There’s a long article in today’s "Los Angeles Times" debating the merit of a music man or a suit running a record company.\u00c2\u00a0 Not really that interesting a question, but hell, it’s August and Ron Fair got a promotion and has some records to sell.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, Jimmy Iovine weighs in.\u00c2\u00a0 And Andy Gould.\u00c2\u00a0 And even Peter Paterno.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s Mr. Fair himself who delineates the true issue, why the majors will continue to experience declining market share.\u00c2\u00a0 He single-handedly robs this article of its essence to reveal the rotting underbelly of the major label paradigm.\u00c2\u00a0 That it’s about MAINSTREAM POP!<\/p>\n
Once again, content isn’t king, DISTRIBUTION is king.\u00c2\u00a0 Indies have the largest market share in the physical space, it’s just that this fact tends to be hidden, since so many of them align with the majors for distribution so they can get PAID!\u00c2\u00a0 Unless you have a continuous stream of product, you’re never going to get a check from brick and mortar.\u00c2\u00a0 Only a major has enough desirable albums to keep getting paid, and even THEY get burned on a regular basis, when chains like Tower Records don’t pay their bills.<\/p>\n
But what if you could distribute the stuff yourself?\u00c2\u00a0 What if you could do it WITHOUT the major label?\u00c2\u00a0 Then you’d be living in 2006.\u00c2\u00a0 You’d be utilizing the Internet.<\/p>\n
The story isn’t how Ron Fair remakes Macy Gray, or shoves evanescent crap like the Pussycat Dolls down our throats, but how entrepreneurs, MUSIC LOVERS, are utilizing modern communications tools to break acts.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe not into the STRATOSPHERE, but where they can actually have careers.<\/p>\n
Let me give you Ron Fair’s philosophy:<\/p>\n
"’To succeed today you have to get the biggest exposure possible, and that means pop,’ said Fair, 50. ‘Pop music dominates radio, it dominates television, it dominates commercials and the Internet.’"<\/p>\n
I ask you, was this music business built on POP?\u00c2\u00a0 No, it was built by Mo Ostin and his disciples via credible acts that resonated with the public on the INSIDE, not the OUTSIDE, to the point where people are still showing up sometimes in the TENS OF THOUSANDS to get a hit of this material performed live.\u00c2\u00a0 THIRTY YEARS LATER!\u00c2\u00a0 it was the MEANING that resonated, not the sheen.<\/p>\n
Pop started its reign when MTV entered the game.\u00c2\u00a0 It was about lowest common denominator beamed to millions.\u00c2\u00a0 The playlist got tighter, the emphasis became upon the track, radio consolidated and played almost no material and the public REVOLTED!\u00c2\u00a0 If sales were going through the roof, maybe I’d listen to Mr. Fair.\u00c2\u00a0 But last time I checked the major labels were all laying off people and crying poor.\u00c2\u00a0 Reporting unending declines in sales.\u00c2\u00a0 You see the public was angry.\u00c2\u00a0 Once they could get the track, and all they wanted was the track, they just stole it.\u00c2\u00a0 Now they might pay ninety nine cents at the iTunes Music Store, but it’s not like purchasing an album.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, EVERYBODY KNOWS THE ALBUM SUCKS!<\/p>\n
When the majors owned the collective mindshare, when you could only HEAR music on the radio and see it on MTV, people had no choice.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, they’ve got choice now.\u00c2\u00a0 And Ron Fair and the majors have just retreated to higher ground, like a royal family ensconcing itself in its one remaining castle, not wanting to give THAT up.<\/p>\n
"’There’s so much competition for people’s consciousness now that a band has to grab anything that gives them exposure,’ Fair said. ‘There’s no such thing as selling out, now. There’s just getting heard.’"<\/p>\n
Give me a fucking break.\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t this the EXACT philosophy that got the majors in trouble to begin with?\u00c2\u00a0 Overhyping one hit wonders that were so oversold that people wanted NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM when they were done?\u00c2\u00a0 If you think the road to success is doing everything your label tells you to, appearing on every TV show, every radio show, doing commercials, I hope you’re getting a big check, because the banging of the large gong signaling the end of your career is JUST around the corner.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, isn’t this the Pearl Jam paradigm?\u00c2\u00a0 Refuse to be on TV, refuse to do commercials, refuse to sell out and TEN YEARS LATER you can still go gold, but better yet, SELL OUT ARENAS???\u00c2\u00a0 Not many bands followed the Pearl Jam philosophy, and that’s why almost none of them can now work.<\/p>\n
Anybody who believes selling out doesn’t hurt you just doesn’t understand the human condition.\u00c2\u00a0 We can’t IDENTIFY WITH, can’t BELIEVE IN, anything that’s tarnished by commercialism.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is why Bruce Springsteen is still an icon thirty years later and the Black Eyed Peas are ALREADY a joke.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, NO ONE EVER TOOK THEM SERIOUSLY!\u00c2\u00a0 Not since Fergie joined.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about COMMERCE, not MUSIC!\u00c2\u00a0 And this worked for the majors when they OWNED the marketplace, but that’s no longer the case.<\/p>\n
"The other prong of Fair’s strategy counts on extending a band’s identity beyond songs. Under Iovine’s guidance, Fair has been instrumental in transforming Los Angeles-based burlesque group the Pussycat Dolls into a marketing juggernaut, affixing their names and images to lines of makeup, perfumes, children’s toys and lingerie. A reality television show will begin shooting in October.<\/p>\n
If the plan is successful, not only will it provide Geffen with new lines of revenue, it will offer the Pussycat Dolls new promotional platforms. Few other musical acts can advertise themselves from makeup counters."<\/p>\n
And if you’re selling your music at makeup counters, an INHERENTLY phony location, you’re about as meaningful as the lipstick being consumed.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re on the way to being done.<\/p>\n
What we see here is the last refuge of the major label.\u00c2\u00a0 Using its capital and relationships to do broad stroke, scorched earth marketing.\u00c2\u00a0 Hoping, after reaching everyone in this country of 300 million with its marketing message multiple times, to sell a million records.<\/p>\n
Oh, it used to be so easy.\u00c2\u00a0 When radio was still the national religion.\u00c2\u00a0 When there was no P2P.\u00c2\u00a0 No other way to discover music.\u00c2\u00a0 But to believe those days are still here is to have a burning desire to acquire a breakdance mat.<\/p>\n
It’s like TV.\u00c2\u00a0 The majors are networks.\u00c2\u00a0 With the largest shares.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas the cable stations have tiny slices, oftentimes more profitable, and lumped all together DWARF the networks, by a margin of two to one.<\/p>\n
If you want to know about the future of the music business, I advise you read the following article, not the one from the L.A. "Times": <\/p>\n
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