Shaun Groves
I was at a music industry event tonight and a guy with decades of experience in the business says something like “Record labels will soon be as relevant as travel agencies.”
Orbitz killed the travel agent. What’s coming (or already here) to kill the record label? That was the topic of discussion.
What do you think? Is the sky falling or are tales of label demise greatly exaggerated?
shaunfan says:
Very interesting observation and I might have to agree overall. You Tube did way more for Ok Go than their record label and iTunes has revolutionized the music distribution industry. That’s one of the main reasons I’m so hyped up on Shlogcast (one of very few apparently) because I know the power of podcast exposure relative to music sales. If you get featured on the RELEVANT magazine podcast for example, that’s 30,000 captive listeners weekly. Not a bad way to propel a lead single onto the top 100 songs on iTunes (like PlayRadioPlay! did recently-17 year old kid in his bedroom). Anyway, since downloading has surpassed retail sales for the first time ever, placement on iTunes is becoming the end all/be all in my opinion. I think your Mims “This is Why I’m Hot” post is a great example of that.
shaunfan says:
Hi Shaun,
I don’t where else to post this, so since this post is about the demise of the record label, which I think is related to downloads over CD sales, I’ll post it here. Also, Mac Powell just said in an interview about Chronology Vols. 1 and 2 that he understands we can all make our own greatest hits playlists however they’ve put great liner notes and rare unreleased tracks and to me the key is that they also include a DVD with rare interviews/videos, etc.
My question has to do with Aaron Shust. I expect you got to meet him last week and over 100,000 people have downloaded his song “My Savior, My God” on iTunes. Did you talk about any of this with him or any other artists you met in Colorado?
Cali Amy says:
I hate Orbitz.
Shaun Groves says:
Nope. Aaron and I haven’t talked about the business of music at all. You know, it’s odd, I’ve only really talked about the business side of what we do with a handful of artists. Most don’t really understand it or care to. Not a slam, btw. Their minds are on other, and probably more important, things.
What’s interesting about Aaron is that he hasn’t sold that many albums. That SONG has been downloaded a lot but the entire album (which is where more money was spent) hasn’t sold. I wonder if, even with all those downloads, he’s recouped the expense of the entire album.
That’s a dilemma for me, honestly. Do I want to spend money on an entire album of material when most people will only cherry pick it for the big single (as if I’ll ever have a “big single” again. Shah! Right!)
I have a third way in mind. Not yet time to talk about that here though.
shaunfan says:
I like your insight. Considering your situation I think you have to care about the business side of things. As an avid music collector, I am personally having the conflict you mentioned.
Over the past 20 years I’ve collected way too many cassettes (yes I have those) and CD’s and storage space and cost issues have been moving me towards downloads more.
Often, there are a couple of standout songs and some filler songs (not your releases of course). Also, downloads allow me to sample an artist (recently I sampled Jackson Waters, John Waller and Jeremy Riddle) to decide whether I wanted to “complete my album”, which is a great iTunes feature. All 3 of those examples resulted in me deciding to download the whole album, which I’ve greatly enjoyed. In fact, the album tracks on the Jackson Waters album are better than the singles in my opinion.
But with other artists (Wavorly, Everyday Sunday, Disciple) I determined the songs I downloaded were all I needed by them. I feel bad but I can’t justify the $27 it will cost me to get the rest of the albums of those last 3 artists.
So, I guess I’m a target audience as I own over 3,500 CD’s and 1,500 cassettes however I’ve recently decided to switch to strictly downloading songs (especially DRM-free songs) instead. As an artist I greatly respect, what do you think of my decision?
Cali Amy says:
Storage has become a really huge issue for me as well. I never thought I’d start downloading, but I have tons of CDs as well, and still some cassettes and let’s not even talk about my books. So I can see myself continuing to buy CDs of the artists I really love and just downloading everything else that catches my fancy. Which in truth, will probably just be less music bought in the end. I think I’m getting old.
shaunfan says:
Amy, I like your overall viewpoint. As an obsessed music lover, I really love getting the new CD’s by my favorite hundreds of artists and reading the lyrics, seeing pictures and then about 18 months ago I got a 60 GB iPod (15,000 songs) and now I might actually look at the CD’s I buy once and put them in my computer to put them on iTunes and my iPod and then I put the CD in my closet. Another change with iTunes downloads I like is that the album art and lyrics come with the purchase of the whole release in a pdf.
So, that has softened the blow of strictly downloading. My only issue is confirmation from artists like Shaun that they are kept “whole” by me not buying the physical CD. My guess is that the production of physical CD’s and printing and distribution and mailing costs offset the slightly lower downloading prices. I also hope Gabriella’s future royalties for song ideas are still in tact from downloads.
Not to mention, when “old” songs get featured on American Idol or some other show like Bon Jovi or Journey did recently, the digital sales shoot through the roof. About 2 months ago, “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey was the #10 most downloaded song because it was featured on some TV show.
Just think, one day Shaun could get a “hit” old-school song featured somewhere and have thousands of people rush to download his song. I’m amazed that a song I own in every possible format like “Don’t Stop Believin’” (45 record, 33 record, cassette, CD) could actually be a Billboard Top 10 “hit” 26 years later.
Paul Garner says:
Big record labels are going away, its a fact. That does not mean that the music is dying or anything like that. All it means is that there are better and cheaper ways to do things. I like it myself, big labels do not care what they produce or what it sounds like as long as they make money. Music will never die.
God Bless
Paul
Kristin Zuvich says:
I work in television (Okay…so, I’m a college student who’s interning at a cable news network this summer, but still!), and there is a similar debate with the advent of sites like Hulu and youtube and online articles, which make people less inclined to turn on their television to get their news or entertainment.
Are television/travel agents/record labels becoming obsolete because of the internet?
Probably?
Is that the end of the world?
Probably not.
My take on it is that if one industry is dying, find a way to capitalize on whatever medium is making the previous one obsolete.
So if it’s record labels that are dying, figure out one way you can take the record label to the internet.
Kristin Zuvich says:
*Typo: “Probably?” = “Probably.”
Steam Showers says:
It is totally true the music industry has changed at a fantastic rate over the last few years with the likes of downloads, Itunes etc.