The Way the Music Died

segfaultcoredump writes "Frontline just released a show entitled The Way the Music Died, an in-depth look at all that is wrong with the music industry. The show will be available for online viewing on May 29th. Their website includes the full text of all of the interviews done during the show, including a very interesting one with musical legend David Crosby, where he hits the reason the industry is having problems right on the head." Reader robl adds "This is a good sequel to the 2001 Frontline episode, The Merchants of Cool which showed how the music industry markets its wares to teenagers and how it hypes artists."

CD's are really a bargain when you put it this way

[mackermacker]

You have to hand it to the RIAA, they have their *own unique way of pricing cd's. as they state:

One 1987 Washington Post article reported that record executives believed that the price of a CD would eventually settle around $10.

Twenty years later, production costs have come down, but consumers are still complaining about the cost of CDs, which now are priced at upwards of $16. The industry's main lobbying arm, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), responds that prices have come down. According to an article [riaa.com]published on the RIAA's Web site, "Between 1983 and 1996, the average price of a CD fell by more than 40%. Over this same period of time, consumer prices ... rose nearly 60%. If CD prices had risen at the same rate as consumer prices over this period, the average retail price of a CD in 1996 would have been $33.86 instead of $12.75."

Anyone who has burned a CD on his computer for less than a dollar may still wonder why a product that is so cheap to manufacture could cost so much. The answer is that while the cost of physically producing a CD has dropped dramatically over two decades, the costs of marketing that album have grown tremendously. For example, in the early 1980s, music videos were an optional route for the industry to promote their artists. Now labels are expected to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars producing music videos for all of their major artists. Even marketing a major album to radio can costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. And if an album is unlikely to get on radio or MTV, some labels have decided to launch costly television advertising campaigns to gain exposure for their artists.

However, the price of a CD isn't just paying for expensive marketing campaigns; it's also subsidizing releases by other artists that will never sell enough to make a profit. An artist at a major label may need to sell more than a million units before the venture ends up in the black. Most albums never sell anywhere near that. According to the RIAA, only 10 percent of albums ever achieve profitability.

Music wont die

[WormholeFiend]

If the big music conglomerates die, people will still continue to make music...

There's a lot of talented musicians and bands out there. Maybe they only play in bars and small venues; maybe they still have a day job; maybe you have to make a special detour to that out-of-the-way independent record store to find their records.

We can all live without music conglomerates and their lipsynching puppets.

Re:Cut it down to 3:05.

[tanguyr]

That's absolutely true. It's not so long ago that entertainers, jesters, bards, actors, etc. were pretty low down on the social scale. Now however, entertainers (including those involved in sports), are the most affluent and in some quarters, most respected of anyone in the world today.

Median annual earnings of salaried musicians and singers were $36,290 in 2002. The middle 50 percent earned between $18,660 and $59,970. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $13,040, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $96,250. Median annual earnings were $43,060 in performing arts companies and $18,160 in religious organizations.

Source: Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics [bls.gov]

Re:Cut it down to 3:05.

[stanmann]

Actually, he's won, I don't know what lead you to believe that he gave up, but Here's prince [npgmusicclub.com]

He publishes direct download no middleman music.

Re:Cut it down to 3:05.

[spaceman harris]

I saw Frontline last night and thought that the documentary contained some good interviews and some insights, but ultimately it didn't really tie everything together. A lot of the show was spent following Velvet Revolver and a wannabe Avril Lavigne. You're time is probably best spent reading the interviews, particularly David Crosby and Melinda Newman.

This might be a good time to mention other Frontline shows online that are excellent: The Jesus Factor and the Man who knew. Those deserve some good on line viewing time.

The reasons why

[Synn]

It was a good show, the reasons they listed why the music industry is in such trouble:

CD sales in the 80's caused a massive boom in the industry because everyone was replacing their older records. This caused major industry corps to come in and gobble everyone up, because they wanted in on the action.

But the new corp culture revolved around quarterly reports and set schedules. So musicians are pressured to produce on a schedule to meet profit quotas. This doesn't make for good music.

MTV also changed the face of music. If you can get on MTV you get massive exposure. The problem with MTV though is that it's about image as much as it is about the music. So we end up with pop stars like Britney Spears who's pretty to look at but sounds like drek.

Clear Channel now owns a significant amount of radio stations and they will only accept so many new songs in a week. Record people now look for a "sellable" song that the stations will play(basically something just like they're playing already) because you want that mass exposure to hook people into buying your album. It's not about good music, it's about having a hit single.

Re:Good article

[(trb001)]

99% true, but that 1% is worth it.

Check out Andrew W.K. next time he comes to town (coincidentally, he's coming to the 9:30 club in D.C. tonight, and I'm going to be out of town). He has the most energetic performance I've ever seen. He was on DC101 this morning talking and openly said (paraphrased) "I have some stuff that's been released overseas only, but with the wonders of the Internet you can find it. Please, download any of my stuff you want, you have my blessing." His live shows just rock, people can get on stage, he rides around on other peoples' shoulders, croud surfs, everything. Never any problems either. He's just a cool guy to watch and listen to.

--trb

Transcription Error

[KingFatty]

From Crosby's interview:
"No packaging cost, no promotion, no lairs of distributors, each taking 20 percent off as it goes by."

That should read:
"...no *layers* of distributors"

Re:So..

[WebGangsta]

Peter Gabriel has already done this with his MUDDA project.

MUDDA: The Magnificent Union of Digitally Downloading Artists [mudda.org]

Sure...

[acaeti]

the show agrees with the prevailing slashdot opinion that record companies suck, but as someone who watched the episode, let me point out that it does not address (well) many current and relevant issues, such as downloading music (original Napster or iTunes), underground recording (DJ Dangermouse), fair use or other slashdot favorites.

It seemed rather a limited episode to me. Just look at the press reaction page [pbs.org] for the episode (and no, not all of the comments are from reactionary neoconservative RIAA lobbyist stooges).

Shame on Frontline [pbs.org] for making a relatively poor episode; I have to agree with Roger Catlin [mailto] of The Hartford Courant [ctnow.com] when he says [ctnow.com] "When it wanders away from subjects of grave importance, the usually excellent 'Frontline' can stumble badly."

However, when they are on [pbs.org], they are on [pbs.org], IMHO.

And Kudos to Frontline for posting such negative criticism on their own website; such honesty is rare.

Re:CD's are really a bargain when you put it this

[grahamm]

When you purchase a CD you really aren't promoting the artist, but rather the label instead.

For a very good example of this, you only have to look at Richard Branson and the Virgin group. Until the release of Tubular Bells (Virgin 1), Virgin just ran a few small record shops. It was the sucess Tubular Bells that made Richard Branson and launched the Virgin Group.

Nonsense

[amyhughes]

If the RIAA would just allow their member companies to price their CD's at US$11.95 per album-length CD the incentive to pirate music would drop drastically.

Have you actually priced CDs lately? Go to amazon and put a bunch of stuff you might actually buy in your cart. Note the club price, too.

I've bought a few hundred CDs in recent months and I've averaged $10 each. That's less than your $12 figure, no?

I've written about this here [slashdot.org].

Yeah, retail prices stink, but your price point is very handily met by a store that delivers.

Amy

Press comments

[sjonke]

To PBS' credit that they are posting what the press is saying about the show [pbs.org], even though most of it is quite negative.

Re:Good article

[wass]

music today is CRAP. I don't care what my friends tell me, or what the TV tells me, there's no way around it.

Dude, get the hell out of your house and go to some live music clubs. It seems like you are limiting your definition of music to what you listen to on the big commercial radio stations.

Music definitely isn't dead, there's tons and tons of bands playing around in damn near any style you can think of. Sure, many of these bands suck, but a good number are quite talented and really rock! Go to some of your local music clubs (try smaller venues w/ like 100-200 person capacity). There's probably several local bands that you might like right under your nose that you weren't aware of. Or catch some touring bands when they come through your neck of the woods.

There's TONS of innovation and musical talent now, just as much as ever. You have to know where to go look for it (hint - not on top-20 radio stations or in Sam Goody or whatever crappy music chain is in your nearby mall).

Re:Three thoughts

[Unknown Lamer]

Or you can spend $1000 on getting microphones and $0 [ardour.org] dollars [sf.net] for [rosegardenmusic.com] the [sourceforge.net] software [linux-sound.org].

Believe or it not it is possible to produce decent music cheaply. Equipment is another problem...a good eight track sound card (e.g. Midiman Delta 1010-LT) will run you around $250, more if you want something fancy (e.g. the Midiman Delta 1010 which has the connections in a rack mounted breakout box instead of the back of the computer--much easier to use). The cost of a reasonable workstation has gone down a lot--my Dual AthlonMP 2800+ machine cost around $2000 total (including all of the equipment I got to upgrade my old 500Mhz k6-2 that ended up in this box and my used 24" SGI Monitor).

The microphones are what kills me. I use my live sound stuff to record occasionally. An SM58 will run around $85 for vocals, an SM57 $75 or $80, and a set of drum mics...I have a cheap $140 set of Samson drum mics with a pair of weird overheads I got from a guy for $20 and it sounds OK but in reality they suck. A good set of Shure drum mics (for live sound) would cost around ... $600. Add a second kick drum (grr, stupid Brent) or a fourth tom and you'll add another $200. It's cheaper to buy a cheap drum machine than to get mics for a real drum :)

Recording demo quality material is cheap and easy nowadays if everyone in the band has mics for live performances. Recording studio quality stuff is still expensive for a bunch of college kids making subs all day. Sure, maybe the guy with a good tech job and lots of money to waste can do it but the people actually making music all day can't. The important part is that it is a lot cheaper now to maybe record at home and trick your friend in the college music program majoring to be a mastering engineer to master your recordings cheaply and then get some CDs pressed with a small booklet to send to the labels.

There are still labels that accept new music. Even the big five do--InsideOut is an imprint of EMI and carries only progressive rock/metal bands like Symphony X and Transatlantic. Relapse Records consists entirely of Grindcore (well, most people wouldn't think of Grindcore as music...), SPV carries a lot of metal now; everything from Hair to Black to Progressive. Koch records also has quite a few excellent bands (e.g. Opeth).

Lastly, life is not all about records. It is easy to book a tour if you don't care where you will be playing or whom you will be playing with. Hell, I am planning on doing vocals for Recently Vacated Graves [zombiemetal.tk] on a two week Canadian tour at the end of July. Look at the lyrics...there are a week worth of shows booked so far for three weeks worth of time spent contacting venues. Every band should tour a few times before they release a real record (that's how people get to know who you are when you don't have a huge marketing machine behind you).

The above is based on the experiences of several friends who are in bands which are mildly successful (successful enough to be on tours, one in Europe and to have actually gotten signed to real labels with DIY demos).

P.S. Are you planning on going to a show on the Dream Theater and Yes [dreamtheater.net] tour? I'm afraid of how much those tickets will cost.

Re:The Artist Formerly Known as Independent ?

[The Ultimate Fartkno]

> Not unless he bought Sony records. They released "Musicology" by "Prince" on April 20, 2004.

Yeah, they *released* it. They didn't produce it, they don't own the masters, they had no hand in any of it. They pressed and distributed the cd's on his terms, and that's all.

> Looks like the temporary independence was just another PR stunt, like the temporary name change.

The whole "symbol" era, while bizarre, was hardly a PR stunt. The whole thing started when Warner (his label at the time) wanted to put out more albums and he balked at it because a) he was getting increasingly frustrated with Warner's focus on "product" rather than music, and b) he's one of those guys who won't put out an album until everything's perfect. (This is the guy who, weeks away from releasing "The Black Album" suddenly decided that he didn't like it, scrapped the whole project) Warner knew that he had *tons* of stuff in the vaults and since they owned not only the masters of all of his unreleased material but the *rights to the man's name*, they started releasing Prince albums that weren't really Prince albums. It was his music, but it was just songs they threw together from whatever he had on tape. Basically, they were bootlegging his stuff. He got sick of it, released the Black Album, and ended his Warner contract. Warner threatened to (and may have, I'm fuzzy on the timeline) keep releasing more "Prince" records, so his only real choice was to change his name - which he did, in classic Prince style. Admittedly he could have said "This is why I'm doing this, people!", but he's always been more than willing to let the public speculate if it'll keep him from having to do an interview.

Unfocused, not specific to modern times

[Junks Jerzey]

I watched this last night. It was kinda interesting, but mostly old news and not very insightful. Most of the show was about two new artists trying to make it big: Sarah Hudson (kind of a generic poppy singer with glitzy production values) and Velvet Revolver (Stone Temple Pilots / Guns 'n Roses mix-up band). All the points about becoming successful in music are interesting, but they aren't new. These threads were tossed in with a occasional comments about the consolidation of the recording industry and the domination of Wal-Mart, but these were not the primary focus of the show. The previews blurb talked about file sharing, but this was only briefly mentioned once in the show.

All-in-all I didn't get much out of it, especially not anything about why the music industry is much different than it was in the 1960s.

Re:Cut it down to 3:05.

[asylum]

Evanescence is actually *not* on a major label - they're signed with Wind-Up Records out of New York. Other bands on the label include Creed, Drowning Pool and Seether.

While Wind-Up may not produce the most innovative music, they are known for how well they treat their artists, and they have been very successful.

Re:Cut it down to 3:05.

[effex100]

There more major than they are Indipendant. Creed, Drowning pool, Evenesence those arte pretty big names in the current rock scene.

they are known for how well they treat their artists, and they have been very successful.

And it's always great to see an exception to the norm. A successful label with some big names that doesn't bend their artists over.

Re:Cut it down to 3:05.

[Abjifyicious]

I understand what you're saying, and I somewhat agree. The example of Evanescence proves the point about a lack of innovation, because they're just a cheesy ripoff of a band called Lacuna Coil.

Actually, both Evanescence and Lacuna Coil made their first release in '98, so while their music may sound similar, it's not fair to call one a ripoff of the other.

Re:Cut it down to 3:05.

[MillionthMonkey]

The reason most people think older music was so much better is because they don't reminise over the old stuff that happend to be crap.

No, it's because there is no new stuff that isn't crap.

The BackStreet Boys actually deliver on that. I'm no great fan of them, but I know their music is catchy and a lot of 14 year-old girls genuinly liked the sound.

That's because they're 14 and don't know any better.

KCRW

[StarWynd]

Anyone who's tired of overhyped, overplayed cookie cutter music should try listening [kcrwmusic.org] to KCRW [kcrw.org]. Even though they are an NPR affliate, you'd only know it because of the news at the top of the hour. They play many different kinds of music and things you probably haven't heard. There are so many new artists to discover and new music to hear, and KCRW is one of the few places where you can do just that. It's good music.

Re:Cut it down to 3:05.

[yotto]

Um, I'm sorry, but Wind-up [magnetbox.com] is on the RIAA Radar.
They also produced the Daredevil Album.
'Nuff Said.

Re:Cut it down to 3:05.

[nospmiS remoH]

Wind-Up Entertainment is a member of a certain association. [ucam.org] I think the acronym stands for Recording Industry something or other of America or someting :)

Re:i used to think that until about 3 years ago

[AdamD1]

> what i find incredible is if you go to these places you can
> buy "our" (usa/uk) music everywhere, and yet the most you
> get in a music store here is a pathetic little "world"
> section, that in no way reflects what the people there are
> actually listening to. why is this? are we (as a race of
> white caucasion middle class brits/americans) so close
> minded? what the %*^%& has gone wrong?!

I used to think that was the actual reason until I started asking about the licensing of Japanese music. The issue has a lot more to do with foreign labels and their wish to make the highest return on investment when licensing a recording. I can't buy Shena Ringo in any store in North America because it would cost them $50 to bring in a single copy, thanx to the crazy tarriffs, fees, taxes, etc. involved. The reason it's actually that high is also that in Japan: the labels charge 3800 (close to $40USD) yen for a CD and will license accordingly. So yeah a lot of the "Western" (ie: North America and Europe) titles are all that get considered as "Import". I live in Canada so the extent of most "World" sections is mostly latin music, and not a very wide variety of that.

If I had a credit card (and I don't, nor do I really ever want one again) I would go to cdjapan.co.jp or any number of other overseas websites, but I do get charged through the nose. And that's why.

This is something I really hoped that legalized downloading would settle but apparently not. The same number of megabytes of data for some reason cost me $1.19 canadian via Napster, but costs someone in the UK over 1 UK pound. (Which is $2.45 canadian.) That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of and a key reason I hope that the whole music publishing industry has a massive turnaround.

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[KnarfO]

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They ask artists to listen to and rate music in order for the artist/band to upload their own stuff. I've come across some really good music thanks to this system, and in turn, got some exposure for our [garageband.com] band [garageband.com].