I’m scratching my head with regard to these record company layoffs.\u00c2\u00a0 What are the bosses thinking?<\/p>\n
We can complain that a salary cut at the top can save multiple jobs at the bottom.<\/p>\n
We can look to Steve Jobs, who famously said during the dot come meltdown that Apple was going to innovate its way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n
But what’s most fascinating to me is that record labels are not like Caterpillar, not like Chrysler, not like Home Depot.<\/p>\n
No company’s going to rush in and steal Caterpillar’s business.\u00c2\u00a0 Caterpillar is tanking because of the slowdown in construction. \u00c2\u00a0
We can detail all the problems of Chrysler, but even Toyota is hurting.<\/p>\n
And it takes so much money to ramp up in the auto and construction industries.\u00c2\u00a0 A kid in his dorm doesn’t undercut them with some all night programming sessions on his laptop.<\/p>\n
But music is different.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s easy to make.\u00c2\u00a0 Can be expensive to market, but how good is the major label marketing when there’s no one working there anymore?\u00c2\u00a0 When they’ve gutted their touring and new media departments?<\/p>\n
In other words, it’s incredibly shortsighted for record labels to be laying people off now.\u00c2\u00a0 Because they don’t have a monopoly on the marketplace.<\/p>\n
One can outsource certain functions.\u00c2\u00a0 But you need a core team, familiar with all the ins and outs, that believes it belongs.<\/p>\n
You need youth, who are not only in touch with trends, but have few expenses and are dedicated.<\/p>\n
The fewer acts you sign, the more turf you cede to your opponents in the game, the independents.\u00c2\u00a0 Majors used to believe they could just skim the cream off the top, when an act got traction, they’d sign them.\u00c2\u00a0 But with sales so anemic and radio less consequential and the Internet delivering the ability to do it yourself, do you really need the big label?\u00c2\u00a0 Do you need to give up all that action for so little in return?<\/p>\n
Now is when the future of the music business is being written.\u00c2\u00a0 Just like major media corporations like Viacom and Tribune could end up in different hands, when the dust clears, when the economy is healthy, expect completely different people to be in charge of music production.\u00c2\u00a0 Most likely the same young ‘uns above, who are willing to work for bupkes, all night.<\/p>\n
There’s no stranglehold on creativity.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only artistic, but business too.\u00c2\u00a0 A great thought does not have to come in the package of a million dollar executive.\u00c2\u00a0 One can posit that the greatest thoughts, the best innovations, come from those unburdened by the so-called truth.\u00c2\u00a0 Successful entrepreneurs constantly state that if they knew what they did now, they never would have started.\u00c2\u00a0 That ignorance is truly bliss.<\/p>\n
If you truly care about music, don’t lament the loss of your job at the major label.\u00c2\u00a0 It was just a matter of when, anyway.\u00c2\u00a0 Hopefully you’ve saved some of your salary, not blown it all on a big house and a German car lease.\u00c2\u00a0 Use your assets to build something. Utilizing your expertise.\u00c2\u00a0 If you truly care about music, show us.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t just bitch that you can’t suck at the tit anymore.<\/p>\n
New bands and new companies are not burdened by the major label structure.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve got little overhead, they can give it away for free to sell concert tickets, they’re not married to a political agenda.\u00c2\u00a0 Indies are nimble.\u00c2\u00a0 They might not have access to terrestrial radio, but is terrestrial radio the dominant format of the future?\u00c2\u00a0 Is ANYTHING the dominant format of the future?\u00c2\u00a0 By trying to hit homers are the majors ceding the landscape to those who know the value of a single?\u00c2\u00a0 And never forget, a bunch of singles will generate more runs than a solo homer.<\/p>\n
Interesting times…<\/p>\n
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