The Fall of The Music Industry, Where It Is and Where It’s Going
Record label giants among the ranks of RCA, Interscope, and Atlantic have dominated the music industry for decades, owning artists and copyright empires while still making millions, but in this day and age, we are finally starting to see that change. With the rise of social media and streaming services in the past ten years, rather than dodging sketchy contracts, freshman artists are now being made to face the gauntlet that is the public eye. For better or for worse, what it means to create and own a music business has changed drastically.
On one hand, newer technology and streaming services have benefitted artists, being able to create and publish anything, while owning nearly all of the profit, is a polar opposite to how musicians worked with large labels in the past. Jared Leto, a musician, actor, and lead vocalist for the band ’30 Seconds To Mars’ created a documentary in 2013 titled ‘Artifact’, that expressed his group’s difficulties with the music industry, and how corrupt big labels really are. In this, Leto gives a good example of what a typical record label scam looks like:
“A typical record deal is structured something like this: The record label gives an advance, say two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the artist to record an album, the artist then records the album. Suppose that the album sells 500,000 copies at $10 each yielding $5million, the record label then takes their cut out of the 5 million, typically 85% of the total sales, leaving the artists with $750,000. But before the artist receives any payments the label first deducts the advance, in addition the record label recoups other costs such as, recording costs, half the promotion costs, half the video costs, and tour support. This leaves the artist -$425,000 in debt to the record label and then this debt gets carried on to the next album, the next album, and the next album (Artifact).”
With this negativity in the industry and access to streaming services, the majority of artists are now turning towards independence in production and distribution. Alongside this, artists who make it are now praised for their dedication and individualism more than ever before.
“Go viral, or go home.” — Brian McTear
So, corrupt industries are failing and independent artists are continuing to succeed within their own personal businesses, everything is good, right? Well, not exactly. The life of an individual artist may have greater benefits, but it is incrementally more difficult than signing to a big wig label. Typically running on a crew of fewer than 10 people, artists’ names and brands take years to develop on what a big label could do in a few months. On top of this, developing that social media presence is more difficult than most would expect, with how easily accessible everything is today, everybody on the internet is shooting their shot at being the next viral personality or icon, and competition is more fierce than ever. Brian McTear, the owner of a non-profit label that houses over 2,000 artists, Weathervane Music, states in a TEDx presentation “go viral, or go home.” Which, to an extent, can be an unfortunate truth for a better majority of artists these days. Whether their music is featured on an app like TikTok, happen to have a big YouTuber use their sound, or maybe get a viral set of tweets going, the predictability of situations like this can be little to none, leaving most artists to continue to struggle until they eventually happen to break down that internet barrier.
Another case of this barrier is live shows and making a number of liquid assets. For big-name creators, they may be able to sell out entire stadiums with ease, aside from the fact that the majority already have big labels behind them, but that’s because their name and brand is already developed enough to get there. Additionally, going to the Madison Square Garden is an experience on its own, on top of seeing the artist, making the venue a lot easier to fill. This same concept goes for music festivals, where the experience of being in a concentrated place with more than 20 thousand people who share the same interests as you is memorable and worth the ticket price.
Now compare all of that to an artist who has a few 10 thousand fans, rather than millions. Popular venues won’t give them the light of day, and mostly to a younger fan’s perspective, why pay the same ticket price to go to a packed bar with around 100 people just to see a semi-popular artist, when you can just watch the YouTube highlights? And if the artist were to lower the price, and was even able to sell out all of their small venues, they wouldn’t be making nearly enough to stay afloat for too long.
On another note, the trend that the industry has seen recently has shown these big labels still able to stay afloat and keep stability, while smaller, and often less corrupt, labels are dropping off of the radar. Having to go through multiple walls through the internet, rather than simply being able to produce and sell records, has made the process of building a label tougher than ever before. In Brian McTear’s case, he was lucky enough to get Weathervane Music up and running before the bigger obstacles started to arise, but since he is running a non-profit, rather than a big wig money machine, it can still be very difficult to stay afloat. Brian McTear still believes that is it possible in this day and age to become a successful musician and even record label, but the future of what that entails is changing. Watch his video on how he proposes to fix the broken music industry below:
Be sure to watch the trailer for Jared Leto’s documentary ‘Artifact’ as well:
