Excellent and clear breakdown of the traditional and current music business with explanations of the various types of contracts and how you, as the musician, can get screwed.
From Wired:
David Byrne's Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists - and Megastars
Full disclosure: I used to own a record label. That label, Luaka Bop, still exists, though I'm no longer involved in running it. My last record came out through Nonesuch, a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group empire. I have also released music through indie labels like Thrill Jockey, and I have pressed up CDs and sold them on tour. I tour every few years, and I don't see it as simply a loss leader for CD sales. So I have seen this business from both sides. I've made money, and I've been ripped off. I've had creative freedom, and I've been pressured to make hits. I have dealt with diva behavior from crazy musicians, and I have seen genius records by wonderful artists get completely ignored. I love music. I always will. It saved my life, and I bet I'm not the only one who can say that.
What is called the music business today, however, is not the business of producing music. At some point it became the business of selling CDs in plastic cases, and that business will soon be over. But that's not bad news for music, and it's certainly not bad news for musicians. Indeed, with all the ways to reach an audience, there have never been more opportunities for artists.
And a bit more on "the business of selling CDs in plastic cases"
This was the system that evolved over the past century to market the product, which is to say the container - vinyl, tape, or disc - that carried the music. (Calling the product music is like selling a shopping cart and calling it groceries.)
Like he says, the traditional model has been eclipsed by technology. Where you used to require $15K of session time in a big studio, you can now do the same quality of work with a couple thousand bucks worth of off-the-shelf hardware (microphones, mixer, signal processors, monitor speakers, software) and a decent computer.
The cost to duplicate is minimal - in thousand quantities, you can get bare disks professionally duplicated for well under 50¢/piece and going whole hog with 4-color printed disks, an insert, jewel cases and shrink-wrapped package, you are still only looking at about $1.80 or so.
Set up a My Space page and there you go!
