“Fear is making the record companies less arrogant. They’re more open to ideas. So, what’s important now is to find music that’s timeless.”

"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.)

Nickelback.

diplo remix

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?

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

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.

i have to wonder what bill hicks would have to say about it.

Alfred COMPLETELY OTM. I've been reading it in my head with that voice every time.

Grand Moff Rubin

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.

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?

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.

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...

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.