HIP HOPS' 1%
- Thread starter SoberMindedMuzk
- Start date
Beautiful Noise
No Song is Safe.
Battle Points: 8
I read about half of this article, and find it interesting how the writer totally bashes CD's. Sure, Spotify may be the way right now, but what about 5 years from now? Trends constantly change, and the same way vinyl continues to make comebacks, the same will happen with CD's. As a fan, I would be insulted to go support a live show of my favorite artist, and they show up with no tangible music for me to take home...but their entire catalog is available for download?
This wave makes sense from a business perspective...and I wouldn't put all my eggs in one basket. Sites like Bandcamp, Noise Trade, and the like give the artist financial control over how much they charge for their albums...and 100% profit. The spotify payment method is no different than being indebted to a record label. Who wants to deal with that headache? You'd need about 500K+ streams of your song or album to be able to make any $ back.
I'm old fashioned in my perspective that, yes, I still enjoy buying a CD from an artist after watching them on stage. I like the creativity that goes into the artwork of the album cover, CD insert, and the CD itself. That's art just as much as the contents on the CD...and the artist puts a lot of time and effort into both processes.
As far as mixtapes? I hate them. I grew up buying cassettes and CD's, not mixtapes. The whole idea of them disgusts me, because all mixtapes are are artists rhyming over beats by popular beatmakers. There are PLENTY of undiscovered beatmakers who need some shine, but these mixtape artists don't seek them out. Bottom line: I hate mixtapes.
This wave makes sense from a business perspective...and I wouldn't put all my eggs in one basket. Sites like Bandcamp, Noise Trade, and the like give the artist financial control over how much they charge for their albums...and 100% profit. The spotify payment method is no different than being indebted to a record label. Who wants to deal with that headache? You'd need about 500K+ streams of your song or album to be able to make any $ back.
I'm old fashioned in my perspective that, yes, I still enjoy buying a CD from an artist after watching them on stage. I like the creativity that goes into the artwork of the album cover, CD insert, and the CD itself. That's art just as much as the contents on the CD...and the artist puts a lot of time and effort into both processes.
As far as mixtapes? I hate them. I grew up buying cassettes and CD's, not mixtapes. The whole idea of them disgusts me, because all mixtapes are are artists rhyming over beats by popular beatmakers. There are PLENTY of undiscovered beatmakers who need some shine, but these mixtape artists don't seek them out. Bottom line: I hate mixtapes.
Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
No matter how many ways that article flips it, the reason for all of this is because:
Today's music sales model is completely different than the traditional model. It also doesn't mean that artists and labels need to change with the times, in fact even though today's music streaming is effective, it's still not a solid way for everyone to make a living from music.
Let's face it - the old way worked. An artist would sign to a label, record, then release an album with a few hits on it. Then they would get their music played all over the place, and then they would go on tour.
Today it's somewhat the same way but there are differences:
The other thing is that artists and labels are moving away from albums and focusing just on singles. So now what we have is just an album with songs that they're hoping will blow up and go viral. Also, they try to put a little something on there for every single person on the planet. In other words, instead of just doing Pop songs, they'll have as many genres as possible to please everyone.
When they go on tour, the cost is just too much for both the artist and label, but then that gets passed down to the music fans who for some reason have no problem whipping out their credit card to pay for a $120 ticket.
As for streaming, well, music fans have so much music to choose from so they're obviously not going to buy every artists' CD, so they will stream it or download it, even if it's illegal.
What this all comes down to is money, plain and simple. Fans can't afford it, labels lose money because of streaming, and aritsts are not making as much unless they're in that elite 1%.
But if you look back at how it was years ago, people have no problem going to see a concert, buying the latest LP, and even a t-shirt. After that, they'd still have money left over. Actual money, instead of funding it all with a credit card. It just really sucks because even though I stream and download, I don't see how any artist can make a solid living from their music unless they're as popular as JayZ, Kanye, or any Pop star.
Damn kids and their internets....
Today's music sales model is completely different than the traditional model. It also doesn't mean that artists and labels need to change with the times, in fact even though today's music streaming is effective, it's still not a solid way for everyone to make a living from music.
Let's face it - the old way worked. An artist would sign to a label, record, then release an album with a few hits on it. Then they would get their music played all over the place, and then they would go on tour.
Today it's somewhat the same way but there are differences:
- The music is nowhere near as good as before.
- The industry is over-saturated.
- There's just too much of everything.
The other thing is that artists and labels are moving away from albums and focusing just on singles. So now what we have is just an album with songs that they're hoping will blow up and go viral. Also, they try to put a little something on there for every single person on the planet. In other words, instead of just doing Pop songs, they'll have as many genres as possible to please everyone.
When they go on tour, the cost is just too much for both the artist and label, but then that gets passed down to the music fans who for some reason have no problem whipping out their credit card to pay for a $120 ticket.
As for streaming, well, music fans have so much music to choose from so they're obviously not going to buy every artists' CD, so they will stream it or download it, even if it's illegal.
What this all comes down to is money, plain and simple. Fans can't afford it, labels lose money because of streaming, and aritsts are not making as much unless they're in that elite 1%.
But if you look back at how it was years ago, people have no problem going to see a concert, buying the latest LP, and even a t-shirt. After that, they'd still have money left over. Actual money, instead of funding it all with a credit card. It just really sucks because even though I stream and download, I don't see how any artist can make a solid living from their music unless they're as popular as JayZ, Kanye, or any Pop star.
Damn kids and their internets....
Lord Lav
Beatmaker
To quote Questlove in an interview "I think it's similar to how the record business was in 1913. It didn't get perfected until the '60s." Things are changing and I don't think they're going back to how they were. You might find majors manage to stay on top amongst the changes but they're going to seriously have to adapt now even more so. I love vinyl and appreciate CDs but they're going to be niche from now on. If you aspire to have any level of mainstream success in the future I think you're going to have embrace the streaming model, which will become more lucrative as time goes on and probably phase out even downloads. The good thing is I think if you make a hit song, you'll be getting paid forever, not just for a run of CDs or vinyl.
We can talk about how there is a vinyl resurgence but it's still relatively niche imo and will continue to be so. It's never going back to how it was in the 70's. Same deal for CDs. People want simplicity and most people don't have the nostalgic whimsy for digging in crates like us. By all means release a record on vinyl or CD for your hardcore fans just don't expect it to give you much of a living or be the bedrock of your income.
Nothing is guaranteed to success but I think we have 2 choices as artists;
1.Sell Out (safer option)
Build a following by following trends (ideally be 16-25yrs old), get signed, do whatever you're told by the label and release hits written by top songwriters of the moment-fucking milk it and get sponsored by anybody willing to sponsor you. Either make some music that happens to stick (which is unlikely) and last a while OR (more likely) disappear off the face of the earth as your put at the bottom of the facebook feed so to speak. Having a number 1 hit nowadays rarely means anything unless it sticks for a relatively long time like Pharrell's 'Happy' or more recently Mark Ronson's 'Uptown Funk'. Normally they're forgotten within a week amongst the mainstream. Once you're forgotten, use the wedge of cash you made to invest in business or property. If you pull it off, I say fair play to you! I always got respect for people that do well even if I probably hate their music haha.
2.Be an Artist True to Art (way less safe)
People get it twisted when trying to follow their musical heroes of the past. You are NOT BEING TRUE TO ART by COPYING whatever the old heads did!! Especially so if you're copying how they used to put out product. They changed the game because they made music that was true to themselves and was real. So real in fact that it resonated with so many people at such a deep level, the labels then had to take note and invest, though more likely on the artist's own terms and this has stuck. And these artists are still getting paid even now for what they did. We still lord up these artists because they were honest at the time and did was real to them.
At the end of the day, it's about making great music and art that matters, that is real, in spite of money. It's not about trying to convince people to go back to buying CD's and vinyl again and to avoid streaming. Just because our heroes made money that way doesn't mean we should expect to do the same. Our heroes made money and have been immortalised because they made shit that mattered. It's never gonna get you the levels of cash that people in technology are making but it's your best chance of sticking and making a dent in the world and probably making you a very sustainable living off art along the way (though there's no guarantee).
Of course all of the above is merely my subjective opinion. I will add that I personally love vinyl and still own my stacks of records but I think we should be more concerned with the actual music than how it is released and stop pining for the 'good old days'. I think things are better now.
We can talk about how there is a vinyl resurgence but it's still relatively niche imo and will continue to be so. It's never going back to how it was in the 70's. Same deal for CDs. People want simplicity and most people don't have the nostalgic whimsy for digging in crates like us. By all means release a record on vinyl or CD for your hardcore fans just don't expect it to give you much of a living or be the bedrock of your income.
Nothing is guaranteed to success but I think we have 2 choices as artists;
1.Sell Out (safer option)
Build a following by following trends (ideally be 16-25yrs old), get signed, do whatever you're told by the label and release hits written by top songwriters of the moment-fucking milk it and get sponsored by anybody willing to sponsor you. Either make some music that happens to stick (which is unlikely) and last a while OR (more likely) disappear off the face of the earth as your put at the bottom of the facebook feed so to speak. Having a number 1 hit nowadays rarely means anything unless it sticks for a relatively long time like Pharrell's 'Happy' or more recently Mark Ronson's 'Uptown Funk'. Normally they're forgotten within a week amongst the mainstream. Once you're forgotten, use the wedge of cash you made to invest in business or property. If you pull it off, I say fair play to you! I always got respect for people that do well even if I probably hate their music haha.
2.Be an Artist True to Art (way less safe)
People get it twisted when trying to follow their musical heroes of the past. You are NOT BEING TRUE TO ART by COPYING whatever the old heads did!! Especially so if you're copying how they used to put out product. They changed the game because they made music that was true to themselves and was real. So real in fact that it resonated with so many people at such a deep level, the labels then had to take note and invest, though more likely on the artist's own terms and this has stuck. And these artists are still getting paid even now for what they did. We still lord up these artists because they were honest at the time and did was real to them.
At the end of the day, it's about making great music and art that matters, that is real, in spite of money. It's not about trying to convince people to go back to buying CD's and vinyl again and to avoid streaming. Just because our heroes made money that way doesn't mean we should expect to do the same. Our heroes made money and have been immortalised because they made shit that mattered. It's never gonna get you the levels of cash that people in technology are making but it's your best chance of sticking and making a dent in the world and probably making you a very sustainable living off art along the way (though there's no guarantee).
Of course all of the above is merely my subjective opinion. I will add that I personally love vinyl and still own my stacks of records but I think we should be more concerned with the actual music than how it is released and stop pining for the 'good old days'. I think things are better now.
Beautiful Noise
No Song is Safe.
Battle Points: 8
Sorry mate, I would NEVER sellout just to make a living off my creativity. I heard it said by a handful of artists: do what you love for the love and the money may come. If the latter is in my musical destiny, so be it. Selling out is not my intention nor the musical legacy I want to leave after my death
