Matthew Levinson

Band or small business

Published on 24/05/05
by matt

“Artists like Linkin Park and Coldplay could be the first of many flare-ups, with more artists starting to view themselves as small business units and not major label adjuncts.” Digital Music News.
Bands like Gorillaz, Limp Bizkit or Coldplay are driving the bottom line of their major label sponsors – look at recent problems for EMI and Warner.
It is easy to see why bands are welcoming the changes in the music industry. Legendary producer Steve Albini’s summary of the problems for bands signing with major labels makes for pretty depressing reading. Anything that lets bands discard such a huge feeding chain must be great.
So what are large multinational record companies good for? Spending money, long lunches, tricky contracts. Well seriously, they have big back-catalogues, which will be underscore any online music future. And they have good distribution networks, though these are increasingly being made redundant. Their response to the massive changes to the music industry looks like a big marketing blunder.
There are still plenty of kids who want to be stars. And a lot of these don’t have access to lawyers or savvy management. But the web is connecting people, and increasingly these people will sidestep the hoops and payola.
Maybe the music industry will split. Already major labels are cutting so many acts. A main industry packed with Pop Stars and Idol contestants. And an alternative powered by P2P, independent labels, netlabels, human relationships. Does this sound a little too utopian? It’s becoming a reality in Australia, where the success of a handful of indie labels has shown this can be creatively liberating as well as financially worthwhile.
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