SoundCheck: Do You Feel That The Music Industry Still Has Gatekeepers Stopping Artists From Getting In?

Anyone can make music, even at home, and post it on Tunecore, iTunes,YouTube, or similar sites. This then, offers the ability to sell music and hence, be in business. That doesn’t mean however, that many will hear it. What with so many people trying to become musical artists, the internet has exploded with, maybe too many, new acts. It is now very difficult and time consuming for the average consumer to decipher the good from the bad, the great from the crap. Perhaps a new website medium is needed, sites that can direct consumers to the appropriate music. (I am in the process of finishing my site right now.) Not for the masses, but for baby boomers. The purpose; to allow consumers of my generation the ability to discover new artists and new music that they might otherwise have never found. And all at no cast to the artists. 

@daGo

its no different than it used to be. Only this time, when you hear something you dont like, you have access to other music to discover music you do like
And in other cases friends and algorithms can predict what you may like based on your preferences
There is NO WAY your music on iTunes to be discovered if searched for stops people from buying Radiohead
jeff

Without a marketing department, or a rediculous advertising budget all that can be used is word of mouth…. which comes with time, and the ability to tour…. I can tell 100 people to like my band… and 1-2 will listen and give it a chance…. unless its in their face it’s an uphill battle still.

New and original music should be made available to anyone who wants to hear it.  There are new artists and players out in rural areas, jam nights, bars , and plenty of places. Some are happy to just play local gigs, but some would like a chance to be mainstreamed at events or just sell CD’s they may have composed at local studios or even the one they put together in the basement.

it is

it always is

and this is how it was and will continue to be

its not easy to be a superstar. Your music must cause reaction.

But now when it does, the fans do the marketing for you

The majors spent billions of dollars and failed 98% of the time. So much for the marketing department and spend.
Jeff

Streaming will kill sales.

The New Gatekeepers are blogs like Pitchfork.  In a sea of endless content, more and more music fans (consumers) are relying on sites like this and aggregators Hypemachine to inform them of what’s out and being talked about. 

Neither of the above mentioned sites really have any basis for quality built around Meritocracy, and such a thing is rarely possible when music taste by nature is a subjective and personal thing. Pitchfork is uses a barely empirical system for it’s analysis, critique, and ratings…however it can make or break an artists release.

Hypemachine just tracks blog trends, which essentially winds up informing more blogs creating “hype within a vaccum”. 

i just dont agree

how is it that TuneCore artists sold over half a billion songs in the past three years and earned over a quarter billion dollars?
And this is not just Nine Inch Nails earning 90% of the money and the rest not. I mean artists I never ever heard of are selling so much music. I ran a label for 20 years, I got to release the Pixies, and two guys called Blood On The Dance Floor with no marketing budget or radio play etc sell over a million copies of their music within 10 months outselling the combined total of everything I released over 20 years.
It all happens via social networking….

Suer blogs etc help, but dont kid yourself into thinking this is the only ticket in town
jeff

Jeff, 

I completely appreciate what Tunecore is, and has done for artists and the industry thus far, and I’m not discounting that in any way, hell if you were hiring I’d send in my CV immediately. With that, Your numbers are great for many reasons, you provide a great service, and were one of the first to offer it in a accessible fashion. 

Let’s take Nails and Pixies off the table because they have an audience completely built in, and engaged them in a completely different time, when music, fans, media and the industry were in a completely different place.  

Blood on the Dancefloor I’m not familiar with, but if you’re telling me they went platinum with absolutely no synch, marketing, or PR, I’ll take your word for it…there are 10 artists everyday I hear about that have done similar numbers…I’m never not surprised. 

That said, I think we’re talking about issues of discovery, scale and demographic. Some artists due to the nature of their music or aesthetic are built for, and will only really see traction from a large or major label push (this is in many cases by design). Others will flourish in an indie centric environment where they can gain recognition around other artists of similar style etc. 

Major media and marketing outlets obviously behoove the former and their revenue stream will move accordingly. The smaller more specific systems move towards the latter, and this is the majority of artists in my opinion, and this is in many cases a tougher nut to crack.  Sometimes you’ll get artists that will cross/blur these lines, and that in my opinion is the exception not the rule. 

I believe that we need to take buyer demographic into consideration too, there are specific consumer demos that will actually purchase music. 

My experience comes from being a professional touring and Session drummer in NYC for the past 10 years. I’ve toured with more prominent signed indie bands, and done sessions for huge major label artists. I’ve seen it many ways, and in my opinion while it’s groundbreaking that the old guard of the industry are crumbling, but with the current market flooded, it’s going to take more than access and talent alone to bring an artist out of obscurity, and once it’s out staying there. People generally still rely on Terrestrial radio, and word of mouth, granted that word of mouth is many times being generated from “trusted” sources such as blogs. 

Jeff, 

I completely appreciate what Tunecore is, and has done for artists and the industry thus far, and I’m not discounting that in any way, hell if you were hiring I’d send in my CV immediately. With that, Your numbers are great for many reasons, you provide a great service, and were one of the first to offer it in a accessible fashion. 

Let’s take Nails and Pixies off the table because they have an audience completely built in, and engaged them in a completely different time, when music, fans, media and the industry were in a completely different place.  

Blood on the Dancefloor I’m not familiar with, but if you’re telling me they went platinum with absolutely no synch, marketing, or PR, I’ll take your word for it…there are 10 artists everyday I hear about that have done similar numbers…I’m never not surprised. 

That said, I think we’re talking about issues of discovery, scale and demographic. Some artists due to the nature of their music or aesthetic are built for, and will only really see traction from a large or major label push (this is in many cases by design). Others will flourish in an indie centric environment where they can gain recognition around other artists of similar style etc. 

Major media and marketing outlets obviously behoove the former and their revenue stream will move accordingly. The smaller more specific systems move towards the latter, and this is the majority of artists in my opinion, and this is in many cases a tougher nut to crack.  Sometimes you’ll get artists that will cross/blur these lines, and that in my opinion is the exception not the rule. 

I believe that we need to take buyer demographic into consideration too, there are specific consumer demos that will actually purchase music. 

My experience comes from being a professional touring and Session drummer in NYC for the past 10 years. I’ve toured with more prominent signed indie bands, and done sessions for huge major label artists. I’ve seen it many ways, and in my opinion while it’s groundbreaking that the old guard of the industry are crumbling, but with the current market flooded, it’s going to take more than access and talent alone to bring an artist out of obscurity, and once it’s out staying there. People generally still rely on Terrestrial radio, and word of mouth, granted that word of mouth is many times being generated from “trusted” sources such as blogs. 

I agree with Eammonn. The music industry (yes I understand they are a business) still have a monopoly on what people are exposed to and then make a choice of what music out of those presented to consume. But more than just blaming the industry as as whole; this new barrier indie artists are experiencing speaks to the complacency of people and society. Art and the consumption of imitates life. People as a whole are not free thinkers but think based on the choices they have been given in how to think. If we as indie artists are not part of that “think tank” we aren’t even an option in most people’s brains. I think artists need to band together and cross promote each other if their fellow artist’ music speaks to them. This feels like a competition but it’s really not; if what you are selling is authentic then no one can duplicate it in it’s most natural form.

I am going to post sales data from July, 2011

i am curious to get your reaction when you see what the artists are selling and earning outside of the traditional model
I hope you will be pleasantly surprised and stunned

jeff

I’m ready!

and ready to go from pragmatist back to optimist

Thanks for heads up and work with this.

the report is now up – you can download it at the bottom of the blog post before the comments
jeff

I updated the blog posting – at the bottom before the comments

you an now see the actual sales and earnings by a small portion of TuneCore Artists in July, 2011
or download the spreadsheet here:
http://blog.tunecore.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/july_sales_2011.xlsx
Jeff

Do let me know when that is finished as I am a “blues” singer looking for as many “avenues” as I can find to post!! Most of what I have are “covers” & for enjoyment to the listener! I cover artists like Etta James, Little Walter, Bonnie Raitt, Duke Robillard, Koko Taylor, so, I got some “variety” for us “baby boomers”!!
I will be putting out “originals” in the beginning of the year, one of which 75% of the proceeds will benefit animal shelter/rescue leagues! So, if your interested, you can find us on “Reverbnation.com” we listed as “Deann Merchant and The Friday Night Blues Band.
Hope you’ll stop by for a visit & find something, to your liking! While I am a “blues” singer now, there is a “CSN” tune, I did with my old band along with some old “country” tunes  LOL! I no longer “gig” due to illness (MS) but, I still so enjoy doing the music! I have a great band & we work really well together (ahhh simple pleasures, LOL) been on the radio & I even worked with “Willie Dixon” grand daughter on a remake of an old “Chess” tune “Spoonful” called “Piece of the Pie” (that’s on the list)!
Thanks for reading….  Dee

The industry, turned this into a competition!! People live with the “illusion” of fame, instead of appreciating what we all do & really enjoying that… MUSIC!! If we’re “without” representation (i.e. record company) people tend to think, we don’t have much to offer when, its quite the contrary! We need to bring the music back to being an “art form” instead of stage (pun intended) for exploitation!! Our idols of yesteryear, didn’t have to do “big productions” & “dress crazy” or be a constant “eye sore” in the media to sell records, they just “Performed”!!! They may have gained some “notoriety” by breaking new ground here and there, but, we didn’t hear about their choice of colored “under garments” or what they did, in the course of the day! Why? Because, it was “REAL” journalism then, and it was about the “band/artist” performance that mattered, not their “personal meanderings”!! Just sayin…
 

It appears to me that the Music Industry has set-up websites (blogs, music hosting-and-promotion sites, and such) as nets or filters for music – dredging-in “viable talent” while ensuring that the glut of musicians created by otherwise-egalitarian access to technology. I’m an old-school indie musician; I remember how it had been in the ’80s, way before the Internet and DAW software. The competition for musicians not signed to major labels to get recorded and distributed, and to build a live fan-base through touring, was really tight, and generally, the music that one would hear on records at the time was generally rather good because those owning the means of production had to be more selective as to whom they’d lend, rent or sell their resources. Additionally, obtaining many artists’ recordings required a lot more effort, and even time, and almost always had to be paid-for (unlike now, when artists have to give-away their recordings or expect to have it pirated somehow).

That is really the only aspect which has changed, now that any monkey with a laptop (myself included) can produce and potentially sell his or her music. What has remarkably not changed is that people have only so much time, attention and money to spare for the music they bring into their lives. It is human nature for people to take the path of least resistance, and this is where the Music Industry (those with the greatest investment in promotional media, which is what the Music Industry really amounts to, now) benefits. It is in the interest of the Music Industry to inundate the Internet with promotional sites and media in every place and manner, to rake-in as many ears and eyes and dollars as possible.

Ironically, what also hasn’t really changed is that one has to really dig for music of substance, quality and innovation. If you would like to know what’s “really” going on (and this could be said for just about anything), you have to ignore what’s thrown in your face, whatever is most readily handed to you. Whatever seems “cutting-edge” in the mainstream is easily a decade behind the curve. Look for the musicians whose songs people are now covering or whom they cite as “influences.” (The water is always purest at the source; the further downstream from there, the water is less potable.) The reward for such digging and back-tracking is always worth the effort.

FUCK TUNECORE! these cock suckers burned me for 20 bucks. they took my payment but gave me no credits at all. i still cant destribute shit. i used a mastercard debit card to pay. n there was an “error” well these lying 2face dirty bitches still havent fixed the error. they still havent paid me back or distrubuted my album. fuck these fools n fuck their site. get the shit right. or make a vicious enemy. u putos cant fuck with me. n u will regret not fixing this. 

-Drowser