I dig these “music industry in flux” articles.
Change can make one feel unsteady, but we all need to be shaken up from time to time. The old ways of doing things pass away, opening up new and sometimes fresh ways of buying, selling, living…
The article begins with a reference to Amy Winehouse and rehab and ends with this advice to an industry staring at the digital revolution like a deer in headlights: “[T]o shake off its blues, the record business must itself continue to break old habits. Saying yes to rehab is a start, but returning to health is going to take a sustained dose of discipline and imagination.”
In between are issues familiar to regular LBC readers and others following music/digital tech news: CDs sales are down, illegal downloading is up, record labels are trying to lay claim to artists’ concert ticket and merchandise sales (known as 360 deals) because CDs sales are drying up, etc. If you have the time (and inclination), read the entire article. It’s a concise, information-packed overview of the state of the music industry today.
Why Not ConcertKick?
Have you heard of a new venture called Songkick? The British-based service works much like other music services. Songkick is to live music what Last.FM is to recorded music. It kicks out concert alerts and recommendations based on your tastes in music. Instead of looking through concert listings in your local paper or combing through music blogs or signing up for intrusive e-mail alerts or surfing to your favorite bands’ web sites to find out when they’re touring, just sign up for Songkick for a convenient, all-in-one-place listing.
Songkick also aggregates ticket vendors. You can look for a show and tickets (and compare prices from different vendors) in one place. I wonder, though, why Songkick isn’t called ConcertKick. Seems more apt, don’t you think?
Goals, Digital and Otherwise
One of my goals in the coming years is to learn all I can about how digital technology has changed the music industry, help artists market themselves in the digital age, help fans discover new music and connect with artists, and attend more concerts (small clubs preferred over arenas). I’m a blog evangelist, a blog consultant with online marketing experience, and a music fan who likes finding new music. I’m trying to figure out how to continue doing what I love, mingle with my favorite bands, and get paid at the same time. Possible?
Most of all, I want to be invited to events like SXSW and speak on panels about digital tech and the music industry and meet artists and listen to good, live music. Why? At this point in my life, I want to deal with conflict of a different kind (because no matter what you do, there will be conflict). I want to learn how to harness the collective power of user-generated content (blogs, wikis, reviews, recommendations, shared experiences, etc.), help artists figure out how this collective power can earn them a decent living, and contribute to the cultural shift that is upending the gatekeepers.
I could accomplish this in the political arena, but politics and I have had our run. There’s no challenge in it, and it bores and frustrates me. I find delight in these ideas as applied to the music industry specifically. Why? How do I articulate it? Whoever said or wrote that music soothes the savage beast knew what he was talking about.
Blogging and writing about downloadable digital music is my latest thing, and I want to ride it out and see where it takes me. Check out my MySpace band friends, some of whom found me. That, I dig.
Good Friday to you!
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