x post
Well, the layoff factor is why I put in the "could."
And yes, the reason a lot of them do it is because they're passionate about it, but it isn't a great long-term career, not if you want to live very far above the poverty level. I think once you get married and have a family, it isn't nearly enough to support that, which is why a lot of the independent label employees I've met are single (or least unmarried) males.
― Jeff Treppel, Saturday, 8 September 2007 00:03 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah that's true, but it's not like there's any shortage of young males who are passionate about music. I'm not suggesting that you don't need talent to run an indie, but most indies are guided into their fruitful years by one or two people with vision and a lot of chipper young help.
― call all destroyer, Saturday, 8 September 2007 00:15 (sixteen years ago) link
"We will employ passionate young men who quit when they turn 30 and are sick of not having health insurance, to be replaced with newer, greener passionate young men" -- this business model has not worked so well outside of retail work
I dunno: people's notions of how the music industry might be radically reconfigured tend to put a lot of emphasis on fresh, creative music, but I honestly don't know how well those notions would serve would serve the many, many people who rely on having solid, conventional, corporate-product music in the world. (And when I say "I don't know," I seriously mean that I don't know: there's plenty of evidence to suggest that people are happy to get their traditional pop music from near-amateurs and kids with great voices straight out of high-school musical-theater productions. I just wonder who the discontents of a decentralized system with passionate gatekeepers might be -- what, if anything, would suddenly go unserved.)
― nabisco, Saturday, 8 September 2007 00:36 (sixteen years ago) link
Nickelback.
― Jeff Treppel, Saturday, 8 September 2007 00:39 (sixteen years ago) link
diplo remix
― elan, Saturday, 8 September 2007 00:54 (sixteen years ago) link
Bob Standard may be right - the Matadors and Sub-Pops might become the new old majors, and perhaps their boost in profile might make up for the loss in CD sales. Plus they don't have a stock price to drive up, so maybe they can be a little more flexible with profitability. But make no mistake that they are being hit and will continue to be hit by file-sharing too. You think people aren't getting The Shins and Joanna Newsom from torrent sites?
― Hurting 2, Saturday, 8 September 2007 16:46 (sixteen years ago) link
Every time I see the first sentence of the thread title, I think of:
http://moviesmedia.ign.com/movies/image/article/753/753021/tarkin_1167867382.jpg
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 8 September 2007 17:22 (sixteen years ago) link
I just wonder who the discontents of a decentralized system with passionate gatekeepers might be -- what, if anything, would suddenly go unserved.
that's why i brought up the (done to death) subscription idea upthread.
clearly the majors make shitty gatekeepers, but gatekeeping's a bit separate from fandom, too, and i think it's more than an rss app sponsored by targeted ads though that's obviously the first step.
― tricky, Saturday, 8 September 2007 19:00 (sixteen years ago) link
i have to wonder what bill hicks would have to say about it.
― tricky, Saturday, 8 September 2007 19:07 (sixteen years ago) link
Alfred COMPLETELY OTM. I've been reading it in my head with that voice every time.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 8 September 2007 19:18 (sixteen years ago) link
Grand Moff Rubin
― max, Saturday, 8 September 2007 19:30 (sixteen years ago) link
Drag City is gone from emusic.
http://www.emusic.com/messageboard/viewTopic.html?topicId=12450
One poster says he e-mailed the label and received a reply that emusic "pays peanuts."
That may not bode well for the subscription model.
― Hurting 2, Sunday, 9 September 2007 19:37 (sixteen years ago) link
I dunno, I wouldn't really call the Shins "fresh and creative" music. It seems like more and more the large indies are shepherding decent, but ultimately boring acts into the mainstream over a period of time. Large indies are informing a reasonable amount of mainstream taste these days. Obviously, this model doesn't account for the people who just need some Nickelback or decent teen pop, but can't you see some kind of new label entering the arena to fill this void?
― call all destroyer, Sunday, 9 September 2007 22:21 (sixteen years ago) link
Whether you think The Shins are "fresh and creative" is totally irrelevant - I'm talking about bands that are the bread and butter of their labels. If those bands make less money, the labels make less money, and they have less money to put out less accessible acts. If anything, a little boutique label that only focuses on "fresh, creative" music is the worst off of anyone - labels like that can't afford to take a 10% hit to their bottom line because a few people are getting their stuff for free.
― Hurting 2, Sunday, 9 September 2007 23:02 (sixteen years ago) link
i do like rubins 'if you make art people will respond' idea but the idea that we still need mega-mass marketed mainstream music needs a rethink IMO. and theres plenty of artists making 'art' on the fringes, some of whom ARE on majors, and i dont see any of that stuff shifting major units (obv, TVOTR were never going to sell much anyway but hey...) like rubin thinks they will...
― titchyschneiderMk2, Monday, 10 September 2007 17:43 (sixteen years ago) link
If anything, a little boutique label that only focuses on "fresh, creative" music is the worst off of anyone - labels like that can't afford to take a 10% hit to their bottom line because a few people are getting their stuff for free.
I'm not sure if that is entirely accurate, considering how the boutique labels traditionally emphasize packaging, artwork, and limited editions. Check out eBay: OOP releases by boutique labels command relatively big bucks even though much of the music can be found for free online.
― QuantumNoise, Monday, 10 September 2007 17:58 (sixteen years ago) link