Album Sales Up
Trumpeting this as good news is like saying we’re winning in Afghanistan if the body count is less than it was the previous week.
We lost that war.
And the major labels lost the Internet war.
Let’s see, once upon a time the most powerful person in the music business was Doug Morris. Or Jimmy Iovine. Some label cat.
Now the most powerful person in the music business is Irving Azoff, or Steve Jobs.
Irving is a manager. Curator of the original 360 deal. That’s the future. A manager is on the same side as the artist, not the opposite. It’s all the same family. If you think you’re part of the major label family go to Lyor Cohen’s house, then you’ll see where all your money went.
Irving also controls Live Nation. Once upon a time the promoter swept up the droppings of the elephants. Yup, the major labels pooped and the promoters turned that into money. Promoters didn’t break acts, they just profited on the labels’ hard work. But labels didn’t care, because they were making so much money selling CDs. But like Microsoft and RIM and so many tech titans now missing the boat if the labels had wanted to maintain their power, they would have changed their business model eons ago, become promoters and de facto managers and given the lion’s share of the income to the acts. That’s how they would have survived. Instead, Irving stole their thunder.
And the Apple tail truly wags the major label dog. The retailer dictates to the manufacturer. But Apple is not only the retailer of the software, it controls the hardware market too. This is like Toyota making automobiles and selling gasoline. ALL the automobiles and ALL the gasoline. Increased digital sales? Do you really think anybody besides Apple is making headway here, that Amazon is turning the corner?
Of course not!
Apple only plays where it can win.
Google plays everywhere and has the average of a second baseman batting ninth. Great fielder, a necessary part of the lineup, but he can’t ensure victory all by his lonesome.
And Amazon tries to bully its way to victory. It wins when it pioneers, with the Kindle, with cloud services, but when it’s a me-too company, it’s laughable.
The major labels are like Little Leaguers, in awe of the big boys. Or maybe minor league castoffs, full of woulda, coulda, shoulda.
And isn’t it funny that Pro Tools is not controlled by the labels. That’s how they bought their insurance. By dangling enough cash to pay for recording. But now anybody can do it in their basement.
Oh, don’t get your knickers in a twist, don’t say that’s impossible, that you need pros and a real room. Many independent acts today make enough money on the road to pay for real studios and name engineers and producers. They’re smarter than the labels. They know it’s about performance and merch, in many cases giving away recordings for free. Because their boots are on the ground, they know who the audience is and what it wants instinctively.
But isn’t it truly laughable that these sales numbers are being touted on the same day Spotify allows sign-ups for its American service?
We live in a streaming world, not a sales world. Do you see everybody saving YouTube clips? Does a day go by when Netflix is not in the newspaper? We’re halfway home. Streaming is going to eliminate piracy, at least drive it down to de minimis levels, and more people will listen to more music and everybody will be happy ever after.
Except for the major labels. Which are like Saab, fighting for their very existence. They missed the future completely. You can make it today if you keep all the revenue from all the streams, just pay a small percentage to your manager and your agent. But if the label wants most of the income, the numbers don’t work. Talk about backing yourself into a corner…
Increased sales are not a negative. But it’s like advertising the increased fuel mileage of gasoline powered SUVs. Unit sales are way down. There will always be a small demand for these vehicles, but with gas prices high people want hybrids, electrics, vehicles that run forever on next to nothing.
And if you don’t believe this you probably still believe the CD is king, that MP3s will never triumph, that computers are a fad.
We live in a fast-moving world. Stabilizing a declining sales market is significant, but almost irrelevant.
Spotify or another streaming service is going to make a ton of money.
Isn’t it interesting that all innovation comes from outside the halls of the major labels.
Major labels used to be a filter, bringing the best music to the audience.
Now major labels promote two-dimensional radio acts, in an era when radio is almost unlistenable and young ‘uns have tuned out.
This is a business plan?
