THE MUSIC INDUSTRY REALLY HAS ITS WORK CUT OUT FOR ITSELF.

When was the last time you felt connected to a performer? My bet is that it was when you last saw them live at a concert somewhere.  I certainly don’t think it was when you walked into a JBHiFi and purchased one of those shrink-wrapped, sterile CDs in an awful retail environment.  I am also willing to be it wasn’t when you downloaded the tune for free (because deep down you know that your favourite artist just suffered at your hands) or when you bought the track through iTunes – still pretty distant.

  

This is the problem that the music industry faces:  in an era when everything is available digitally and (virtually) for free – how can they make money? 

Here are some things that record companies can no longer do: 

1.  They can’t claim to be the only people who can afford to produce, promote and distribute music because of high cost barriers. Anyone with a MacBook Pro, some software, an Internet connection and account with YouTube can do it virtually for free.
2. They can’t claim to be ‘experts’ at identifying talent.  Everyone can do that now.  That’s the beautiful thing about the Internet.  You can get specific.  Really specific.  Like music that has Feminist overtones but still grooves to a Balearic Beat?  You can now find it.  Just ask Google.
3. They can’t claim to get the message out to a mass market.  Get Real.  Mass marketing is dead in ‘world market 2.0′.  Consumers are sick of record companies shouting at us.  We stopped listening years ago.  For an industry that is supposed to create beautiful music – all we hear is white noise.
4. They can’t claim to own channels.  When you digitize something, you effectively set it free.  I can now make copies and give them to my friends.  They can make copies and give them to their friends.  It’s not like you are lending records (vinyl) where it passes out of your possession.  Want to know the most beautiful thing? Each copy is perfect.  There is no diminution in quality.

Record companies need to realise that the game has shifted.  They need to recognise that it is no longer about making and selling stuff, it is about building communities and making connections.

 

Here are some things I want record companies to do for me:

1. Connect me with my favourite artist. A website like this one is lame, provides nearly no information that I am interested in, and really don’t allow me to get involved with a conversation with the artist.  Can I email Burt?  Can I comment on his latest album?  Can I find out when he is touring?  Can I buy preferential tickets to his shows? Does he even know who I am?
2. Make suggestions to me that are relevant.  But I suppose to do that, you would need to know who I am, and that I like Burt Bacharach.  Ever heard of www.amazon.com? Those guys know what books I’ve purchased, and they make relevant suggestions about others that I might like, and the ones that similar people to me have bought in the past.  Why can’t the record companies do this?
3. Give me special privileges.  Early releases of podcast interviews, heads up on upcoming albums, one free song off a forthcoming album (as a teaser…), pre-release tickets to concerts, video podcasts of tv appearances… Something to make me feel that I am special.  I’ve given you permission to do this by signing up to whatever web-service that you wanted me to:  Now DELIVER!

I’ve written before about the ‘new’ 360 contracts that record companies are trying to establish.  If an artist is going to hand over everything to the record companies, then they should be making sure that the record companies are working in the best interest of the artist and their fans.

 

The record companies should be doing everything that they can to build the connection between artist and fan – not putting up barriers.  If I feel connected, then I will drive 250km and pay $300 to see my favourite artist in a concert, buy the t-shirts and souvenir program.  I will purchase that connected feeling.  That is where the 360 contracts can be lucrative.  That’s where the money is.  But the record companies can only get me to fork over my hard earned cash once they have shown me the love.  I will pay only after they have taken down all the barriers between me and my favourite artists.  I will pay only after they have removed the barriers between me and my fellow fans.

 

On the plus-side – if the record companies are doing all this properly; if they are re-tasking all the amazing energy, creativity and passion that currently lies within their businesses to creating communities, then that leaves the artist to do what they do best – make beautiful music.

 

And THAT, dear listener, is what I want them to do.  Make beautiful music that I can buy and own and share with my friends. 

(Image courtesy Flickr under creative commons license.  The original can be found here.)