Is the music industry in serious decline or is it booming? Well… both.

‘Economy’, ‘Credit Crunch’, ‘Recession’. All very real to some people, but at the same time as the job cuts, the music industry is reaching more people who are consuming more music and more artists are making a living from it (some are even selling downloads and merchandise by the truckload). So what IS going on?

Forward thinking music 2.0 businesses that should be expanding are being forced to cut back.
Sirius XM laid off 50 staff including some disc jockeys, Pandora had to cut their team from 140 to 120.

These businesses are thriving in one sense, with more members, fans and subscribers every day – Pandora also stated that their listenership is ‘growing rapidly’ – and yet they are still struggling to fund their staffing costs. I think that this is because their ideas and business models are sound, but the market and industry as a whole is just not ready for them. Not just yet. The ones that aren’t adapting are looking even gloomier; Time Warner is expecting to cut 1,250 jobs across the media and entertainment sectors following it’s recently reported fourth quarter loss.

Then there are the small music businesses that are doing well, making a successful living from the music industry (isn’t that what it’s all about?). More people are doing so every year. They are selling downloads, CDs, T-shirts… it’s great!

Music businesses are split into two sections in my mind. There are the businesses of old, who have always relied on selling huge numbers of a physical product and ignoring the new ways of connecting with music fans. You’ll hear from them that ‘pirates’ are causing job losses, but in reality, they are selling less physical products than they were 10 years ago because 10 years ago people were still buying CDs in bulk to replace their out-of-date cassettes and vinyl. Those figures were unsustainable and it was unrealistic to expect that surge of purchasing to continue. The other trouble with that strategy in today’s digital world is of course, single song downloads. Why buy a turkey of an album for $15 when iTunes offers the best song for $.99? So yes, Sony’s music profits have declined 41% and Warner music can increase digital revenue yet the total revenue slides 11%. These companies are struggling to find a new way. We all know that.

The other section of businesses I would call music 2.0 businesses. People and teams who are looking for new models for success in the music industry. They may be online distributors or sell music-related products or services. They may be websites streaming to consumers for free (gasp(!)) or an artist giving their tracks away. What sets them all apart is how they look at building a community and reaching out to fans, with a view to creating real interaction, enjoyment and value for the consumer. Often on a personal level, because blogs and websites may be run by independent bands, and therefore often it’s the artists themselves answering the emails. This makes their music genuine, appealing, and because they don’t blow hundreds of thousands of dollars on old media marketing of average artists, they can (and do) succeed woth a small yet loyal fanbase. You could even put a band such as Radiohead in this sector, because although they are affiliated with a major label, their idea of branching out with a new concept and a ‘name you own price for our album’ strategy created a stir as it tried to push music consumerism forward.

Many successful careers and companies are crafted during tough economic times, let’s face it, people can’t throw money around so they only make the smart decisions (Gary Vaynerchuck taught me that). The smart advertisers and investors are siding with the ‘future’ of the music business, and shifting away from the dinosaurs, hence the split in the news headlines.

Maybe you should think about where your music career is now, where you want to be, and how you can appeal to fans and investors alike in these tough times, in order to create a relationship that you can both benefit from.

Lee Jarvis.

My first Mecca when I started DJing and collecting music was Trackmasters in Romford; a great place, run by an awesome guy with a solid knowledge of dance music; it was purely the digital revolution that killed them off. All across the UK, independent music stores are closing at an alarming rate, as the buying habits of the general public have changed remarkably, and the shift from CD to digital is now obvious for all to see.

The ‘adult’ shoppers who were wanting to replace all their vinyl and cassette collection with new CDs have pretty much completed that transition. Getting them into new music on a regular basis is pretty rare. That leaves the general music buying youth, and, well, they are obviously all illegal downloading pirates (according to the RIAA/PRS/ASCAP etc), who rarely set foot in a physical retailer for anything anymore.

There is hope. In order for these traditional retail stores to keep afloat, they must adapt to the new music 2.0 world and attract customers by a variety of means. They must expand their revenue sources in order to survive. I’m sure that some if this will involve mp3s, and developing a working strategy for in-store downloading. For example, a customer can come in with their personal mp3 player, maybe share a few songs with an in-store music specialist, then receive recommendations for new music purchases. A ‘top-up card’ system could be implemented, where a customer can buy 5/ 10/ 25 downloads in advance, select tracks from in-store machines, then insert the card and link up their mp3 player to receive their new tracks. This will also sell well as presents for friends and families at Christmas. Branching into mp3s can also tie-in with the sale of personal mp3 players, mobile phones with music packages and the accessories that accompany them i.e. headphones, earphones and mini-speaker / home stereo link-up systems.

Box sets and limited edition CDs are a good way to add extra value, relative to the price of a ‘normal’ CD. They could have extra features that are not available with the original, such as extra photos and information published in the inlays(s), enhanced CDs that will play music videos in home computers, and possibly bonus tracks / unreleased mixes / original studio recordings / remastered versions. Much of this would not be available online, or at least would mean more to own physically for the loyal fans of each artist.

Brick-and-mortar retail outlets should also consider moving into other products associated with a variety of mainstream and niche artists and strong music brands, from Michael Jackson concert DVDs to Marilyn Manson dolls to Def Jam T-shirts to Glastonbury / SXSW tickets. Supporting local bands is one way they can even have an edge over the large brands such as HMV / Virgin etc. Rather than trying to sell a thousand megastar albums, selling 25 albums of 40 different local acts will create the same income and possible evolve more loyal, longer term custom.

Anything they can do to think outside the box and expand their store into a community once again is the way that the physical retailers can fight back and survive. I, for one, would hate to see the last remaining few disappear from our streets, and honestly think that by becoming more of a community / lifestyle / hang out joint, and turn the shop itself into a trusted, authentic and knowledgeable brand, then they can regain not just one-off customers, but regular long-tail fans.

Lee Jarvis.

For those of you that are unaware, I thought i’d share some information in this blog about Creative Commons. Lawrence Lessig has been a driving force in creating a non-profit organisation with new, groundbreaking copyright rules, that aim to guide forward-thinking musicians and artists through a new digital age of arts.

Building upon existing laws, Creative Commons licenses adapts them to allow remixing, mashing, evolving and combining of existing works, which makes for a creative freedom that will surely help inspire many new artists; influence is a powerful motivator, and something that creative people love to share. The original artists are able to choose which rights they want to maintain, and which they can offer to allow experimentation and sharing for future works, the idea often being that no work is ‘finished’, and that by sharing and giving in this 2.0 world, exposure, discovery and accreditation are more important than direct revenue from one set product.

Lessig is not aiming for an out-of-control, misdirected world where no-one has any rights to any of their work, hence the Creative Commons tagline adapting ‘All rights reserved’ to ‘Some rights reserved’. His intention is to avoid the problems and boundaries created by current copyright laws, not to send the arts world into anarchy by declaring ‘No rights reserved’ on all works, something that major corporations and governing bodies are failing to understand, especially within the music industry.

There are four main parts of Creative Commons licenses, all available for free, can be combined together, and the Wikipedia page offers a good explanation;

* Attribution (by) requires users to attribute a work’s original author. All Creative Commons licenses contain this option, but some now-deprecated licenses did not contain this component.
* Authors can either not restrict modification, or use Share-alike (sa), which is a copyleft (a play on the word copyright and describes the practice of using copyright law to remove restrictions on distributing copies and modified versions of a work for others and requiring that the same freedoms be preserved in modified versions) requirement – it requires that any derived works be licensed under the same license, or No derivatives (nd), which requires that the work not be modified..
* Non-commercial (nc) requires that the work not be used for commercial purposes.

As an example, Chicago-based record label Rock Proper have just released a new album under a Creative Commons BY-NC license, “making the experimental rock songs therein freely sharable/remixable as long as [the artist] is properly attributed and reuses are noncommercial in intent”.

I feel that this is important to share in this blog, and strongly suggest a bit of further reading from my links, as I believe that independent musicians can use the licenses to their advantage, and, through a good promotional idea and strategy, help raise awareness of the original, and ultimately the artist (/brand) behind that work. Putting creative freedom above trying to directly sell a product opens up other income streams such as touring, merchandise and more, and with the right online presence, you can really make this boost your music career.

Lee Jarvis.

Ok, I’m not entirely sure where I’m going with this one, but ride it out with me… Over the last couple of days I have received emails and feeds reminding me to vote in the US Election from people such as MTV, OM Records, and many, many more. In fact, MTV news headlines are dominated by election predictions and results.

What has all this got to do with the changing face of the music industry? Directly… nothing. Indirectly, the thing that has struck me, and that you should really think about too, is that the way that both the political parties and neutral organisations are using the internet and new media to encourage people to vote in incredible numbers. National Geographic have reported that voter turnout could be the highest since 1908!

Yes, the high voting numbers can often be born from times of despair, but I also think that this has something to do with the way that the world communicates today, and how it differs from 8 years ago. A new media marketing success can reach an unbelievable number of consumers, and it often hits a high percentage of young, affluent, responsible US citizens. These are the people who should really be concerned with their vote, and have been missing from previous elections altogether.

Viral videos have been a huge contribution to this, as they can use humour to make their point hit home with great effect.

Wassup 2008

Is viral marketing something that you can tap into for your band promotion / record label / concert venue? I think you should seriously consider the way the world communicates, and how it is evolving. While I do plan to share lot more about the changing music industry over at my personal blog, one guy who really knows what he’s talking about is Bob Baker. Head over to his blog and read a few of his wise words.

Lee.

Does it still happen? Well, no.

It may SEEM like someone gets a lucky break now and then, but trust me, that particular gig where the (insert national newspaper) reviewer pops along and likes what they hear – that’s because it’s your 1052nd gig and they are there because you’ve contacted them through the whelm of social networking sites. They checked out your UK Music Jobs profile (which is in all your signatures) before replying, which was up to date with info, press shots, new music and carefully crafted branding. Someone in their office had actually heard of you already because you are always chiming in on (insert blog) with insightful comments and linking back to your own regularly updated tour blog. Their friend had won free tickets to your last gig that you’d offered to the local radio station (along with a CD and biog for the specialist genre DJ there).

Here’s the good news, and the bit to focus on. Your career is now in YOUR hands. You don’t have to rely on the top A&R gurus listening to your tape and throwing the other 1,000 away on that particular day.

YOU record your own ideas, dreams and emotions. YOU build your fan base. YOU start your own label and YOU sell the records through YOUR website. YOU do the marketing, publishing, live performances and cost scheduling.

It’s hard, but in today’s model, it’s all very achievable. You may not get it all right first time, and you may need to research for some advice. That’s where I come in

The internet is incredible, and web 2.0 is all about providing free content. There’s hundreds of helpful blogs providing expert help and advice, here’s a few I recommend;

www.leejarvis.blogspot.com (The Digital Revolution, Music 2.0 and tips for Indies and Freelancers; we all get one free plug, don’t we?!)
New music strategies (Does what it says on the tin. Change the way you think if you want to make it in the future music industry)
Berkleemusic (Top US college with some amazing tutors, offering help on all kinds of music careers. Alumi include Quincy Jones and Herbie Hancock)

Now that you have control over you own career, go make it happen! Ooh, but before you go, leave a comment and check back soon

Lee.

I’ve come across this great talk by a rather clever chap called Gerd Leonhard. Leonhard is a Media Futurist, which basically means he will tell you how sell your album / market your record company / become a top-earning publisher, whilst moving forward, and avoiding becoming extinct or viewed as untrustworthy by your consumers. He was filmed at this Google Tech Talk in London last month, covering topics such as the way that the internet is the biggest change to the music industry since radio, current and future predictions of social trends, and the way music may be sold online in the near future and how it will affect artists.

Anyone serious about the Music Industry really should watch this – It’s bang on the money, with his points regarding the UK Radio industry, the BPI, RIAA and many more. Plus, at just over 60 mins, it will fit nicely into your lunch break

The slideshow is also available here in a larger and clearer form, but i was focussing so much on his theories that i’d rather go out and buy his book

Well, here we go with the launch of the UK Music Jobs blogs! We hope to make your visit to the Music Jobs website a bit more informative and enjoyable, with news, reviews, advice and gossip from around the world.

My ’specialist subject’ is Dance music, although I aim to cover as much of the music world as possible. I love going to live gigs, so you’ll hear my rants on Jazz or Rock, and I’ll also bring you news from major labels and their latest troubles. I hope to cover these as completely as I can, and I expect a flurry of adulation / abuse as I attempt to do so. You guys may know more or feel different about what I write, so tell me so!  I want the emotional replies – blogs are supposed to be interactive, so please comment on anything you feel strongly about. I need to know what amuses and disgusts you so that I can delve deeper into the subjects that you all want to hear about.

The Music Industry is a big ol’ world, and I only have two hands and one groggy brain to try and get it all across to you…. but bear with me, it’ll be a fun journey.

Lee Jarvis.