Short Thought: Rethinking Time Invested In [Music] Sound Recording

It’s probably counterintuitive for musicians, who spend a lot of time and effort in recording their songs, to not think about monetizing the result, and not be pissed when said work is pirated. Years of the dominance of the recorded music industry has shaped perception that musicians and their fortune should be judged by their recorded work. And the logic is pretty clear: if I spend money and time making a record, I should find a way for it to make money for me (and not, for instance, have free copies of the song spread freely without any returning monetary value).

But the fact is, recorded music as a product has been falsely commoditised for so long, it’s no wonder that once Napster showed up, people downloaded in droves. It’s not the recorded product that people want, it’s the music. A recording is simply a way to access that music. And once recorded music as an access method to music has lost relevance in the market, why stay fixated on it? Time to build some new stuff.

Of course, since the majority of recording companies retain only recorded music as assets, they’re more inclined to protect it than reinvent the industry.

I can’t say that the dominant players of the CD Era — more popularly known as the [now] Big Three major labels, Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music, aren’t trying to reinvent themselves. UMGI refers to itself as more of a music marketing company, with recording companies under its wing; Sony Music is of course part of a larger consumer electronics empire, and Warner Music is owned by the same company that has shares in streaming service Deezer. But artist contracts [correctly] prevent them on doing much more than selling recorded music, unless they renegotiate any existing contracts or start constructing those controversial 360 deals.

Major labels aside, where does that leave the rest of us? If you’re a musician, selling sound recordings shouldn’t be the only way you expect to make money. There are a lot of other ways to develop a revenue stream, and not all of them are new and incomprehensible; i.e. merchandising, live shows, and so on. If your music (and your entertainment offering) is good enough, people will pay. But instead of getting thousands or millions of fans that just think your music is okay, this time you should connect to your superfans who will spend more per capita anyway compared to casual fans.

As a musician, any method that has the potential to drive revenue back to you, should be embraced, as long as it doesn’t take up too much time on what you should be doing: making music. That said, making music while being ignorant about the business in general just won’t do, either.

So yes, go ahead and record that song. But don’t rely on it to provide a big payday for you.