The biggest crisis facing the music business isn’t pricing, of either music or concerts, but the lack of a filter telling people what to listen to.<\/p>\n
You may decry "American Idol", but at least it assembles a mass of eyeballs to pay attention to new performers. Yes, the music is well-known, but the performers are not.\u00c2\u00a0 How can we get people to pay attention to new music?<\/p>\n
Not via record reviews.\u00c2\u00a0 That paradigm is shot.\u00c2\u00a0 There are no trusted reviewers.\u00c2\u00a0 And there’s so much product. Hyped to high heaven because the purveyors want to get rich.\u00c2\u00a0 And it costs so much to listen to it.<\/p>\n
Yes, in time.\u00c2\u00a0 Time is very expensive.\u00c2\u00a0 Who wants to spend it looking for a needle in a haystack?\u00c2\u00a0 And how much new music can one listen to anyway?<\/p>\n
Actually, the original concept of Top Forty was not beat-infused, genre-specific mindless tripe.\u00c2\u00a0 It was akin to what Gene Simmons says Kiss delivers, but we laugh about.\u00c2\u00a0 What does the painted band begin its shows by saying…"You wanted the best, you got the best?"\u00c2\u00a0 Or maybe it’s "deserve the best"…\u00c2\u00a0 The point isn’t to laud Kiss, which needs no benefits, its hard core keeping the band alive, but to point out that if there was a radio station, Website or TV show that truly played\/delineated\/showcased the best music, people would be attracted to it and new music would flourish.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, that’s what happened with Top Forty twice…in the sixties and early eighties.<\/p>\n
But this would require leaving most music out.\u00c2\u00a0 And refusing to play games with those with deep pockets, i.e. labels or rich individuals like Sam Adams.\u00c2\u00a0 The same great cuts would have to be banged again and again.\u00c2\u00a0 And if there was no good new music, then the old would have to be continued to be featured.<\/p>\n
Don’t tell me radio is dead.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t tell me everyone’s got their favorite Website.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t tell me it’s solely about word of mouth.\u00c2\u00a0 I AGREE, I’m just pointing out an opportunity, for an entrepreneur who truly cares about music and wants to make a fortune.<\/p>\n
It’s not about the iPhone app.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about the ads on the Website.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about technology at all.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what’s been wrong with the past decade, it’s been about science and marketing, not music.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody wants to get rich. From the wannabe acts to Tim Westergren and Pandora to the endless purveyors of music distribution platforms. No one’s focusing on the music!\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s why we’re hurting.<\/p>\n
Sure, there’s good music out there.\u00c2\u00a0 But how do you get people to pay attention?\u00c2\u00a0 Certainly not by allowing makers to spam, with endless unsolicited notices, and even MP3s, clogging up your inbox.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about culling the best.\u00c2\u00a0 And letting people know about it.<\/p>\n
And it’s got to be very good.\u00c2\u00a0 Because few have the time.<\/p>\n
But so many have the desire.<\/p>\n
Ask people where they find out about new music.\u00c2\u00a0 Baby boomers will be dumbfounded, college students will talk about friends and a small universe of acts and the prepubescent will rave about the hits on today’s radio and in gossip columns, but what happens when they reach adolescence and want something meatier?<\/p>\n
This is a huge crisis.\u00c2\u00a0 And it’s not unsolvable.\u00c2\u00a0 But it does require a lot of thinking.\u00c2\u00a0 And a lot of listening.\u00c2\u00a0 The solution is less about building infrastructure than analysis.\u00c2\u00a0 We all want great music, who’s gonna serve it to us?<\/p>\n
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