{"id":2877,"date":"2010-05-05T18:26:35","date_gmt":"2010-05-06T02:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=2877"},"modified":"2010-05-05T18:26:35","modified_gmt":"2010-05-06T02:26:35","slug":"read-this-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2010\/05\/05\/read-this-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Read This"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Indie music mogul: The net’s great for us
Beggars boss Martin Mills<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I don’t agree with all of Martin Mills’s distribution philosophies, but what is fascinating is that the Beggars Group sells albums, because people consider them to be good.<\/p>\n

Rather than sign a pretty face, Beggars signs acts that focus on the music, and when you’ve got good music the buzz online is deafening.\u00c2\u00a0 If Richard Russell signs an act, insiders immediately want to check it out, and at this point, insiders are not only businessmen.<\/p>\n

\n
\n"You read the industry is 60 per cent of the size it was ten years ago. But that 40 per cent that has gone is almost entirely the cream at the top. Records that sold two million now sell 500,000 – that’s where that’s gone. At the same time it’s easier to sell those slightly smaller levels.<\/p>\n

"What’s called pejoratively ‘the new middle class’ is someone like, say, Calexico or Midlake, who can sell 100,000 plus records every time they put out a record; they can play to 3-4,000 people in 30 or 40 cities around the world. And they can make a pretty good living out of that, doing what they love doing, and can do it on their own terms, and that’s fantastic. We’ve got a bunch of bands like that, they’re not necessarily seeking stardom or riches. That’s incredibly healthy."<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In America in particular, there’s a constant swinging for the fences.\u00c2\u00a0 How can we take this developing act all the way, how can we get them on Top Forty radio and TV, how can we bump sales to the point where we can sell out arenas.\u00c2\u00a0 As a result, the hype is gigantic, turning so many people off.\u00c2\u00a0 Followers end up being trend-seeking punters, who listen and then abandon.\u00c2\u00a0 Kind of like club tracks.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not talking electronica here, I’m talking those bass-heavy numbers on the Top Forty that play in the background as you attempt to get laid.\u00c2\u00a0 Doesn’t matter who makes them.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s kind of like gasoline.\u00c2\u00a0 How many people really care if it’s Mobil or Shell?\u00c2\u00a0 Especially now that stations all take the same credit cards, you just fill up when you’re empty, there’s no brand loyalty.<\/p>\n

But there’s loyalty to Beggars acts.<\/p>\n

The majors are trying to be all things to all people in an era of niches.\u00c2\u00a0 And they’re so top heavy with costs, their model can’t survive. What exactly is Guy Hands’s plan?\u00c2\u00a0 Inject more money into a declining business?\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t that like overpaying for a used Hyundai?\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, the songs are worth something.\u00c2\u00a0 But what’s the return on new music development? And can’t those resources get a better return elsewhere?<\/p>\n

Music is now the realm of fans, of believers.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re doing it to get rich, get out.\u00c2\u00a0 Now you’ve got to follow your passion, and doing your job and listening to the music might have to be enough.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, if you sign something spectacular, a lot of money can still rain down.\u00c2\u00a0 But keep it.\u00c2\u00a0 Because you never know when the next big payday will arrive.\u00c2\u00a0 And manage your acts so they’ll continue to rain money, don’t whore them out incessantly, that’s like putting crap gas in a Lamborghini.\u00c2\u00a0 Nurture excellence.\u00c2\u00a0 Take care of it.<\/p>\n

Great ears are much more important than great business instincts.\u00c2\u00a0 You might know how to sell a great band, but can you find one?<\/p>\n

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Indie music mogul: The net’s great for usBeggars boss Martin Mills I don’t agree with all of Martin Mills’s distribution philosophies, but what is fascinating is that the Beggars Group sells albums, because people consider them to be good. Rather than sign a pretty face, Beggars signs acts that focus on the music, and when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-Kp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2877"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2878,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2877\/revisions\/2878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}