Happy Holiday’s people. There’s a whole bunch of stuff to read today since the (now digital) IBMA Newsletter came out today. After giving it a night to digest, here are a couple of things worth sharing.
Not only is it Labor Day, but it’s Big Mon, Mr. Bill Monroe’s, Birthday today. You are loved, missed and appreciated.
Analysis: The Future of Bluegrass Music – Conversation with Grey Fox Bluegrass’ Mary Tyler Doub
- So this is news to me: it’s the IBMA 25th Anniversay. As such, this is a great “state of the union” address for the music community and has some interesting insights looking forward. This is part of a series of over 25 articles from different industry players. The first installment is from Mary Tyler Doub, one of the festival planners from Grey Fox Bluegrass Music Fest. Take what’s said with a grain of salt: the festival circuit is probably one of the most stable areas of the bluegrass music industry, however, the comments about the internet and the challenges facing bluegrass lack any concrete solutions.
John Hartford and Louise Scruggs to be inducted into IBMA Hall of Fame
- This year’s IBMA Awards are quite literally around the corner and one of my favorite all-around musician/songwriters, John Hartford is up a for a posthumous induction into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame (which in my opinion is way overdue). Also to be inducted is the woman behind the three finger banjo progenitor, Louise Scruggs.
New Releases from Tim O’Brien
- Tim O’Brien is releasing what is likely to be a killer LP, Chicken & Egg. I will buy anything he creates, you should too. Check out the free streaming track on Tim’s Homepage. When I get my hands on a copy, I would like to get a review up here. He is currently touring abroad, but there ought to be a promotional tour of awesomeness coming our way soon. More on that later.
Pinecastle Signs Nu-Blu
- We mentioned q hile ago about the closure and reopening of Pinecastle Records. Just a brief update: Under there new ownership, they have just signed Nu-Blu. I great up and coming outfit that I’m sure you will be hearing from a lot more in the coming months.
Have a great holiday, Happy Birthday Mr. Monroe, and feel free to pass along your bluegrass and music industry links to @thesessionspot
Trying something new. Get up early, read up on recent bluegrass news and give you a couple of things to read throughout the day.
- Greensky Bluegrass will be playing with Billy Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart. Also announced NYE show in Denver. Tickets go on sale 9/6 and are available here. Here’s a great vid of Greensky & the Rhythm Devils:
- Keller announced a new tour and LP, reportedly entitled “Kids”, right on the heels of his LP “Thief” with the Keels (Larry and Jenny are wonderful). The new LP is apparently a children’s LP.. Many of the tourdates are in San Francisco, being featured on Yo Gabba Gabba
- In case you haven’t heard, bluegrass legend, James King, was recently hospitalized for blod clots (he’s a big guy). He is now, thankfully, home recuperating.
- Remember the “Pickin’ On Series” in which all stars would get together and do tributes to different bands (Pickin’ on the Who, and Pickin’ on Led Zeppelin are some of my favorites). Well, the plot thickens. Honeywagon, an outfit out of LA, have released a few albums each devoted to a different artist (such as Green Day and Blink 182). Their newest is “Songs From Neverland”. That’s right, The King of Pop cum bluegrass. Just have to get a hold of this one.
Here’s a great clip from The Bluegrass Blog for your eyeholes:
- Last, but certainly not least, Pandora recently rolled out the ability to create stations based on genre. Finally, one has been established for bluegrass. Go take a listen!
Have a fantastic Tuesday. Feel free to submit other links via the comments below.
So what do Stevie Nicks, John Cougar Mellencamp, and Prince have in common?
They all think the Internet is damaging the music industry. At first I thought, “what the hell?” Then, it dawned on me. Either they are completely out-of-touch or they are marketing geniuses.
First and foremost, if you haven’t read them already, Prince claimed the Internet is dead in an interview with The Daily Mirror, Mellencamp likened the Internet to the Atomic Bomb in an article for ABC News and Nicks chimed in later claiming that the Internet has destroyed rock in an article in the NY Daily News.
Now look closely. The Prince article is with the publication that gave away his most recent record 20Ten as a European promotion to push his record and subsequent tour. The Nicks article is actually about her upcoming release, due out next year. Mellencamp? Same thing.
I guess we’ll see if it works for Nicks and Mellencamp, but it seems like Prince’s LP did quite well considering the recording industry climate he specifically bemoans in the interview. However, this is either a really cunning way to get noticed in the media so that you can push your tired reincarnations of former glory days onto a market that typically won’t pay for it (unless it’s good) or it’s just a horrible PR move that shows that instead of adapting and embracing the new norms that technology has provided, it’s better to toe the old-guard industry line to drag their feet, bitching and moaning all the while about crappy album sales. You have the brand built, you have the following, so don’t bitch.. DO SOMETHING.
What else is an aging rocker in the wild west that now characterizes the music industry landscape to do to get noticed and sell records? You think people want to keep seeing the same scripted, pyro-technic heavy, “greatest hits” tours? Not more than once. I guess that’s why the tickets cost so much..
What’s interesting is not so much the bitching and moaning; it’s the possible marketing strategy. Could be worthwhile, but personally, I don’t think it’s going to be a repeatable (or scalable) strategy in the long run.
As usual, Bob Lefsetz beat me to the punch and wrote a fantastic post about Mellencamp’s publicity faux pas. Definitely worth a read as it’s much more articulate than the write-up here. I found out later that he followed it up, focusing on the PR angle. Again, read his posts as they are without fail both entertaining and insightful.
Update: Great analysis of Stevie Nicks’ comments by Kyle Bylin over at Hypebot.
Just a couple of things to report. Definitely worth a read:
Punch Brothers featured in Paste
- So the Punch Brothers’ most recent LP, Antifrogmatic, has been making quite a splash lately. Paste recently did a write-up that is worth a look. If it’s any indication, PB’s ability to blend different styles with bluegrass instrumentation has garnered them the moniker of musical “aliens”. Sample of “Rye Whiskey” accompanies the writeup.
Pinecastle Records
- We all know that Pinecastle Records, a pillar in the foundation of the American Bluegrass recording industry, shuttered it’s doors due to the failing health of president Tom Riggs in February. However, as of 8/11, Pinecastle has reopened their doors, helmed by Lonnie Lassiter. Under the new ownership, it’s been indicated that they still own all the masters of the previously released Pinecastle recordings and that the change in ownership severs the contractual obligations Pinecastle had to its artist roster (and vice versa). However, I’m certain that they will be renegotiating terms with artists over the coming weeks. Will keep you posted as this story develops.
Jesse McReynolds Putting Out Grateful Dead Tribute LP
- Legendary cross-picking mandolinist, Jesse McReynolds, of Jim & Jesse (among many other things) is releasing a tribute LP to the songs of Garcia and Robert Hunter. While many of the tunes are no-brainers (“Friend of the Devil” etc), there is an interesting story behind the release. Apparently, Jesse’s wife turned him onto the Dead via Reckoning and “Dark Hollow”. Perhaps it’s the cosmic mojo that brought the two together.. Very excited for this one.
Cadillac Sky touring with Mumford & Sons
- ‘Nuff said. Checking them out when they get to NYC. Terminal 5, 11/15. Also, check out Cadillac Sky’s video for “Hangman” from their latest LP off Dualtone Records.
Bluegrass Europe
- In light of recent “problems” within the print publishing industry, the European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) has recently changed their decision to kill their publication of their magazine. This isn’t the first Bluegrass Association coming to grips with the costs of print publishing. I’m thrilled. They are planning to combine “Bluegrass Europe” (English), “Bluegrass Bühne” (German), and “Strictly Country” (Dutch) into one bi-monthly issue. Now if I could just read German and Dutch…
Possibility in Action
The job hunt is tough for all of us who are “in transition”. However, it takes more than just a positive attitude to get our lives back on track and land the job we’re after.
The following is a guest post from friend of the blog, bluegrass, beer and BBQ nut, and all around awesome dude, Anson Burtch. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @aburtch. Enjoy!
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One morning in late January, I got a surprise call at my desk from the Human Resources department. In a matter of minutes, my personal belongings and I were walking out the door. My employer of four years had informed me that due to severe workforce reductions (AKA layoffs), my services were no longer needed.
My immediate reaction was to spend the next seven hours drinking heavily, but after my hangover wore off, I thought, well shit! Now what?! Five years ago, my previous attempt at a job search had failed miserably, and with a brand new mortgage, I needed to get my act together quickly.
Fast forward three months, I landed a fantastic new job. This company not only pays well, but appreciates me and the work I do. Through the process, I learned a lot about job searching and how to go about it successfully.
Everyone’s situation is different. Maybe you want to find a new job, a better job, or even switch careers entirely. The point is that finding a new job is not an impossible task. What follows are some tips and suggestions so that you too can launch a successful job search and find yourself in the place you want to be.
How To
The hardest part of job searching is deciding what you are even looking for. Are you unemployed and just need something to pay the bills? Do you want a job doing the same thing just at a better company? Or do you want to change careers entirely? Here are some basic steps to help you narrow down what direction you will go and how to get started.
Brainstorm – What do you wish your job was like? Describe your ideal job on paper. Remember when you were a kid and you wanted to grow up to be a ______? Grab a piece of paper and start writing down all the possible careers or jobs that interest you. Or maybe you enjoy you current career but feel stuck and want to move forward. What types of positions are there that you could move into? Just let the thoughts flow and write everything down. This will give you a few starting points to work from. Pick a few, and each one becomes a path to follow. You can pursue multiple paths at the same time.
If it feels overwhelming to make these big decisions on your career, remember the next job you take will not be forever. Don’t get locked into thinking it has to be the perfect one. Your next job may be a mere stepping stone to your dream occupation. Think about it as a series of small steps. Perhaps, your dreams of a photography career feel unattainable because you currently work as a business manager. But if you break down this career move into very small steps and keep moving forward, eventually you will reach your goal.
Research – Now that you’ve written your ideal job description, what companies, organizations, or industries might have need of such a person? Or if you are looking to change careers, research people in the area who do what you would like to. What companies might they work for? This research will generate lists of companies and people. For example, I made lists of every ad agency, public relations company, or in-house corporate agency that might possibly need a broadcast producer. It was a much longer list than I thought it would be. Another path I thought about was working in government relations. I searched online and came up with names of all the registered lobbyists and what companies they worked for. The web is a fantastic resource, as are trade organizations. Almost every profession has some type of society or association you can contact for information. For example, the AICPA is the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and there is even a Knitting Guild of America.
Keep a job search notebook. Write down all your research in it; keep lists of all the names and numbers of contacts and companies you’ve talked to or plan to talk to. Write down each time you talk to someone and the results or next steps identified in the conversation. Later when you do informational interviews, keep all these notes in the binder under the appropriate sections.
Networking – Make everyone in your network aware that you are looking for new work. It helps to have a (very) short spiel about what areas you are looking into. Chances are they know someone in that field or have a friend you can talk to. It is probably more common to get a job through a referral than through the want ads. Talk to as many people as possible about your job search. Might they know anyone in the field you could talk to?
Resumes – There is an entire industry around resumes, so I’ll keep it simple. Yes, you need a resume. It helpfully summarizes your skills and experience for someone who wants to learn about you quickly. The “one page only” rule is obsolete; it can be longer, but don’t go crazy. If it feels like bragging, it is. This is the one place to put all the best possible details about you, your jobs, and your talents. Describe specifically your daily responsibilities at current and past positions. Pretend the person you are handing the resume doesn’t know anything about your current job, especially if you are looking to change careers. This will help you write clearly, succinctly, and without jargon. If you are staying within an industry, it is acceptable to use jargon as long as it is well known.
Be sure to include a section on the resume that details volunteer work, hobbies, or memberships in organizations. All employers want to see something besides direct work experience to get a better sense of who you are. As an example, my resume is attached.
Always send a resume with a cover letter. It gives you the opportunity to briefly explain what you can bring to that company beyond what your resume states. There are many examples online of good cover letters.
Informational interviews – That ideal job you’ve created for yourself in your head? Chances are people have it. Track them down and ask them how they got there. How would they recommend that you go about becoming a ________? What are the entry level positions for this field? What steps did they take to get into their position? Who else should I talk to? This last question is the most important. Every person you talk to should generate at least two more folks to contact. At one point in my search I was seven or eight people down the chain. When someone would ask “How is so-and-so?”, I’d say “Oh, great!” and move right along.
For informational interviews, you are there to learn about the field and gather more names and information. Present yourself as eager to learn about what they do. Tell them you got their name from (insert name here) who said they’d be a good person to talk to about the field. A little flattery goes a long way. You are not looking for a job from them; this is informational. But the ultimate goal is to have them point you to someone who does.
The informational interview is the most important step. Take time before you go to think of good questions to ask. What are their day-to-day responsibilities? What traits/skills do employers look for? This also gives you a chance to learn about the profession. Does it sound like something you’d be interested in? Or is it different than you thought? As you start talking to people in the field, you will begin to get a good picture of what the desired skills are, specific job titles and positions to apply for and companies who employ such people. These become your tools to move forward and pursue employers in the field who are hiring.
Note to those looking to change careers: The first thing they will usually ask is why you want to become a ______ when you are now a _______ because the two don’t seem related. Be prepared for this and have an answer ready.
It is absolutely essential for you to write thank you notes after each informational interview. This is not only courtesy because they donated their time to help you, but it also helps them remember you and demonstrates you are serious about your job search. Sometimes people would contact me a week after our interview to say they thought of someone else I should talk to or heard of someone who needs help. I’m convinced that it was the thank you note that jogged their memory.
Apply and Pursue – Apply for jobs. Now that you know what fields you are looking into and the names of positions that you would be interested in or qualified for, start applying for open positions you see posted on job sites and on individual company websites. At all the major job sites (I found Careerbuilder.com and Monster.com to be the best ones), you can set up email alerts for certain keywords that appear in job descriptions that are posted. It is best to respond to the ad quickly, so keep up to date on new postings.
The application process these days can be discouraging. Want ads and postings usually provide only an email address for your resume and cover letter. Many will even say “no calls,” and the email address is usually automated, so you are often unable to contact a live person. What you learned in college about following up with applications becomes very difficult, if not impossible to do. However, don’t dismay when applying. Take the “more lines in the water the higher your chance of a bite” approach and apply to everything even remotely interesting. It’s good practice if you get called for a real interview. You do not have to accept the job if it is not one you want.
When looking at want ads, don’t disqualify yourself. Apply for every job that you are even remotely qualified for. Let them decide if you are the right person for the job or not. Remember the want ads represent the employer’s ideal candidate, and they will list as many “requirements” as possible. However, since that perfect person doesn’t exist, they will hire the candidate who fits best overall, which could be you.
Pursue your leads. By doing informational interviews, you are pursuing a job through networking. One of your interviewers may know of someone in the field who is currently hiring for the kind of job you are seeking. Or they may know a company who employs those positions. These are exactly the kinds of leads you are trying to generate. Continue following them and asking for more names to talk to; eventually you will get to a person who is actively hiring.
Don’t be discouraged to approach a company that is not currently hiring. If you can at least send them your resume or meet with someone, you’ll be in their files and fresh in their memory. If someone leaves the company in a month, you will be the first person they call.
Not all jobs are advertised. It is possible to get hired without applying for an existing opening. If you are the right fit for a company, they may create a position for you. For example, I approached my current employer and they had a need for a producer, but hadn’t started seeking one yet. By showing up with the right skills at the right time and 100% prepared, I was able to land a job with a growing company.
General tips / attitudes
A note on changing careers – This is perhaps the hardest since you had been doing one thing and now want to try a different one entirely. It helps to think very generally about your skills. For example, I was a broadcast producer; that’s very specific. But now think very generally. A producer is basically a project manager; it just happens to be for TV commercials. Every industry needs people who can efficiently manage large projects, so when approaching companies in a different field, I presented myself as a project manager who wanted to get into the field.
Have no fear – Everyone has changed jobs multiple times during his or her career, so you are not going to look bad if you are searching for work. If you are unemployed, you are merely “between opportunities” if anyone asks. There are plenty of companies out there who need talent, and with the first wave of baby boomers retiring, that demand will only increase. You can’t get hired if you don’t let employers know you are available. Put yourself out there with no reservations. You’ve always landed on your feet so far!
Patience is truly a virtue – You know when Fred Flinstone starts driving, his feet go really fast paddling the ground, but it’s a while before his car actually starts to move? That’s how the beginning of a job search is. You put out all this effort and work, and for a while, it feels like you are going nowhere. Have patience, and soon your search will gain traction. People will start calling you back and answering emails. Those jobs you applied for over a month ago will suddenly call and ask to interview. A few government positions I applied for called back a month after I’d already gotten a new job!
The “Bulldog” approach – Although it may take some time, this approach is the most successful. If you’ve found the absolute perfect place to work, simply keep after them until they hire you. Did you get a polite “No” from HR? Or a “We’re not hiring right now?” Call them back in two months. Keep in touch with the head of the department that you’d be working for. Every now and then jog the company’s memory that you’d be a great hire for them. You would be amazed at how often this approach works. It may not work immediately, but within a year or less, you could be working at the place of your dreams. Turnover does happen, so put yourself in the best possible position to capitalize on it.
Entire tomes have been written on the subject of job searching. Hopefully these tips and pointers will help you to get started. You CAN get the job of your dreams, but no one is going to come over to your house, knock on your door, and offer it to you. With a little bit of initiative, persistence, and patience, you can put your career in the place you’ve always wanted. Good luck!
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If you liked today’s post be sure to follow Anson on Twitter (@aburtch)
Yesterday, we posted some thoughts about Digital Abundance and the atrophy that can fluster many music fans, ultimately diminishing their enjoyment. One of our readers, Isabel, posted some really well thought out comments that I wanted to share with you. She’s not terribly active on twitter, but you should follow her anyway @ifduke. Enjoy!
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“While I agree that common listeners (who are, generally speaking, also laborers) are far more likely to listen to something they’ve had to pay for than something they’ve mindlessly downloaded under the grip of a consumerist binge, they are by the same token, less likely to explore the unfamiliar or take risks in their listening, when such venturesome acquisition has a physical price.
Let us remember that barriers to entry in the music business (i.e. access to the means of production and/or capital) simultaneously create barriers to entry in music listening (by constraining supply and applying pricing pressures onto what is elastically demanded). If a person must pay for each piece of music they may justly consume (or conversely produce), they will consume (or produce) carefully. The probability of stumbling upon a hidden gem – those artists and genres that we run into throughout our lives by no less than divine intervention – rapidly diminishes without the freedom afforded by unlimited choice. What a shame to miss out on those pieces of music that without warning drop into our lives and at once change our musical (and thus worldly) understanding forever after. These are the musical discoveries that force us to evolve as listeners, and arguably as human citizens. Are these not the moments we crave as we download that which we may or may not listen to? That’s part of it anyway.
Yes, digesting the infinite music libraries that we are seduced into developing (by what I assume is not only our love of music and thrill-seeking, but an unquenchable consumer instinct) is not only overwhelming, but quite literally impossible for a large number of enthusiasts. Nonetheless, we cannot dismiss music in our libraries that we would not otherwise be forced to discount by lack of access under limited choice. It’s true – I might not get around to listening to the Slavic composers anthology I ripped off someone’s ipod, but you can sure as hell bet I wouldn’t be buying it on itunes with 20 bucks in my account and a list of albums I have to pick off in order of importance. Furthermore, the African drums collections I discovered on shuffle, would most probably not have found itself on the Internet, let alone my laptop, if it weren’t for technology’s deterioration of certain barriers to entry (i.e. resources).
While I’m clearly an advocate of cultural (e.g. musical) consumption in infinite quantities, I feel compelled to comment on the consumerist nature of ad nauseam musical archiving. We know we don’t listen to all of the music we download, yet its ownership comforts us in a way that only the brainwashing of consumer culture could possibly explain. Why is it that streaming albums never has quite the same effect? The borderline physical satisfaction of acquiring (versus enjoying) music is simply unfelt when listening in communal space. It seems to me that the ritualistic library building of certain enthusiasts (of which I am shamelessly one) has only somewhat to do with the experience of listening, and perhaps more to do with the act of consumption as a character building exercise. As long as people consciously or unconsciously measure their identity and personal value by that which they own, property will continue to represent 9/10 of the law.
I could not help but think when the author suggested that his music library was so large as to be literally indigestible, that he may well have said that his dick was too big for vaginal intercourse. That being said, I can’t deny that I myself am not shamelessly represented (to some degree) by my artistic collections over time. Could not we all write autobiographies through playlists? I’m fairly confident that with some level of attention, any diversified listener could easily benchmark the evolution of my musical tastes with my level of education, sociopolitical leanings and emotional status – not to mention those of my significant others over time.”
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Fighting the Paradox of Choice
No idea why I keep obsessing over this topic. Digital abundance.. fundamentally good for society, right? That’s basically where I left off in the last post, but one thing I failed to consider; limitless choice can present obstacles to enjoyment. Personal satisfaction and communication through music is, in my opinion, one of the coolest components of human culture, but on a more “industrial/commodification” level, this enjoyment also creates fans, believers, converts, supporters, and ultimately, devoted customers.
This is not an op-ed about why you should buy more music or an argument for or against piracy. Simply put, if we accept the abundance that the costless dissemination of digital content affords us as an inevitability (it is), we are often flustered by our entertainment options and revert to listening to less songs, more often. According to Kyle Bylin of Hypebot who has written extensively about the subject, this increased choice can create habits that, overall, diminish our satisfaction.
I can’t deny the truth in this position. When flustered, we go with the familiar. It’s a survival tactic and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t stunned from time to time when I peruse my collection of over 300 GB of music, who wouldn’t be?
Solution: filtering. Well, easier said than done. I’m not even sure if the tech will ever completely anticipate our listening needs (although, just finding out it can’t would be a serious piece of intel). However, it’s not all doom and gloom; the tech gets better, the science gets better.. maybe someday.. What’s not a secret, however, is how we flock to digital services that do the choosing for us. No denying there’s lots of opportunity there.
In the meantime, I have trouble accepting (or admitting) that my frustration is degrading my musical experience. I know there is a way to reengage my library, reinvigorate my lust for a great tune, and preach the gospel for my favorite acts.
Bylin points to the possibility that “more is actually less”, I’m suggesting that we have the will to turn “less back into more”:
A few habits I’ve picked up that I believe allow me to engage with my digital library:
Separating acquisition from enjoyment: I am a serious archivist. I love the activity of discovering new music all the time. I probably have more content than I could reasonably internalize in a lifetime. This isn’t the problem. I just had to learn that that acquisition and enjoyment are separate actions. I try (no one’s perfect) to sit down and digest what I’ve acquired by putting “new content” in a separate playlist. Then I try to make time to “taste” what I’ve gotten. I’ve found that the most effective chunk of time for my listening is 1-2 albums (in their entirety).
Monotasking: Put down the remote: I also tend to crave control. It’s a great exercise to plug it into the speakers and sit far away enough that you can’t easily get up and change the song. Making time just for listening will keep you from trying to accomplish something else. This is a tough impulse, but once it becomes more habitual, you start to hear things in recordings you never listened for. That’s the special sauce that keeps me coming back.
Really simplify: if it’s really all just available.. you can delete too, right? I know it’s never easy to streamline your collection, but sometimes you make acquisitions you know you won’t listen to. Sometimes its better to cut the cord early on before it gets lost in your bottomless well of digital content.
This discipline may be like paddling upstream for most, but it is by no means a worthless endeavor. You’re old habits might not ever go away completely (mine haven’t), but reengaging your collection can be like food for the soul. I mean, have you ever read a Lefsetz Letter when his passion for a particular song or artist is almost visceral? It’s possible, any time we want it, if we make time to do it.
In our last post on the subject, we touched on one of digital music’s biggest debates:
is the lowered barrier of entry for musicians afforded by the Internet and digital distribution an inherently good or bad thing?
This discussion is extremely broad and overwhelmingly deep, however, several interesting ideas have come to my attention that have solidified my position: increased access to the means of production (for all content including music) is not simply good for music and consumers, but for society as a whole.
As we mentioned a little while back, the heated interchange between Tommy Boy Records’ Tom Silverman and TuneCore’s Jeff Price has been all over the news and just in case you’re not up to speed, Price is a outspoken proponent of opening up digital distribution through online stores such as iTunes and eMusic to anyone, while Silverman contends that opening these outlets to everybody seriously degrades the quality of music as a whole and makes traction for “legitimate” artists even more difficult, if not impossible.
Well, technically they’re both right. However, when considering who’s position benefits society as a whole (or is just plain inevitable at this point), I’ve got to go with Price. Here’s why:
I’ve been reading Clay Shirky’s Cognitive Surplus, which, in a nutshell, discusses the ways in which the Internet has irrevocably transformed the public from passive consumers into active contributors and how, in spite of the challenges it presents for the media industry’s status quo, this transformation is both inevitable and positive for society.
Now, I agree with this for two reasons. First, Mr. Shirky is brilliant and you should be reading everything he publishes, online and off. (Here is a great video on the subject as well). Secondly, because many of his points speak directly to Mr. Silverman. Perhaps he should buy a copy, I’d be happy to send him one.
According to Shirky, there have always been folks arguing that increased freedom and ability to create and publish content isn’t worth the undeniable decrease in overall quality. This isn’t new; naysayers of Gutenberg’s printing press bemoaned the surplus of secular novels as detrimental to the moral and cultural fortitude of society at large.
No one argues that more content undeniably means more crappy content. That position is untenable. However, there are other important advantages to allowing increased participation in content creation and distribution. The biggest one (in my opinion): Experimentation.
Experimentation not only increases the diversity of content (in our case music), but it also expands what’s possible and has the greatest potential for being better than anything that came before it.
The distinction is this: “When the act of making something public goes from being hard to being virtually effortless, people used to the old system often regard publishing by amateurs as frivolous, as if publishing was inherently a serious activity. It never was though,” (Shirky – Cognitive Surplus, 50).
The distribution is no longer the tough part, making great music is. So why sit around and bitch about how much crap there is out there and concentrate on doing something different, blowing someone’s mind, or creating something unique. Just because a service like TuneCore relies primarily on amateurs doesn’t mean it’s what’s making it tough for professionals to sell more records. Services like these are simply an extension of what amateur musicians would do anyway if they had the tools (and now they do!).
Another interesting note: While poking around about the topic, I ran into a great op-ed piece by Paul Resnikoff over at Digital Music News about how the industry at large needs amateurs; they’re the ones who buy all the equipment, buy into the services, and ultimately are the most ravenous music lovers. Who would want to alienate their customers? The industry has tried that incessantly for years and if you didn’t get the memo: it’s not working.
Additionally, all this amateur content is easy to write off as “noise” from “mere hobbyists” because it’s not measured on par with professional content in the eyes of industry tastemakers. News flash: That’s over. The tastemakers are the consumers, the challenge becomes wading through the suddenly even playing field..
Enter BigChampagne’s Ultimate Chart. This excites me because these are the same folks who have been monitoring leaks and P2P traffic for years and have mountains of data on consumption habits outside of the traditional distribution channels. In theory, the ultimate chart will be a refreshing list of who’s actually selling in the digital music space. However, this will take time.
That’s just sales. What about taste? How can we crowdsource passionate fan opinion and drive sales for all of these outlets? Well, one really promising site is Rank ‘em who is trying to do just that: harness the opinions of the new tastemakers.. us.
With a good enough barometer of taste, we can actually drive value for artists, distributors and rightsholders. It’s all about wading through all the experimentation and finding what really gets you off.
The same experimentation that new technology provides for music creation applies to new ideas for services and business models. They may not all work, but it sure beats hopelessly trying to maintain the status quo.
In our last installment about SoundExchange, we highlighted some shady accounting on artist royalty payouts and news of the exit of Executive Director John Simson. Well, we’ve learned a couple of things since then that I thought you might find interesting.
Shady payouts? How about exorbitant salaries? From a tip from Digital Music News, Simson is taking about $350K a year for his work with the organization. He has caught some serious criticism about it and it seems pretty obvious why. Whether it’s true or not, lack of transparent accounting + low artist payouts + large compensation for executives = super shady. Perhaps I’m just a conspiracy theorist, but his exit from the company seems a little too timely.
So who is going to take his place? Well, the most prominent candidate at the moment is someone you might not expect. It’s Samantha Murphy, an artist with her eye on the prize and an artist-friendly campaign strategy to boot. After all, who better to put in the top seat of a “by artists, for artists” non-profit than an artist. I love this angle, but I can’t say I know who Ms. Murphy is. Even after poking around a bit and looking at her site I can’t tell you much except that this is a great way to promote her singer/songwriter career and that she certainly isn’t terrible to look at. As far as talent (as if that mattered when running one of America’s most important non-profits), I would say it isn’t my cup of tea, but I have to give her credit for having the nerve to step up and ask for the position. That said, I don’t think it will do anything to change SoundExchange’s transparency issues. Pretending like she doesn’t have to answer to SoundExchange’s board is ridiculous.
SoundExchange seems to be having open elections and Ms. Murphy has a petition going around if you want to give her your support (full disclosure: she isn’t getting my vote). Maybe I should run.
I didn’t realize that SoundExchange elected people. I was busy thinking that they hired them. My question is: if SoundExchange is just a shady collection agency backed by the even shadier RIAA, why would you want to get involved?
Since Chris Anderson wrote his best-selling book, The Long Tail, there has been much speculation over whether or not this conception of the future of content distribution is beneficial or detrimental to the music industry at large.
For those who aren’t familiar with the term, it derives from a typical demand curve, which looks like this:
The basic premise is that with the advent of Internet, content (in our case, music) can be produced much more cheaply and distributed at virtually no cost. Brick-and-mortar distribution models rely on scarcity; factors like shelf space, storage and store location that limit the variety of products available. Thus, only the broadest, most commercially-viable products (and as such, the least niche-friendly ones) can be stocked, leaving the vast majority largely unavailable to consumers.
As production and distribution costs fall to zero, businesses (in theory) can harness the Internet to realize serious profits by selling small amounts of a much larger array of harder-to-find products, which, in aggregate, can be quite significant.
Check out this TED talk from Chris Anderson for more info:
However, as wonderful as this concept is, exploiting it may have far-reaching implications. While many companies (Amazon, Netflix, TuneCore, CDBaby, ReverbNation) have successfully taken advantage of Long Tail business models, there has been considerable backlash from some music industry professionals regarding the effect these models have had on the quality of content.
More specifically, a particularly vocal dissident of Long Tail distribution of music has been Tom “Tommy Boy” Silverman, founder of Tommy Boy Records has focused his (sometimes rather scathing) opinions at one of the biggest champions of the Long Tail model, TuneCore’s CEO Jeff Price (formerly of eMusic).
TuneCore’s model basically removes the barriers of entry for the digital distribution of music; allowing anyone to submit their music to outlets such as iTunes (regardless of quality), previously a privilege available only to signed acts.
So what’s the beef? Silverman basically bemoans the fact that TuneCore (and similar models) fills the digital music space with “noise” created by mere “hobbyists” and has tried to back this up publicly at a variety of conferences and in this recent Wired article (highly recommended reading). The argument is getting fairly personal in the media, but I think this is a very interesting point of contention.
While many TuneCore distributed artists never achieve significant release numbers, the question in my mind is, so what? If a product is good enough, it will get traction in a crowded marketplace (even if not as much as in the heyday of CDs and N’Sync).
CD sales in every genre are in the toilet, signs of a dying format. However, just because consumption habits are increasingly digital doesn’t imply that these “noisy hobbyists” on TuneCore represent a major cannibalization threat to quality products elsewhere.
The challenge we see here for artists is getting traction in a crowded market, but when was it ever easy to get ahead? When services like TuneCore didn’t exist, there were simply different (higher) barriers to entry, such as not having a record deal.
The market has always been crowded, both when gatekeepers controlled the major distribution channels and when companies like TuneCore opened them up. The main difference now is who gets to decide what’s popular, the label execs or the consumers. Who’s to say what constitutes great music? Who can really hate free expression and virtually-free distribution? I’m certainly not complaining; I have no trouble finding the music I love.
I think it’s less productive to discredit services that have found a way to profit off of populating the marketplace and more productive to discuss solutions for exposing artists effectively to their target audiences. Perhaps focusing efforts on filtering content to reach target niches is the next power play, but complaining certainly isn’t getting us anywhere.
No one said it would be easy, but as in all other disciplines, the cream always rises. Great products only have trouble spreading if they are, in reality, not great products. Don’t hate the service, hate the game.