OLD SCHOOL

Get a record deal.

NEW SCHOOL

Get a fan base.

OLD SCHOOL

Learn how to play your instrument.

NEW SCHOOL

Learn how to use your computer.

OLD SCHOOL

The artist is king.

NEW SCHOOL

If the label doesn’t hear a hit, they won’t release your album. And the CEO makes more money than any of the artists.

OLD SCHOOL

Hire a publicity person to get noticed in print media.

NEW SCHOOL

Do your own publicity online.

OLD SCHOOL

Radio is everything.

NEW SCHOOL

TikTok is everything, that’s where acts break.

OLD SCHOOL

Parents hate the music.

NEW SCHOOL

Parents hate the platform, i.e. TikTok (and some still can’t get over physical media and hate Spotify, et al, too).

OLD SCHOOL

Perfect the music and only release what’s up to snuff.

NEW SCHOOL

Put absolutely everything up on YouTube so fans can find it if they’re looking for it. Live shows, acoustic in the studio, everything. Forget quality, otherwise why would people be watching audience-based videos? They want a taste of what it was like at the show. Fans want to get closer, don’t put up a brick wall, but a conduit.

OLD SCHOOL

Spend a fortune recording in a professional studio.

NEW SCHOOL

Record at home, maybe on your laptop.

OLD SCHOOL

Acts are technologically ignorant. They don’t know how the studio works.

NEW SCHOOL

Every act must be an engineer and producer. They must know how the music is created.

OLD SCHOOL

Put out an album, shorter than forty minutes in the vinyl era, no longer than eighty minutes in the CD era.

NEW SCHOOL

Either put out an EP with only a handful of songs, or put out an opus, a double album with maybe even thirty tracks. Because if someone is truly into your music, they’ll stream EVERYTHING!

OLD SCHOOL

Getting ripped-off by the label.

NEW SCHOOL

Believing streaming services are ripping you off even though they’re not.

OLD SCHOOL

Arguing about Spotify payments.

NEW SCHOOL

A focus on software, i.e. the music itself. Sure, business is important, but too many acts spend too much time thinking about it. Create music that draws people to it, then you’ll make money, believe me.

OLD SCHOOL

Major labels shuffled the decks every three to five years or so. A new president came in and wiped out all the old employees and brought in his own team. It was a constant game of musical chairs.

NEW SCHOOL

The same people run the major labels ad infinitum.

OLD SCHOOL

An exec is only as good as his or her last hit, money is everything.

NEW SCHOOL

An exec is only as good as his or her last hit, money is everything.

OLD SCHOOL

Print music magazines meant everything.

NEW SCHOOL

Not only is print dead, but the websites of the early twenty first century are irrelevant too, everything is word of mouth these days.

OLD SCHOOL

Lead with your music.

NEW SCHOOL

Lead with your identity/personality. Your image is just as important as your music. To be featured in the gossip columns means you’ve made it.

OLD SCHOOL

No endorsements, no sponsorships…

NEW SCHOOL

Where do I sell out? I’m dying to sell out, isn’t anybody going to give me money?

OLD SCHOOL

Credibility.

NEW SCHOOL

A bifurcation… There are acts playing the game the old way, building their audience live, over years, they are lifers. They truly focus on the bond with their audience, they just don’t pay lip service. Credibility is key. And everybody else is in it for the fame and money, and will sign anything put in front of them.

OLD SCHOOL

Stadium shows were rare.

NEW SCHOOL

Stadium shows are de rigueur. There are more people and more acts with huge fan bases. But that does not mean those who do not go to the show care.

OLD SCHOOL

Country sucks. Enough with the rednecks and twang.

NEW SCHOOL

Country is the rock of the twenty first century. But there are still a lot of rednecks.

OLD SCHOOL

Hip-hop is cutting edge.

NEW SCHOOL

Hip-hop is long in the tooth, almost a caricature of itself.

OLD SCHOOL

Rappers got shot.

NEW SCHOOL

Rappers get shot.

OLD SCHOOL

Acts rarely had a hit past their prime.

NEW SCHOOL

Acts rarely have a hit past their prime.

OLD SCHOOL

If you wanted to know what was going on you listened to a record.

NEW SCHOOL

Everybody gets their information from a different source, but one thing is for sure, they don’t get it from musicians.

OLD SCHOOL

Musicians stood for something.

NEW SCHOOL

Musicians stand for nothing, they’re afraid of alienating a potential audience member, hurting their career.

OLD SCHOOL

There were few acts who were truly superstars.

NEW SCHOOL

There are a ton of acts that they keep telling us are superstars but we can ignore them and sacrifice nothing.

OLD SCHOOL

You had to buy it to hear it. And when you bought it you listened to it over and over again.

NEW SCHOOL

Everything is available at your fingertips, and it’s hard to get people to listen to anything, never mind all the way through or more than once.

OLD SCHOOL

Very few could be successful musicians, giving up their day job.

NEW SCHOOL

Everybody thinks they’re entitled to be a successful musician and give up their day job.

OLD SCHOOL

You showed off your record collection.

NEW SCHOOL

It’s all about experiences, and you post pictures of them online.

OLD SCHOOL

Labels kept the club scene alive.

NEW SCHOOL

The labels don’t want to spend and neither does the public. If there’s no heat on the act, they’re not interested.

OLD SCHOOL

You knew all the hit acts, even if you didn’t like their music.

NEW SCHOOL

Acts can sell out arenas, and you’ve never heard of them, never mind heard their music.

OLD SCHOOL

The charts were manipulated and not to be trusted.

NEW SCHOOL

The charts are manipulated and not to be trusted.

OLD SCHOOL

The tour was an advertisement for the album.

NEW SCHOOL

The album is the advertisement for the tour.

OLD SCHOOL

Recordings were everything.

NEW SCHOOL

Playing live is everything. You may not even need a record. Or one every five years. Assuming your show is not identical every night. People will know songs that were never laid down on tape/hard drive/SSD. From going to the gig and watching on YouTube.

OLD SCHOOL

Music was everything.

NEW SCHOOL

Music is a sideshow.

OLD SCHOOL

Music saved lives.

NEW SCHOOL

Money is everything, don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.