by Bob Dee<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been hard to even contemplate what one must do in this current music industry environment to efficaciously release newly recorded original music.\u00a0 And I\u2019m not just talking about profitability, which to me is a multi-faceted term anyway.\u00a0 Finding clear, and more importantly, accurate information has been my first hurdle.\u00a0 As much as some things have stayed the same others have changed over the last 20\u00a0 years, so looking at what opportunities are present has been my first step; doing some simple due diligence.\u00a0 But the more I dig the more convoluted the information I read seems to be.\u00a0 One article says one thing, another, something different, and so on.\u00a0 There are hard facts you can run into, like within this CNBC article Spotify and Apple Music should become record labels so musicians can make a fair living<\/i><\/a> from January, 2018.\u00a0 And there are other facts and figures out there regarding physical media sales, digital sales and streaming.\u00a0 But just reading about what\u2019s what within the modern day music business makes no guarantees that anything you read is necessarily going to steer you in a good direction.\u00a0 There have been loads and loads of blogs and articles for decades that have claimed \u201cblank<\/i>\u201d was going to be the new winner in the digital age for distribution, or \u201cindependent artists should invest their time and money in \u2018X<\/i>\u2019 as it will be the wave of the future.\u201d\u00a0 Here\u2019s an article from 2012, The USB Memory Stick Is Facing Extinction<\/i><\/a>.\u00a0 It highlighted the fact that mobile media access through cloud-based services will be the wave of the future, and in that view they were correct.\u00a0 However, six years later flash drives are far from extinct. Conversely, they are as popular as ever and have become huge marketing tools for all sorts of industries including<\/i> the music industry.\u00a0 So knowing what to invest your money in for production, sales, promotion, bookings, publicity, etc., is as hard as it ever was.\u00a0 For someone like me, my goal is just to produce good music, played well and recorded well, and try to make enough back on my investment to continue feeding the musical bear inside of me that wants to continue to produce new stuff without having to claim bankruptcy.\u00a0 My guess is a lot of people have no clue how hard it is for some musicians to stick their hands into the business side of the equation without getting lost or making things worse for themselves, or just becoming a ripoff target for all those out there that love to help <\/i>independent artists.\u00a0 I\u2019m good at hearing music.\u00a0 I can hear stuff most laypeople can\u2019t.\u00a0 I\u2019m good at musical math.\u00a0 I\u2019m good at writing scores and charts and knowing how to use the modes of a harmonic major scale in a guitar solo\u2014the sort of stuff your average person could not even begin to comprehend, let alone aurally identify\u2014means nothing to them.\u00a0 (But it does actually mean a lot to them, little do they know.\u00a0 Just watch your favorite movie with the sound off and you\u2019ll know what I mean<\/i>.)\u00a0 And it\u2019s just me, I suppose, complaining that I\u2019m just not that good at the business side of the industry\u2014mainly the creative side.\u00a0 And that\u2019s natural, too.\u00a0 There have been lots of musicians just like me for hundreds of years. \u00a0So finding clear-cut solutions to the how to release new original music successfully in today\u2019s environment<\/i> question is illusive.\u00a0 The market is so laden with advice that I believe it has created an all-new industry just to deal with that burden. There are companies that claim they can tell you how one can be pushed up as high as possible and made visible within the heap of musical blather that exists.\u00a0 Some of those companies not even doing the actual work\u2014just telling you<\/i> what you must do!\u00a0Of course, many of these are paid services\u2014so someone is getting paid by you<\/i>, the hungry independent artist.\u00a0 Proving any credibility for that information seems impossible.\u00a0 So just getting facts with any integrity is daunting enough to drive any musician nuts.\u00a0 Point is somehow, amidst all the neck-deep posing, one has to figure out just what is real. Seems like anyone can call themselves an expert these days.\u00a0 And truly, many people attached to the old music industry\u2014people that had jobs for Sony or EMI, or whomever that worked in the mailroom\u2014can use that as a credential to become a modern-day expert behind a computer keyboard.\u00a0 (And this is no lie!\u00a0 I\u2019ve met them!). \u00a0I almost think the biggest music company players out there that accurately foresaw what was to come in the digital age were laughing even harder at those attempting to skirt the former non-digital record company protocol that had existed for decades.\u00a0 I can remember reading article after article in the \u201890s slamming \u201cbig record,\u201d that their time had come and \u201cthe new digital age\u201d would put the power in the hands of the artist to have more control over their product and own more of that product.\u00a0 I remember that because soon after my first CD release and on the heals of the next one it seemed momentarily true.\u00a0 You could actually get paid by some companies real<\/i> money for downloads.\u00a0 And CDs were at the height of popularity and sold like hot cakes from the bandstand.\u00a0 But it was fleeting.\u00a0 And just a few years after my second CD release a lot of that changed.\u00a0 Not naming names, but those companies that took over the control to so magnanimously endow the independent artists\u2019 with control over their own destiny started becoming very wealthy feeding off of those they were supposedly helping.\u00a0 And this is not just sour grapes\u2014a lot of supposed<\/i> artists working at their day jobs helped support these companies thinking they were going to make for themselves fame and fortune somehow without really doing much work, like practicing their instrument or composing intelligible music, or actually going out and doing any gigs for a living\u2014that magically, by giving up a monthly fee and producing some sludge from their bedroom studio, all would eventually fall into their laps.\u00a0 Those, the true posers (imo), deserve to be ripped off\u2014they want to be ripped off\u2014so they can say, \u201cYeah, I\u2019m a professional.\u00a0 I got my music played on Flimflam Radio.\u201d\u00a0 So you can\u2019t fault these \u201cSign Up and Get Your Music Heard\u201d, and \u201cFree Airplay For Your Music\u2014special, only $125 if you sign up today!\u201d companies.\u00a0 There are suckers born every minute and they are specifically there to help feed the families of those that spot them as such.\u00a0 Been that way forever.\u00a0 Nothing new there.\u00a0 But in addressing the problem for the serious musician that has devoted so much time to his\/her art, given up so much in order to use their gifts and try to share that with people that really enjoy good music, herein lies the problem (in my estimation) within the current business environment:\u00a0 Total saturation!<\/i>\u00a0 The good, the bad and the damned ugly are all vying for the same spots in the market.\u00a0 Now there\u2019s so much available at the click of a cursor that anybody with access to the internet can instantly get nearly whatever they want and most of it, if not all, for free!\u00a0 Everyone and their mother is doing beats and writing hit songs in their bedroom\u2014all available on the net\u2014so much so that there is really nothing left to sell, let alone effectively make standout in the crowd.\u00a0 I mean, isn\u2019t it a little like trying to sell salt on a salt flat?\u00a0 But not all salt is the same, right?\u00a0 Some is better than others?\u00a0 However, even the worst salt can outsell the best salt if it becomes more popular.\u00a0 It\u2019s not about what\u2019s best, just what’s most popular that wins.\u00a0 Nothing different there, either.\u00a0 Been that way forever.\u00a0 But the shear volume of musical contributions (those good, bad and damned ugly) are so great that it seems like there isn\u2019t enough ears in the world to get to even a tenth of it. People do not generally sit around listening to music all day\u2014but when they do want to listen I think they try to choose what they think will please them the most\u2014usually something familiar. \u00a0So getting new stuff to stand out amidst everything that is already out there seems nearly impossible, especially<\/i> if you\u2019re trying to sell it!\u00a0 If it\u2019s not free, then the uphill climb just went up by 45 degrees.\u00a0 Tough if not impossible to do something like that with any sustainability while trying to be that artist that needs to put food on the table and pay the rent.\u00a0 Maybe you can make enough in short bursts to help, but nothing close to what one needs to pay a mortgage or rent, food, clothes, equipment repairs, travel, etc, with any consistency.\u00a0 Type in \u201cselling my music online<\/i><\/a>\u201d in a search engine and tell me how many hits you get.\u00a0 Pages and pages of services that, for a price, will help you<\/i> sell your music.\u00a0 Services with claim after claim, testimony after testimony and success story after success story on how their service is the best and will help you rise to the top of what seems like an infinite online catalog available to Jo\u00e3o and Jean Doe.\u00a0 It\u2019s worth noting that I know many people that are signed up with services like these because it\u2019s the only way to manage their catalog\u2014they just do not have the time, resources and money to invest in any other means to distribute their music.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s your take been like,\u201d I\u2019ve asked them.\u00a0 The answers are always nearly identical.\u00a0 \u201cA check for $49.50 in 2017 for X amount of sales;\u201d and \u201cWell, I haven\u2019t really made much, a few dollars from CD Infant, but I\u2019ve gotten more gigs.\u201d\u00a0 How much do those pay?\u00a0 \u201cWell I haven\u2019t really seen any major profits from the tours, but at least I\u2019m playing.\u201d\u00a0 Words I understand completely and just exemplify why I\u2019m wearing a patch into my scalp from scratching it while pondering what I\u2019m supposed to do next to release another collection of newly recorded original music.\u00a0 So when you see so many \u201cSell your music here\u201d companies online you know that that<\/i> portion of the industry is thriving.\u00a0 No way there would be so many companies if it weren’t profitable for them.\u00a0 Somebody\u2019s eating well, but I can tell you it isn\u2019t most of the artists.\u00a0 So all the pundits that were vociferously proclaiming success that the artists had finally won over \u201cbig record\u201d, claiming the new digital age had finally put the power in the hands of the artist were not quite well informed\u2014it was all just smoke and mirrors.\u00a0 I sometimes wonder if it wasn\u2019t all planned this way in some boardroom\u2014not unlike the scene in the Godfather where they came to terms at the end of their turf war and decided how they\u2019d go forward in the future\u2014drugs, their contemplation; music ours.\u00a0 They<\/em>, making all the decisions of the future\u2019s new digital rules of the music industry.\u00a0 I just don\u2019t believe this has happened by accident.\u00a0 There was no way big record was just going to say, \u201cOK, we lost.\u00a0 Let\u2019s close up shop and let our multi-billion dollar business go.\u201d\u00a0 Really? \u00a0 BUT, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s all bad and that there\u2019s no room to move. \u00a0I just believe that, like I said earlier, some things have changed and somehow older artists like myself have to figure out a way to reasonably adapt.\u00a0 The young artist has a couple of things moving in their favor where it was harder for us when we were younger.\u00a0 First and most obvious to me is social media, like Twitter and Facebook in that there is an instant, nearly totally free option to plug your band\u2019s shows and music.\u00a0 I was just talking to someone the other day about this.\u00a0 In the 80s it was wheat paste and posters all over the east village, word of mouth, Village Voice ads and, if you were lucky a few radio plugs.\u00a0 There was no Facebook or any other instant social media to plug your music and events.\u00a0 So we have it up on that earlier time to be able to get the word out more quickly and globally.\u00a0 And I also just read that \u201cSpotify has today launched a new feature which will enable independent artists to upload tracks to the service directly – without any requirement for a third-party aggregator or record label.<\/i><\/a>\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s nice.\u00a0 We\u2019ll see how that plays out in the coming year.\u00a0 However, one thing from that article not being addressed is the saturation factor I spoke of earlier.\u00a0 Another thing is the fact that the artist still has to collect so many hits (millions!) in order to see any real money come in.\u00a0 And it appears they<\/i> are going to reserve the right to change commission on royalties (Godfather boardroom?).\u00a0 Maybe it will be free for the artist to submit material\u2014but you may not see much from that.\u00a0 Again, more freedom for the artist to produce essentially free music for the masses for very little return.\u00a0 Will that be better?\u00a0 Hmmm, we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

Finally, the bottom line for original music artists like myself and my friends is we keep doing this because we\u2019re totally addicted to it!\u00a0 It\u2019s what we do.\u00a0 I love to compose music.\u00a0 I have a huge backlog of compositions, either ready to be recorded or in need of some sort of final arrangement or edits\u2014but lingering and hoping for a home eventually.\u00a0 I\u2019ll never finish the whole lot, either.\u00a0 I can see that\u2014time\u2019s gonna run out.\u00a0 But I\u2019m truly fine with all this.\u00a0 No matter what happens in the world of music, or in the world in general for that matter, as long as I have the facility to do so I can continually enjoy composing and playing music.\u00a0 And I will.\u00a0 I can\u2019t see an end other than the inevitable one.\u00a0 Money is important.\u00a0 To continue to produce good music one must keep the $$ coming in somehow.\u00a0 But the greatest blessing is the fact that we original music artists can actually produce something good in the first place.\u00a0 I have to remember that.\u00a0 Not everyone can do what we do.<\/p>\n

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by Bob Dee It\u2019s been hard to even contemplate what one must do in this current music industry environment to efficaciously release newly recorded original music.\u00a0 And I\u2019m not just talking about profitability, which to me is a multi-faceted term anyway.\u00a0 Finding clear, and more importantly, accurate information has been my first hurdle.\u00a0 As much … <\/p>\n

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