peels, searching the internet and forums for new music, making our own discoveries or checking out things that have been recommended to us, even, in some respects re-discovering rare genres and imported music in times gone by. In the last few years, months, weeks and days, because of music forums, social networking sites, youtube and word of mouth I have found so much new and obscure music and re-discovered my love of Italo disco, works from early pioneers of electronic music and even this fascinating thing about sound in 1930s Soviet Cinema.. I can't image Apple introducing me or anyone to this. To be fair there are occasional radio shows which showcase the more obscure and new stuff, such as 6Music's  Freakzone. This was where I was introduced to the Ghost Box label and The Advisory Circle.

The point is, well there's a couple of points actually. A lot of material isn't even properly available and packaged, so people, when discovering new, old or obscure music can't do anything other than to 'illegally' download it, unless of course they do nothing and don't want to listen to anything else. This example is hardly the same as going to Guy Hands and punching him in the face and stealing his wallet. There are so many records that are rare/out of print that would inspire many new generations of listeners and musicians today. The other point is... well finding a business model that is workable and suits its market, its product and its audience. Apple wouldn't necessarily fill the void of John Peel if they went into the music business as 'tastemakers'. They just wouldn't. I can tell you now the same is true in book publishing. Any company that wants to make as much money as possible won't invest in something that won't sell. In other words they are not arsed promoting a product that is harder to sell, that has niche appeal. They want something that is cheap to produce and easy to palm onto the public.Despite this, despite illegal downloading affecting the market, they will still shift millions of units and make shit loads of money and do deals with other sponsors, investors, etc. If you're a niche/indie act however, unless you have a mummy or daddy who can fund things for you, set up your own label/shop, it's more of a struggle.

GhostBox records is one such niche which, while not setting the music industry on fire or making millions, has a strong brand identity and is able to pay for itself. If anything, like Kompakt records and Warp before it, its appeal is growing and the business is evolving, with new and more diverse releases as time goes on. It also helps if the music has something going for it, which it does. Such record companies are also able to support independent record shops, I talked about in Part 1, with exclusive vinyl releases. This makes sense. It could go further if it isn't already. Companies like these make their records exclusive to indie record shops, shops promote them, sell them and maybe even work with the labels for record signing events, gigs and other forms of promotion. At least you have people involved who know what the business is, what the music is about and who are best placed to promote it. Now if we had this on a grander scale, e.g. more and more small labels with strong and stylish brand identities, interesting artists, supporting and being supported by independent record shops, we could , if we haven't already, business models which at the very least, pay for themselves, certainly at the start. Perhaps I'm naive and this has already been tried, tested and failed. I don't know. My fantasy does require this to happen, so that record shops will be everywhere and manufacturers will make turntables and vinyls and everyone will care about sound, image and presentation. You see the losing battle isn't file sharers as such. People have been sharing music for about 50 years, perhaps longer. It's more cultural. We have to value popular and obscure music. We have to respect it. It's easy to see how we have no respect when you listen to adverts, see how popular music is bastardised on television and talent shows, or how big recording companies put out watered down classical/opera music every Christmas, homogenise the latest London fad, how the music press is just full of air-headed hipsters who are more passionate about Harry Potter than they are about the latest album by Diskjokke.  Christ, the NME might as well be called Noel Music Express as the news is nothing more than banal soundbites, often from Noel Gallagher.  I suppose what this also amounts to is the fall in quality in some respects, lack of eclecticism. Music generally is more sanitised ans Americanised. Don't believe me. Okay then. Let's have a look at the charts from this week in 1981,1991, 2001 and 2011. Deal?

1981
1. The Police-Everything She Does is magic
2. Altered Images-Happy birthday
3. Four Tops-When she was my girl
4. Squeeze-Labelled with love
5. OMD-Joan of arc
6. Dave Stewart with Barbara Gaskin-It's my party
7. Julio Iglesias-Begin the beguine
8. Queen and David Bowie-Under pressure
9. Rod Stewart- Tonight I'm yours
10. Olivia Newton John-Physical

1991

1. Vic Reeves and the Wonderstuff-Dizzy
2. 2 Unlimited-Get ready for this
3. K-Klass-Rhythm is a mystery
4. Kylie Minogue-If you were with me now
5. U2-The fly
6. Bryan Adams-Everything I do
7. Kiri Te Kanawa- World in union
8. The Bassheads-Is there anybody out there?
9. Genesis-No son of mine
10. The J.A.M.M.S-It's grim up north

2001
1. Westlife-Queen of my heart
2. Afroman-Because I got high
3. So solid crew-They don't know
4. Alicia Keys-Fallin'
5. Iio-Rapture
6. Artists Against Aids Worldwide-What's going on?
7. Jennifer Lopez feat. Ja Rule-I'm real
8. Cher-Music's no good without you
9. DJ Otzi- Hey baby
10. Dandy Warholds- Bohemian like you

2011

1. Professor Green feat. Emeli Sande-Read all about it
2. Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris-We found love
3. Labrinth feat. Tinie Tempah-Earthquake
4. Cher Lloyd feat. Mike Posner- When UR love
5. Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera- Moves like Jagger
6. Ed Sheeran-Lego house
7. LMFAO-sexy and I know it
8. Charlene Soraia- Wherever you will go
9. Kelly Clarkson-Mr know it all
10. David Guetta feat. Usher- Without You

The proof is there. Black and white. Quality control. What's with everyone featuring someone all of a sudden? Even the duet or unusual duet has been debased.

Of course I don't want to downplay file-sharing and the impact it has had on the industry. People like U2 and Radiohead won't suffer as much as new artists, who already don't get promotion and investment from most record companies and can't even gig if they can't afford it. For new artists the industry is by and large a middle class persons game now. You just couldn't afford to gig all over the place otherwise. However I think it's a step too far when certain artists go on about file-sharing as theft. This view doesn't change the culture. In fact it makes music fans more determined to break the rules if some millionaire like Lily Allen tells you that you're a thief. I've spoke about this at length here. You'll actually find a few more suggestions on how you might save the industry there too, as well, as a nice picture of Lily.

I've been ranting on a bit here and I think there's one more part left, where I'll try and conclude and tie summarise things. Until then. Check out the links in this feature kids and learn more.