Media Matters<\/a>, and its posting of the Imus clip, this story would have blown over, it would have been business as usual.\u00c2\u00a0 But the Net kept the story alive.\u00c2\u00a0 The Net MADE the story.\u00c2\u00a0 The Net fanned the flames.<\/p>\nThe major labels believe the Internet is synonymous with theft.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, a lot of stealing goes on via the pipe.\u00c2\u00a0 But a lot more is exchanged between people.\u00c2\u00a0 Information.\u00c2\u00a0 New music.<\/p>\n
The old system was built upon control.\u00c2\u00a0 We decide who to sign, we decide who to promote, you choose from our slim pickings.<\/p>\n
But suddenly there was more choice.<\/p>\n
But you weren’t supposed to like those new choices.\u00c2\u00a0 They didn’t sound like the mainstream, they didn’t have the same traction, they weren’t UBIQUITOUS!\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s exactly why the public embraced these new acts.\u00c2\u00a0 They hearkened back to the days of the late sixties and early seventies, when the man had AM and we had FM.\u00c2\u00a0 And the labels purveying the music were icons we wanted to work for, when they were doing their best to midwife the cutting edge, what we wanted to hear.<\/p>\n
You know that doesn’t describe the major labels today.<\/p>\n
We’ve been reading over and over how Americans are bombarded with marketing messages, which are ignored.\u00c2\u00a0 What makes the music industry believe it’s immune?\u00c2\u00a0 That when it hypes something it hasn’t got the feel of Procter & Gamble trying to convince us to try out a new soap?<\/p>\n
And with so much money at stake, the usual suspects ramp the hype up even more.\u00c2\u00a0 Jay-Z is EVERYWHERE when his new album comes out.\u00c2\u00a0 But that doesn’t sell it.\u00c2\u00a0 Because people can see the sell.\u00c2\u00a0 And the sell has nothing to do with the music.<\/p>\n
And didn’t the labels cry that CDs have to cost so much because of the MARKETING COSTS?\u00c2\u00a0 The HYPE costs?\u00c2\u00a0 It’s exactly these costs that are putting their acts in the ground.\u00c2\u00a0 Only the lowest common denominator is interested in the tripe they’re selling.\u00c2\u00a0 Doubt me?\u00c2\u00a0 Then why do the Shins sell more albums the first week than the vaunted J. Lo?<\/p>\n
Most albums sell a pittance.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re far from ubiquitous.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s the HYPE that’s ubiquitous.\u00c2\u00a0 Suddenly, with a fraction of the marketing budget you can reach enough people to sell more albums than those of the scorched-earth policy overhypes.\u00c2\u00a0 Think about THAT!<\/p>\n
In other words, there’s more money in the niche.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only are niches selling a lot of records, they’re doing so for a fraction of the cost.\u00c2\u00a0 And people want the album, since they believe in the act.<\/p>\n
We’re in a new golden era.\u00c2\u00a0 Pay no attention to what the major labels are saying.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t worry about iTunes and DRM and lawsuits.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re the detritus of an old world.\u00c2\u00a0 What’s fascinating is that those who desire music are pulling it on the Web.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re going out and finding it, they’re searching for great new stuff.\u00c2\u00a0 And when they find it, they buy it, and go to see it live, they BELIEVE in it.\u00c2\u00a0 And it sounds anything but formulaic.<\/p>\n
In reality, this is less of a revolt against hip-hop than a setting loose of music lovers in a vast candy store.\u00c2\u00a0 Why eat the same thing over and over again when you can try something new?<\/p>\n
If you’re playing only the hits, you’re missing most of what people want to hear.<\/p>\n
Then again, to get most of those people you’d have to play ALL KINDS of music.\u00c2\u00a0 Begging the question of whether broadcasting is even the model.\u00c2\u00a0 Whether it’s more about niches.\u00c2\u00a0 Whether satellite’s tens and tens and tens of stations are necessary to fill the need.<\/p>\n
You complained about the lack of melody in today’s music?<\/p>\n
No problem, you no longer have to listen to it.\u00c2\u00a0 You can find something more appealing on the Web.\u00c2\u00a0 Friends help.\u00c2\u00a0 But even solo surfing turns up all kinds of appealing stuff.<\/p>\n
We’re seeing a great democratization of the landscape.\u00c2\u00a0 Dictation is no longer the norm.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about strong-arming someone into liking your wares, it’s about trying to do something so great, so appealing, so honest that people will flock to you, and sell it for you.<\/p>\n
The landscape will never be the same.<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We were living in a hip-hop nation.\u00c2\u00a0 What happened? The Internet. Hip-hop evolved into a marketing juggernaut.\u00c2\u00a0 The sound of the people made by performers who would endorse any product, tie in with anybody willing to pay them.\u00c2\u00a0 And the marketers paid them.\u00c2\u00a0 And the mainstream media covered the shenanigans.\u00c2\u00a0 And then suddenly nobody wanted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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":[2,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business","category-online"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-cd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}