this is a moment of technological miracle, everybody. musicians have the power to make their own music for practically no money, distribute it for absolutely no money, and work with a business manager of some sort should one become necessary. that's everything. sure, you might need a publicist, a web designer, and people of that sort, but those people want nothing to do with controlling your music. a publicist doesn't own the masters. no label should ever own them.
the music industry isn't cratering. it's flourishing. we're witnessing beginning of a thrilling renaissance in home production that's going to shape the future of music for generations. hip hop has been wise to this for years -- all the hip hop superheroes were self-made; there wasn't a hip hop record industry, so they built one. the roc-a-fella model is about to become the norm.
but, the major labels are cratering. well, that's good. the explosion of independent music that coincided with the rise of the internet demonstrates that people wanted far more than the labels were set up to put out. it's not their fault; they had a business to run, they had a business model, and it's simply unsustainable now. that's the end of an era, but not the end of music. but it does mean that all of us should stay as far away from the major labels as possible. if you were a businessperson, you wouldn't invest in one, would you?
we're in an age when, if music is good, and the musician is willing to do the work to get it out there, it will find an audience. tv and print promotion? people are far more likely to listen to a band if it pops up on a friend's myspace and sounds cool.
it's important to get it out there obviously -- you still need a few reviews to demonstrate that you were willing to subject it to critical scrutiny -- but there are podcasts, youtube videos, internet radio, satellite radio, websites and blogs -- an entire industry of effort built to oppose the major labels. the infrastructure becomes more complex and self-sustaining every year. more people are tuning in every year. at some point, new business models will rise up and corporate music will be the order of the day, but right now, we can control our own destinies. for a quick moment in history, anyway, the musicians are in the driver's seat.
