As the end of the year 2007 approaches, there seems to be a flurry of articles tackling the big mess the music industry has been in, and diving even further into the deeper meaning of pop music in the 21st Century. It's like everyone in music is now realizing we're at a time when we need to have "one of those 'what does it all mean' kind of things", like Rob Gordon has in High Fidelity, but, you know, without Catherine Zeta-Jones being involved. Damn.
Here’s a quick roundup, and as always, your own thoughts on this are always welcome.
- David Byrne interviews Thom Yorke for Wired
Two intelligent, interesting personalities talking to each other about the way Radiohead released In Rainbows, the meltdown of the music distribution industry as we've known it, and even offering up survival strategies for emerging artists. Caffeine Sunday doesn't have the fanbase/draw to try out some of the experiments these two internationally-recognized guys have been trying, but it's always interesting to hear from people who are trying to get around doing things the conventional way. - MTV proclaims 2007 the “year the music industry broke”
When even MTV is saying this, you know the music industry is really screwed. They provide a nice timeline of various events of 2007 that, added together, make an absolutely ugly year for music labels and the related industries that surround them. - CBC.ca provides a counterargument to the “albums are dead” line
I've heard a lot about how a la carte track downloads via iTunes is the wave of the future, and no one will ever go back to the era of albums when they can just buy singles. There is some merit to this, but as a songwriter, I have to say I'm partial to whole albums, both as a fan/consumer, and as an artist. I'm not opposed to making individual tracks available for $0.99 each, but I do think there's merit in packaging an album as a complete statement, musically. Piecemeal singles alone are never quite the same for me. This December CBC feature puts forth some interesting facts and opinions to counterbalance the "singles rule" belief. - Vue Weekly on the emerging new music model
Last week's cover story in Edmonton alt weekly Vue was a story about all of this, but localized (mainly) to the opinions of Edmonton music retailers. The article is suggesting that despite the growth in online digital music sales, physical sales aren't dead yet, "And, ironically, the world of recorded music could be saved by ... good old 33 and one-third RPM records." While as a vinyl lover I would love to see this happen, I'm very skeptical of this, and the article doesn't really back up its theory with substantial evidence. Even though record sales are up in a time where CD sales are plummeting, vinyl sales aren't going up at a rate anywhere close to making up the slack. Look at it this way, when Caffeine Sunday releases our new stuff, if we decided to release it on vinyl LP, I don't have a single friend, family member or co-worker who would by the record. CDs, yes, MP3s, yes, records, no. I'd be the only one. And we can't be the only local band in that boat. I'd love to release our stuff on vinyl, don't get me wrong, but that's a lot of money for a format that would have to be only one of several formats required in order for everyone who wants to listen to us to be able to do so. It would be a lot of money to spend on a format none of our current fanbase would buy, except me. Don't get me wrong, this is an interesting read, but like I said, I have my doubts.
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