Did the Music Industry really collapse — a.k.a. Is Crowdfunding really the future for new artists?

In the last 20 or so years, the classic model of the music industry went from a peak to total failure — a victim of technology. Was it a big surprise or was it known how, when and where the music market would fail? Given some first hand experience from 1994 at a seminar I attended, I’m actually quite convinced that it may have even been encouraged and provoked into “failure”.

(I’ll be upfront right now — I myself am a musician fronting a progressive rock band counting on Crowdfunding. I’m counting on it to at least give me a hope that our music has an audience and is willing to essentially pre-order our CD and support/encourage our efforts to continue writing and recording new original music. I’m a bit burnt by Crowdfunding though — it still seems a little too much like a popularity contest for anything to be truly successful as a result.)

Back in 1994, I was the Production Director for CHRW-FM Radio Western — the student funded college radio station of the University of Western Ontario located in London, Ontario Canada. The station had just won Campus Radio Station of the Year for all of Canada — and we were flying high! Canadian bands and artists were calling us to set up live interviews and “phoners”, offering to do “throws” and “promos” for the station. Record companies and indie artists sending multiple copies of their CDs for on air rotation and for promo giveaways. This was the heyday of the CD — digital formats like mp3 had just been ratified and were only starting to make their way into applications like WinAmp and Windows Media Player. QuickTime was very proprietary and didn’t run well on anything other than Apple products. For most, computers were devices that were in the office — home computing was still a dream for Microsoft, and Windows 95 still hadn’t made it out even in Beta yet. So CDs were a safe and relatively portable format, and the audio quality was reasonable as well. Controlling bootlegging and pirating was pretty easy — cassette tapes were almost done as a format, and CD-Rs not available to the consumer yet.

For most of us, especially the indie self publishing artist, CD was the thing. You were a real band if you had your music out on CD. We all thought that was how it would be going forward a long long time…

I can’t claim to be different than anyone else — I thought CDs were an acceptable package that compromised the beautiful artwork of vinyl LPs for durability and crispness of audio quality. I also thought that they would be the lasting thing — why would anyone pay $15 per album if they didn’t get the companion artwork? And because of this, I also thought the record companies would survive the long haul as they’ll be the ones to drive the new format/hardware and keep us addicted to it…

In April 1995, I got to attend a seminar given at Metalworks Studios in Mississauga, Ontario — the studio owned by power rock trio Triumph (yes, they were Canadian) and at the time, one of the best in Canada. Keynote speaker for the event was Bob Ezrin (who? jk!!), who had released and helped promote Pink Floyd’s last studio album The Division Bell, and who was very interested in technology and where the industry was going.

Bob is a very interesting guy. You’d think someone with a resume as profoundly influential as his would be holding himself like a rock star — aloof, burnt out, arrogant, etc… but nothing could be further from reality. A very well dressed shortish guy, slightly balding with middle age paunch and looked like someone you’d be bumping up against on the subway commuting to Bloor St/Wall St (depending on your nationality). Unremarkable looking, but the minute he opened his mouth, and then removed his expensive jacket and threw it on the chair behind him, rolling his sleeves up — I swear I met him cutting meat and making my sandwich at the local deli. Remarkably personable but very down to business. I liked him right from the moment he opened his mouth.

And what did he talk about? The Future of the Music Industry (as we know it today). The first words out of his mouth? If you work as an A&R guy or other non-management roles for a record company today, you’ll be out of work within the next 5–10 years. (This is paraphrased since I cant remember the words exactly, but this was the primary message he wanted to convey)

Who would step in to take over? Digital distribution, “which is coming folks, when the Internet speeds to the home and wireless improve to make it practical to move music and video as zeros and ones straight to your phone, your car, your tv, your computer…” He also mentioned protection from copying — referring to Digital Rights Management as being the next big challenge (which of course never really worked) but you cant be 100% perfect in your predictions.

Now, stepping back into the present tense — I’m not saying “blame Bob Ezrin for the abominations that are Napster, BitTorrent, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, etc…” What I’m saying is that the music industry as a whole were watching what the MPEG consortium were doing in developing and releasing the new MP3 standard for audio compression, and also MPEG4 video compression. H-264 was a way off still but there is power in knowing a revolution in consuming audio/video was on the horizon.

Some certain things that happened were impossible to gauge — rise and fall of Real Networks, competing formats like WMA and Ogg Vorbis, Apple’s incursion with their own proprietary format and iTunes and then Apple Music services. They fragmented the industry move to digital, but at this point we can effectively say it’s done — CDs and vinyl are boutique items for those nostalgic and/or deluded enough to believe the audio quality hype.

Bob just served to try to open up the ground troops eyes and deliver a message — your jobs will no longer be elite level careers, and if this is happening to the record companies (with or without their cooperation) then recording studios and engineers, producers, etc… wont be able to avoid the consequences.

Take a look at what’s happened in the 21 years since that keynote:

• mp3 became the music format of choice for some 10 years
• file sharing both on personal file storage and shared drives became a thing
• the rise and fall of Real Networks and Rhapsody
• the never really did anything of Windows Music
• the arrival of YouTube and copyright violations for video and audio
• the creation and ratification of DMCA — copyright protection for digital work
• the creation and failure of DRM
• new streaming audio and video services like Spotify, Pandora
• the online-ification (streaming) of cable television and video rental services (HBO, Netflix, Amazon Video, Showtime, Hulu, etc…)
• the failure of traditional copyright laws and payment models to catch up with the changing technology landscape

I’ve bolded and italicized three pretty important items above since I think they have set the stage for where we’re at today. I seem to remember Bob Ezrin calling risks out and among those were botching up the compensation model for artists — he seemed to think that if it were to go where he thought it might, the artists would stand to gain a lot more from the collapse of the traditional business model. But he also counted on artists who had more business skills who were much more capable of protecting their eminent domain. Instead you still have the same naive mindset of performers who only want the adulation and opportunity to perform signing their publishing and mechanical rights away without knowing better. And you have Svengali like characters creating reality talent shows which in exchange for the national exposure have signing everything away including your right to choose your own direction.

I don’t know if anyone saw that coming. The sad thing is — the line up for auditions to go on these shows stretches for blocks and take up multiple days to complete. The “lucky” few would give their right arm just to appear and be chosen each week to make it through the gauntlet, the whole time being coached and groomed to fit today’s demographic profile for a “Pop Star”. Those who believe that they will be different, that they will break the mold will just end up compromising their values and singing the cover songs and those written for them, engineered for success complete with whatever sample is hot in the clubs and matching hair and clothes to fit.

Where does that leave the creative individual with talent who doesn’t want to compromise their ethics for a shot at fame?

Crowdfunding is an interesting thing — as an artist or band of artists who believe very strongly in themselves, have a following through playing live locally, are technologically savvy and are able to self-produce their own audio/video product — it’s still hugely challenging. The reliance on family and friends for funding, legitimatized through websites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo is a bit insane. It’s barely one step removed on the surface from just going around to all your friends door to door or at gigs holding a hat out with a sign saying “help us record our next album and become famous”.

Ultimately its that last two words that potentially motivate people to give. Everyone loves to be either the one or part of the group that discovered the next big thing. Everyone also loves to be part of a movement that promises a change — look at Sen. Bernie Sanders slogan and the huge following that he’s built, going from a virtual unknown nationally but a very capable, competent and honest politician who has struck a chord with the public in this time of cynicism and doubt. Artists are all trying to emulate and match that kind of fervor and predominantly they cant.

Crowdfunding has the illusion of change — the underdog or unknown immensely talented group that has been ignored/under-appreciated by the Illuminati in charge, and if you contribute that can change! Crowdfunding is 100% reliant on an emotional movement to line up behind someone believing in them and willing to put your money on the line to show your support. Many campaigns fail — exposure, promotion, an uninspiring plea for support, and just simply bad art faulted for failure.

Going back to all the classic bands from the 60’s through the early 90’s — each and every one of the bands and artists who were able to maintain a long prosperous career all said that they needed the time to develop their sound, to learn what it took, and to not compromise their artistic values. Record companies back then were patient and gave the artist the opportunity to learn and grow their audience while recording and releasing albums. David Bowie had some three or four albums come out with one or two hits that charted, until Ziggy Stardust was released and he became the “overnight sensation”. Rush took 3 albums to develop and then their big breakthrough “2112” took off and established a foundation for the rest of their 40 year career. Kevin Gilbert’s Toy Matinee recorded an album in 1989 that would have been huge had Grunge not caught the imagination of a glamor fatigued audience. The list is long and success described profound — none would be able to have gotten their first album released though in today’s business environment.

Is Crowdfunding the answer then? Honestly I don’t know. I just know that what has happened is the development of talent has been offloaded onto very narrow vehicles that has no room for any change, and those who don’t fit the cookie cutter shape for success — “well tough luck for you, and here’s the website where you can shamelessly beg for people to contribute to your dream, even though we don’t believe you’ll amount to anything ourselves. Maybe you’ll be a humorous outtake on one of our retrospective shows?”