Before Elvis there was swing music which got the greatest generation through WWII during which the antiquarian record business died for lack of shellac. Plastics gave us a new music industry. Fueled by rock & roll and the marriage of AM radio and 45s the modern record business was born.
The King drove MUSIC to a very high place and the infrastructure was further exploded by the talents of The Beatles. When 331/3 married FM radio the postmodern record business became big business. The symbiotic relationship between concerts and records blew it up even bigger. All of this was MUSIC driven.
It is culturally impossible for the old infrastructure to survive without an artist geometrically more appealing than Elvis or The Beatles. Even in this era of FREE MUSIC and niche markets, such an avatar could draw an ubiquitous audience. Lacking a superstar to attract their interest the people will go back to the street and start over. The exodus has already begun.
Showing posts with label New Music Paradigm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Music Paradigm. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
The Holodigm Quote of the Day - Ryan Gosling on Pitchfork - June 2, 2010
HolodigmMusic.com
QUOTE ME
Ryan Gosling - Dead Man's Bones - on Pitchfork:
"It seems like an interesting time to come into music, because it seems like everybody's leaving, every office we go into the guy's packing up, and pulling all the final things from his desk in a box," Gosling said. "It seems like, you can't make money anymore, so people are trying to figure out how it all should work. My impression just seems to be like, it's kind of the Wild West in a way. Whatever you think of you can do, and that's really terrifying but also an exciting situation to be in, because you realize that you can create the way that this goes down for you...So people are in it because they want to be, and not because they think it'll be profitable for them. It seems like it's good creatively, but you also have to figure out how you want to present your music, because the old model doesn't work anymore."
Posted by Amy Phillips on January 11, 2009 at 4:20 p.m.
QUOTE ME
Ryan Gosling - Dead Man's Bones - on Pitchfork:
"It seems like an interesting time to come into music, because it seems like everybody's leaving, every office we go into the guy's packing up, and pulling all the final things from his desk in a box," Gosling said. "It seems like, you can't make money anymore, so people are trying to figure out how it all should work. My impression just seems to be like, it's kind of the Wild West in a way. Whatever you think of you can do, and that's really terrifying but also an exciting situation to be in, because you realize that you can create the way that this goes down for you...So people are in it because they want to be, and not because they think it'll be profitable for them. It seems like it's good creatively, but you also have to figure out how you want to present your music, because the old model doesn't work anymore."
Posted by Amy Phillips on January 11, 2009 at 4:20 p.m.
Monday, March 15, 2010
The Digital Music Business FAQ - Making It Big - March 15, 2010
HolodigmMusic.com
Making It Big
Lindsay Stanger asks:
It seems as though... 30 years ago when a band got signed to a major record label they were bound to at least be a one hit wonder if not a superstar. I have some friends that are either solo artists or in bands that were signed to major record labels and some even received a pretty hefty signing bonus...why is it that nothing ever seems to happen for them after they are signed?? Does the record label give up on them even after originally seeing potential? Is this common?
Hartmann responds:
All size is relative. "Big" is in the mind of the beholder and "making it" is a very nebulous term that has unique connotations to different people. One of the phrases most often used by music fans to describe their favorite artists is to say "they are making it big." But what does that really mean today? For a thing to be described as big something else must be regarded as smaller. The big four record companies have lost their way and the old system is no longer cost effective. The small artist owned and operated record company will emerge as the next big thing in music.
The standards of success in the old music industry paradigm were much more clearly defined than they are in the digital music renaissance. For more than one hundred years the concert business evolved in a symbiotic union with the growth and development of the record business. The technical link that bonded these two businesses together was terrestrial broadcast radio.
From the late eighteen hundreds, into the nineteen twenties and thirties, the antiquarian record business progressed from printed sheet music, to Edison's cylinders to shellac discs vulnerable to breakage. This was the acoustic period for recorded music. The play back systems of the day did not utilize electricity in their drive train or amplification mechanics. Radio receivers came in all shapes and sizes from simple crystal head sets to larger more elaborate pieces of furniture.
Music was forced to compete with comedy and dramatic programming for a share of the limited air time. Local stations operated at most twelve hours a day. Eventually radio replaced singing around the piano as the dominant form of in home entertainment. The "Great" Caruso, Rudy Vallee, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and many of their contemporaries sold millions of records on the strength of radio airplay. This led them to extensive film and personal appearance careers.
The process was rudely interrupted during World War II when the distant sources of shellac were no longer readily accessible. Manufacturing techniques and materials developed during the war enabled huge leaps forward in the analog recording and hardware delivery systems. By the mid fifties the modern record business was born out of the marriage of AM radio and forty-five RPM records. The low cost record player was easily acquired by the baby boomer generation.
Millions of teenagers were engaged in the collection and trading of "singles" as the seven inch, vinyl discs with the doughnut hole in the middle were called. Into this musical sanctuary of the young exploded the dynamic force that would drive the record business to unprecedented heights of popularity. Elvis Presley, The Hillbilly Cat, who would eventually be regarded as the King of Rock & Roll brought charisma, sex appeal and an incredible singing voice to an entire generation.
The infrastructure that was created to service Elvis and his contemporaries provided a vast public platform from which the postmodern record business would emerge. It was technology once again that pushed the envelope and prepared the way for the marriage of FM radio and thirty-three and a third RPM long playing albums. The driving force in this era was The Beatles.
Rock & Roll music eventually consumed more radio air time than all other content combined. The record business infused free recorded music and vast advertising and "payola" dollars into the system. A music hungry public fully engaged their heroes who reached the top of the charts and embraced the artist's records and personal appearances as their primary source of entertainment.
The process was slick and smoothly run. Hundreds of small record companies proliferated with many enjoying critical and financial success. As fame and fortune accrued to a steadily growing coterie of artists the public clamored to see their favorite rock stars in concert. The first to take advantage of this demand were the disk jockeys. Many gained enormous credibility with the radio audience by being the voice of the promotional vehicle and the self appointed arbiters of taste.
A disk jockey out of Cleveland named Alan Freed coined the term Rock & Roll and produced many of the earliest rock concerts and tours. A platter spinner from Philadelphia produced the first major touring events with "Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars" which were bolstered by his enormously popular "American Bandstand" television show. Both were caught up in the "payola" scandals of the fifties. Although no particular guilt was ever established, Freed was destroyed by them and died destitute. Clark went on to dominate music TV for fifty years.
During the last half of the twentieth century the infrastructures of radio, records and concerts became inter dependant and all three activities flourished together. During this time period there was a reasonable expectation that if you could get a record deal, mount a live act and demonstrate a modicum of talent and charisma you could have a productive career in the music industry.
This did not mean that everybody in the game became a superstar, far from it. In fact a core principal developed over time that prevails today. About ten percent of the artists competing at the professional level achieved financial success. This was enough to keep the industry healthy and growing. The remaining ninety percent of the artists failed to make a profit and moved on.
Today digimodernization has imposed a harsh new system on the music industry. Digital distribution of music has decimated the record industry. Low cost production and post Napster file sharing have drastically reduced the number of records purchased, while simultaneously putting more music in play than ever before. Mom and Pop record stores have disappeared along with the major chains. Within a decade ninety percent of recorded music will be acquired on line.
The myriad of record companies have been merged and consolidated down to four primary record groups that dominate the business. With the loss of control over the radio promotion and brick and mortar distribution systems they once dominated these four giants are engaged in a free fall of their own creation. Short sighted executive decisions vainly attempting to preserve the high profit, album oriented CD. The RIAA sued their customers and lost direct access to the fan base.
This accounts for the very small number of new artists achieving extraordinary success in the music renaissance. Only a handful of new acts have reached financial profitability in the past decade. The number of units sold to reach the top of the Billboard magazine charts has plunged from over a million units to slightly more than a hundred thousand. These facts reduce the investment dollars available to promote new acts. The cost of traditional radio promotion has remained the same or increased. Without the potential to sell a large volume of product the game, as we know it, is over.
While the record business struggles to find its digital life preserver, the concert business marches on, and continues to grow at a healthy pace. With all the recorded music ever produced readily available on line without the imposition of economics the fan base is building at an enormously accelerated rate. This new "free" form of promotion has created a global forum for fans to share music on a peer-to-peer basis eliminating the middle man and insuring the demise of the labels.
The next big superstar will be discovered and nurtured through the Internet and the potential for success is greater than ever. As a promotional tool the world-wide-web is infinitely more powerful than AM and FM radio combined. It allows artists and their managers to be proactive and independent about how they expose their music to the public. The musicians and producers can also market their music and branded products through low cost on line systems. More importantly they can capitalize on high profit margins by selling CDs directly to their fan base.
Making It Big
Lindsay Stanger asks:
It seems as though... 30 years ago when a band got signed to a major record label they were bound to at least be a one hit wonder if not a superstar. I have some friends that are either solo artists or in bands that were signed to major record labels and some even received a pretty hefty signing bonus...why is it that nothing ever seems to happen for them after they are signed?? Does the record label give up on them even after originally seeing potential? Is this common?
Hartmann responds:
All size is relative. "Big" is in the mind of the beholder and "making it" is a very nebulous term that has unique connotations to different people. One of the phrases most often used by music fans to describe their favorite artists is to say "they are making it big." But what does that really mean today? For a thing to be described as big something else must be regarded as smaller. The big four record companies have lost their way and the old system is no longer cost effective. The small artist owned and operated record company will emerge as the next big thing in music.
The standards of success in the old music industry paradigm were much more clearly defined than they are in the digital music renaissance. For more than one hundred years the concert business evolved in a symbiotic union with the growth and development of the record business. The technical link that bonded these two businesses together was terrestrial broadcast radio.
From the late eighteen hundreds, into the nineteen twenties and thirties, the antiquarian record business progressed from printed sheet music, to Edison's cylinders to shellac discs vulnerable to breakage. This was the acoustic period for recorded music. The play back systems of the day did not utilize electricity in their drive train or amplification mechanics. Radio receivers came in all shapes and sizes from simple crystal head sets to larger more elaborate pieces of furniture.
Music was forced to compete with comedy and dramatic programming for a share of the limited air time. Local stations operated at most twelve hours a day. Eventually radio replaced singing around the piano as the dominant form of in home entertainment. The "Great" Caruso, Rudy Vallee, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and many of their contemporaries sold millions of records on the strength of radio airplay. This led them to extensive film and personal appearance careers.
The process was rudely interrupted during World War II when the distant sources of shellac were no longer readily accessible. Manufacturing techniques and materials developed during the war enabled huge leaps forward in the analog recording and hardware delivery systems. By the mid fifties the modern record business was born out of the marriage of AM radio and forty-five RPM records. The low cost record player was easily acquired by the baby boomer generation.
Millions of teenagers were engaged in the collection and trading of "singles" as the seven inch, vinyl discs with the doughnut hole in the middle were called. Into this musical sanctuary of the young exploded the dynamic force that would drive the record business to unprecedented heights of popularity. Elvis Presley, The Hillbilly Cat, who would eventually be regarded as the King of Rock & Roll brought charisma, sex appeal and an incredible singing voice to an entire generation.
The infrastructure that was created to service Elvis and his contemporaries provided a vast public platform from which the postmodern record business would emerge. It was technology once again that pushed the envelope and prepared the way for the marriage of FM radio and thirty-three and a third RPM long playing albums. The driving force in this era was The Beatles.
Rock & Roll music eventually consumed more radio air time than all other content combined. The record business infused free recorded music and vast advertising and "payola" dollars into the system. A music hungry public fully engaged their heroes who reached the top of the charts and embraced the artist's records and personal appearances as their primary source of entertainment.
The process was slick and smoothly run. Hundreds of small record companies proliferated with many enjoying critical and financial success. As fame and fortune accrued to a steadily growing coterie of artists the public clamored to see their favorite rock stars in concert. The first to take advantage of this demand were the disk jockeys. Many gained enormous credibility with the radio audience by being the voice of the promotional vehicle and the self appointed arbiters of taste.
A disk jockey out of Cleveland named Alan Freed coined the term Rock & Roll and produced many of the earliest rock concerts and tours. A platter spinner from Philadelphia produced the first major touring events with "Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars" which were bolstered by his enormously popular "American Bandstand" television show. Both were caught up in the "payola" scandals of the fifties. Although no particular guilt was ever established, Freed was destroyed by them and died destitute. Clark went on to dominate music TV for fifty years.
During the last half of the twentieth century the infrastructures of radio, records and concerts became inter dependant and all three activities flourished together. During this time period there was a reasonable expectation that if you could get a record deal, mount a live act and demonstrate a modicum of talent and charisma you could have a productive career in the music industry.
This did not mean that everybody in the game became a superstar, far from it. In fact a core principal developed over time that prevails today. About ten percent of the artists competing at the professional level achieved financial success. This was enough to keep the industry healthy and growing. The remaining ninety percent of the artists failed to make a profit and moved on.
Today digimodernization has imposed a harsh new system on the music industry. Digital distribution of music has decimated the record industry. Low cost production and post Napster file sharing have drastically reduced the number of records purchased, while simultaneously putting more music in play than ever before. Mom and Pop record stores have disappeared along with the major chains. Within a decade ninety percent of recorded music will be acquired on line.
The myriad of record companies have been merged and consolidated down to four primary record groups that dominate the business. With the loss of control over the radio promotion and brick and mortar distribution systems they once dominated these four giants are engaged in a free fall of their own creation. Short sighted executive decisions vainly attempting to preserve the high profit, album oriented CD. The RIAA sued their customers and lost direct access to the fan base.
This accounts for the very small number of new artists achieving extraordinary success in the music renaissance. Only a handful of new acts have reached financial profitability in the past decade. The number of units sold to reach the top of the Billboard magazine charts has plunged from over a million units to slightly more than a hundred thousand. These facts reduce the investment dollars available to promote new acts. The cost of traditional radio promotion has remained the same or increased. Without the potential to sell a large volume of product the game, as we know it, is over.
While the record business struggles to find its digital life preserver, the concert business marches on, and continues to grow at a healthy pace. With all the recorded music ever produced readily available on line without the imposition of economics the fan base is building at an enormously accelerated rate. This new "free" form of promotion has created a global forum for fans to share music on a peer-to-peer basis eliminating the middle man and insuring the demise of the labels.
The next big superstar will be discovered and nurtured through the Internet and the potential for success is greater than ever. As a promotional tool the world-wide-web is infinitely more powerful than AM and FM radio combined. It allows artists and their managers to be proactive and independent about how they expose their music to the public. The musicians and producers can also market their music and branded products through low cost on line systems. More importantly they can capitalize on high profit margins by selling CDs directly to their fan base.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Music Business FAQ - TALENT TODAY - February, 13, 2010
HolodigmMusic.com
Talent Today
R. Monahan asks:
Do you feel that there is any one act or artist already around today that could potentially rise up to being the face of our generation or are we still waiting on that star to appear? And also, if there is not anything established yet, what genre do you believe this act will rise out of?
Hartmann responds:
Every displaced record executive in the world is dreaming and scheming about how to reinvent the music industry. But, it is not the music "industry" that is suffering. It is the record "business" that is in a stew of its own making. The concert "business" is the second, and most enduring, component of the "industry" of music. The live music business will not sustain the same long-term, deleterious damage as has befallen the record business. Regardless of cost, profit, packaging, or how it is marketed, the music industry is here to stay and will be bigger than ever.
Digimodernization has fired the shot heard round the world. The transition is in motion, the industry will adapt. The evolution of it cannot be stopped. The artist and the audience are forever connected without imposition of middle-men who may have less than artistic motives. Cross cultural communication is exploding across the Internet and music is at its forefront.
Vast digital systems are hyper-linking social networks and enabling the exchange of millions of songs and videos every day. This "sharing" of music is expanding the global audience at an accelerating rate. The net result will be an increased interest in musicians and their work. The perceived values will accrue to the artistic side and the business of music will be redefined. This progression is moving at an explosive pace and the sound it makes is music.
There are hundreds of artist and repertoire services on the Internet that all offer "expert" guidance from seasoned professionals. The problem is that the expertize they purvey almost always relates to the old paradigm. There is a distinct lack of vision about exactly how to pursue the development of new talent in the music renaissance. One thing is for certain, reliance on record companies is no longer a viable option.
Newly minted Internet entrepreneurs must function within the parameters of their personal experience. This usually means finding someone to invest in the act. With very few record companies still in the artist development business, no artists get signed until they have a strong online following. By then, the potential contribution of a label is questionable. They can't guarantee much money, because the return on investment is not secure. The 360 degree formula is yet unproven; not one single act has come to prominence under this type of arrangement.
The music industry has been forced to take a digital leap backwards in order to surge forward into the new paradigm. The record business is collapsing under the weight of it's own infrastructure. This demise of the labels does not portend the end of recording as an art form. The two primary activities of the music industry will always prevail. Recording and performing are the symbiotic partners that created the postmodern record business; and they will continue to flourish as new music is discovered and shared across the Internet. The promotion will be freely generated by the global fan base.
The development of a new system for the monetization of music will endure a myriad of possibilities and some will prevail. There is a plethora of business models, some actualized and others in development. These include subscription, advertising based and bundling concepts that despite enormous investment, can at best be considered experimental. Nobody knows how the music fans will ultimately react to the sudden freedom the world wide web has provided. Their ability to choose any amount of music, from any genre, on demand at no charge must not be taken lightly.
The concept of "free" music is very powerful and deeply entrenched in the youth culture. It will not be easy to get them to pay when they are accustomed to sharing music without fees. This makes for a low threshold for entry; but immediately raises the bar for artists reaching for square two. It is easy to get into the game, but very difficult to progress. Only the most talented will build a large enough following to sustain a career. That is the way it has always been. Only ten percent of the competitors will survive as ninety-nine percent of the money is earned by this elite group.
The first level of success is survival. Artists who reach this plateau will be competing with the best of the best. One percent of them will earn ninety percent of the money. The bands that cannot generate a following through their live performances will be doomed to keep their day jobs. Their music will become a hobby, not their business. Artists who have the talent to inspire an audience and bring them back for more will have a chance to continue in the game. This will require the appication of artistic and business skill in equal proportion. Virtuoso talent combined with good theater, trmendous desire, and enormous personal effort could still produce a monumental star.
Each new enterprise will be built around a body of music that appeals to a niche market. When no genre is ubiquitous, every genre is viable. It does not matter which style of music you perform, there is an audience for every established style and there is even room for a new genre if it should emerge. Although they all follow a similar trajectory, each career has its own signature components. They all face the same obstacles and every one has to be built up from rock bottom.
The shock wave of digimodernization has not only rocked the record business, it has fragmented the fan base. As music lovers adjust to the new found freedoms and have access to every song ever recorded, they will discover the wonders and delights of the global music pool. Within the millions of possibilities there lurks some inspired artist struggling to find his voice and direction.
Although no such artist is evident and none is on the horizon, it would defy history for a superstar not to evolve. When that phenomenon arrives everyone will learn about it on the same day. There will be a roar of acclamation and affection that will streak around the planet by instant messages, tweets and friends Facebooking friends. YouTube and MySpace will light up like Christmas trees. The new superstar's web site will crash for lack of server power; and everybody with an iPod will embrace the song and choose to pay instead of "sharing" the file. This will result in the single biggest financial windfall in the history of popular music.
A hard core fan base, who discovered this artist years previously in their home town will rise up and inspire universal support. Needless to say the unknown, subject artist will make millions of dollars that day. The impact of the event will bring world-wide attention and the acclaim will be unprecedented. At this juncture the monolithic, multi-national corporations will move in and try to capture the beast.
There will be an enormous effort to try to duplicate the process in order to seize and control the golden egg. However, the new addition to the pantheon of mega stars will already be rich and famous and have no need for unnecessary partners. The success will inspire thousands of lesser stars to compete within the infrastructure created to contain the new universally appealing musical hero. Many will emulate the style and characteristics of the messiah and a new paradigm will be born.
It will only require the same measure of identity, appreciation and personal attachment that previous generations have awarded Caruso, Valli, Sinatra, Elvis, The Beatles and Michael Jackson to turn the economic tide. The fans of these artists would not have "shared" their music for free. And, although no such star is present, or even on the horizon, history shows that such a musical force always arrives at a time just like this, a time when nobody can imagine how it could possibly happen.
Talent Today
R. Monahan asks:
Do you feel that there is any one act or artist already around today that could potentially rise up to being the face of our generation or are we still waiting on that star to appear? And also, if there is not anything established yet, what genre do you believe this act will rise out of?
Hartmann responds:
Every displaced record executive in the world is dreaming and scheming about how to reinvent the music industry. But, it is not the music "industry" that is suffering. It is the record "business" that is in a stew of its own making. The concert "business" is the second, and most enduring, component of the "industry" of music. The live music business will not sustain the same long-term, deleterious damage as has befallen the record business. Regardless of cost, profit, packaging, or how it is marketed, the music industry is here to stay and will be bigger than ever.
Digimodernization has fired the shot heard round the world. The transition is in motion, the industry will adapt. The evolution of it cannot be stopped. The artist and the audience are forever connected without imposition of middle-men who may have less than artistic motives. Cross cultural communication is exploding across the Internet and music is at its forefront.
Vast digital systems are hyper-linking social networks and enabling the exchange of millions of songs and videos every day. This "sharing" of music is expanding the global audience at an accelerating rate. The net result will be an increased interest in musicians and their work. The perceived values will accrue to the artistic side and the business of music will be redefined. This progression is moving at an explosive pace and the sound it makes is music.
There are hundreds of artist and repertoire services on the Internet that all offer "expert" guidance from seasoned professionals. The problem is that the expertize they purvey almost always relates to the old paradigm. There is a distinct lack of vision about exactly how to pursue the development of new talent in the music renaissance. One thing is for certain, reliance on record companies is no longer a viable option.
Newly minted Internet entrepreneurs must function within the parameters of their personal experience. This usually means finding someone to invest in the act. With very few record companies still in the artist development business, no artists get signed until they have a strong online following. By then, the potential contribution of a label is questionable. They can't guarantee much money, because the return on investment is not secure. The 360 degree formula is yet unproven; not one single act has come to prominence under this type of arrangement.
The music industry has been forced to take a digital leap backwards in order to surge forward into the new paradigm. The record business is collapsing under the weight of it's own infrastructure. This demise of the labels does not portend the end of recording as an art form. The two primary activities of the music industry will always prevail. Recording and performing are the symbiotic partners that created the postmodern record business; and they will continue to flourish as new music is discovered and shared across the Internet. The promotion will be freely generated by the global fan base.
The development of a new system for the monetization of music will endure a myriad of possibilities and some will prevail. There is a plethora of business models, some actualized and others in development. These include subscription, advertising based and bundling concepts that despite enormous investment, can at best be considered experimental. Nobody knows how the music fans will ultimately react to the sudden freedom the world wide web has provided. Their ability to choose any amount of music, from any genre, on demand at no charge must not be taken lightly.
The concept of "free" music is very powerful and deeply entrenched in the youth culture. It will not be easy to get them to pay when they are accustomed to sharing music without fees. This makes for a low threshold for entry; but immediately raises the bar for artists reaching for square two. It is easy to get into the game, but very difficult to progress. Only the most talented will build a large enough following to sustain a career. That is the way it has always been. Only ten percent of the competitors will survive as ninety-nine percent of the money is earned by this elite group.
The first level of success is survival. Artists who reach this plateau will be competing with the best of the best. One percent of them will earn ninety percent of the money. The bands that cannot generate a following through their live performances will be doomed to keep their day jobs. Their music will become a hobby, not their business. Artists who have the talent to inspire an audience and bring them back for more will have a chance to continue in the game. This will require the appication of artistic and business skill in equal proportion. Virtuoso talent combined with good theater, trmendous desire, and enormous personal effort could still produce a monumental star.
Each new enterprise will be built around a body of music that appeals to a niche market. When no genre is ubiquitous, every genre is viable. It does not matter which style of music you perform, there is an audience for every established style and there is even room for a new genre if it should emerge. Although they all follow a similar trajectory, each career has its own signature components. They all face the same obstacles and every one has to be built up from rock bottom.
The shock wave of digimodernization has not only rocked the record business, it has fragmented the fan base. As music lovers adjust to the new found freedoms and have access to every song ever recorded, they will discover the wonders and delights of the global music pool. Within the millions of possibilities there lurks some inspired artist struggling to find his voice and direction.
Although no such artist is evident and none is on the horizon, it would defy history for a superstar not to evolve. When that phenomenon arrives everyone will learn about it on the same day. There will be a roar of acclamation and affection that will streak around the planet by instant messages, tweets and friends Facebooking friends. YouTube and MySpace will light up like Christmas trees. The new superstar's web site will crash for lack of server power; and everybody with an iPod will embrace the song and choose to pay instead of "sharing" the file. This will result in the single biggest financial windfall in the history of popular music.
A hard core fan base, who discovered this artist years previously in their home town will rise up and inspire universal support. Needless to say the unknown, subject artist will make millions of dollars that day. The impact of the event will bring world-wide attention and the acclaim will be unprecedented. At this juncture the monolithic, multi-national corporations will move in and try to capture the beast.
There will be an enormous effort to try to duplicate the process in order to seize and control the golden egg. However, the new addition to the pantheon of mega stars will already be rich and famous and have no need for unnecessary partners. The success will inspire thousands of lesser stars to compete within the infrastructure created to contain the new universally appealing musical hero. Many will emulate the style and characteristics of the messiah and a new paradigm will be born.
It will only require the same measure of identity, appreciation and personal attachment that previous generations have awarded Caruso, Valli, Sinatra, Elvis, The Beatles and Michael Jackson to turn the economic tide. The fans of these artists would not have "shared" their music for free. And, although no such star is present, or even on the horizon, history shows that such a musical force always arrives at a time just like this, a time when nobody can imagine how it could possibly happen.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
An Open Letter to Tommy Silverman - February 11, 2010
HolodigmMusic.com
An Open Letter to Tommy Silverman:
Hi Tom: Thank you for your gracious letter. As I had originally suspected we are almost on the same page. I was in High School when "Rock Around The Clock" started the avalanche that propelled Elvis to the big top and established rock & roll as a permanent part of popular culture.
I made my first money selling music in 1957 and have been doing it ever since. I cannot remember a time when I did not manage at least one band. Over my fifty plus years in the postmodern record business I have been fortunate to serve many artists great and small.
Today I manage a baby band called The Reflectacles, so my interest in the new music industry paradigm is not casual or merely academic. I have a real job to do building a business around this six piece Americana folk rock band that formed out of my classroom at Loyola Marymount University.
Seven years ago when I was teaching personal management at Musicians Institute a student asked me, "How would you build an act today when the music is free?" I must admit that for the first time in my life I did not have an immediate answer to a question. The Holodigm is the continuing answer to that question. After due consideration, my students and I embarked on an extensive analysis of the problem. When I joined the faculty at LMU we continued the research and development of a new music industry paradigm.
Now, six years and more than 2000 students later, we believe we have perfected a working model that the industry will follow, knowingly, or not. It is organic and based primarily on the historical trajectory and a clear vision of the future. More importantly, it deals with the broadest range of participants. The millions of bands registered on myspace.com. They all deserve a chance to compete.
The concept is presented as the first interactive, audio-visual, online text book and addresses the fact that a kid would rather watch a movie than read a book. It is a training, mentoring and coaching system for musicians and entrepreneurs that addresses every aspect of the ancient alchemy of turning music into gold. It functions on a simple mathematical formula: One Artist + One Manager = One enterprise.
The manager is the CEO of the artists company and he owns an equal share of the enterprise. Fifty/fifty partnerships a la Elvis and The Colonel for solo artists and an equal share with bands. He cannot be fired because his contracts ran out or somebody will do it for less. He is an equity owner of the business he helps build and can only be bought out at the fair market value of his shares.
All are exclusive employees of the corporation or LLC. Record producers can also be invited to join as partners since their skills will always be needed. We invited recording legend Eric E.T. Thorngren to be a full partner in The Reflectacles Music Co. ensuring that we will make world class records from day one. Everybody works for free until there are dividends to declare.
This form of partnership will ensure that everyone on the board of directors has an incentive to make the business successful. Each member has a role beyond the stage. In the case of The Reflectacles, each man is either an officer of the company or a vice president of a division. They apply the business skills they acquired in the classroom to their real life career pursuits.
How many CEOs get to indoctrinate their employees for sixteen weeks, three hours a week? Not many. But Holodigm Artists get that training before they start the arduous climb to artistic and financial success. Thy do not run blindly, lost in the fog of showbiz. Their goals are clearly defined and supported by a game plan that can be conducted at a livable pace, under their direct control.
The Holodigm is their sanctuary and provides continuous career direction as each enterprise grows. We hold no equity interest in the activities or entities produced by "Academy" and "Society" members. When appropriate, we may invite partnerships with promising talent through our professional division Holodigm Media. The business that is built will belong to those who build it.
Our staff of coaches and consultants is being implemented at this time and will provide a constant source of seasoned professional advice to our members online. Additional services and products provided below market price will facilitate production and marketing activities ensuring a faster rise to profitability. Individual successes and failures will be shared among the membership through The Holodigm Forums, Blogs, Social Network and Chat Rooms. The members, pursuing the same goals, each get to benefit from the other's learning experience. There is no template to follow; it is a real-time live experiment.
With a clear focus on the two primary activities of recording and performing, combined with effective Internet marketing, the team can build and operate its own business. The mystical fuel of "talent" drives the engine and combined with other "star" factors, like, great songs, charisma, sex appeal, hero worship, authenticity, passion and desire, they can build a fan base.
Nepotism, personal wealth, sponsorship, talent TV and personal relationships can enhance and accelerate the process. However, these are stairway to heaven possibilities that will not exist in most cases. Generally speaking, The bands and managers will have to do the work themselves.
Traditionally, investors want something for the risk they take. And that is only fair. However, during my fifty plus years in the music industry I have never seen a record company make a fair deal with an artist. And, I have never seen private investment pay off for the artist or the investor.
The money will want a permanent piece of the company. Unless they contribute something else to the artist's enterprise this will become inequitable eventually. In an industry where only ten percent of the artists will survive there won't be much venture capital available.
The Holodigm concept concentrates the artists and managers on the job of building a viable live act, in local and regional markets, around which products can be developed and sold. It focuses on do-it-yourself systems, mechanics and protocols. And, it forces the players to run their enterprise as a business without giving away equity to third party service providers.
Artists who wait for investors will be doomed to fail. Those who take action on their dreams will create their own destiny and they will reap the reward. They will own their masters and publishing and the most talented will build a permanent annuity to support them in their old age.
I totally understand the pressure you were under the day we met. I am a long time observer of your significant accomplishments and hold you in the highest regard. The work you do in support of the continued growth and development of our business is significant and necessary. In time the labels will let go of the old paradigm and embrace digital download distribution for their catalogs. And, they may even be able to buy up a few new acts as they emerge. But, it will never be the same.
The music industry is thousands of years old and will not expire under the weight of digimodernization. The record business is just over a hundred years old and will surrender to the digital sword. In the transition the business of recording will fall to the hands in which it belongs, the men and women who create music.
New artists will no longer be imposed by record company moguls or A&R producers of the month. They will be discovered, nurtured and revered from the fan base up. The information super highway is the arena and the Internet is the rocket.
I hope you will visit www.HolodigmMusic.com and consider that perhaps the new paradigm exists and only has to be implemented. This concept evolved from an historical observation of the effect of new technologies on the record business pre Napster; and, on my personal experience directing careers as an agent and personal manager in the postmodern era.
The invitation to speak to my class still stands.
Pax et Amo. Hartmann
An Open Letter to Tommy Silverman:
Hi Tom: Thank you for your gracious letter. As I had originally suspected we are almost on the same page. I was in High School when "Rock Around The Clock" started the avalanche that propelled Elvis to the big top and established rock & roll as a permanent part of popular culture.
I made my first money selling music in 1957 and have been doing it ever since. I cannot remember a time when I did not manage at least one band. Over my fifty plus years in the postmodern record business I have been fortunate to serve many artists great and small.
Today I manage a baby band called The Reflectacles, so my interest in the new music industry paradigm is not casual or merely academic. I have a real job to do building a business around this six piece Americana folk rock band that formed out of my classroom at Loyola Marymount University.
Seven years ago when I was teaching personal management at Musicians Institute a student asked me, "How would you build an act today when the music is free?" I must admit that for the first time in my life I did not have an immediate answer to a question. The Holodigm is the continuing answer to that question. After due consideration, my students and I embarked on an extensive analysis of the problem. When I joined the faculty at LMU we continued the research and development of a new music industry paradigm.
Now, six years and more than 2000 students later, we believe we have perfected a working model that the industry will follow, knowingly, or not. It is organic and based primarily on the historical trajectory and a clear vision of the future. More importantly, it deals with the broadest range of participants. The millions of bands registered on myspace.com. They all deserve a chance to compete.
The concept is presented as the first interactive, audio-visual, online text book and addresses the fact that a kid would rather watch a movie than read a book. It is a training, mentoring and coaching system for musicians and entrepreneurs that addresses every aspect of the ancient alchemy of turning music into gold. It functions on a simple mathematical formula: One Artist + One Manager = One enterprise.
The manager is the CEO of the artists company and he owns an equal share of the enterprise. Fifty/fifty partnerships a la Elvis and The Colonel for solo artists and an equal share with bands. He cannot be fired because his contracts ran out or somebody will do it for less. He is an equity owner of the business he helps build and can only be bought out at the fair market value of his shares.
All are exclusive employees of the corporation or LLC. Record producers can also be invited to join as partners since their skills will always be needed. We invited recording legend Eric E.T. Thorngren to be a full partner in The Reflectacles Music Co. ensuring that we will make world class records from day one. Everybody works for free until there are dividends to declare.
This form of partnership will ensure that everyone on the board of directors has an incentive to make the business successful. Each member has a role beyond the stage. In the case of The Reflectacles, each man is either an officer of the company or a vice president of a division. They apply the business skills they acquired in the classroom to their real life career pursuits.
How many CEOs get to indoctrinate their employees for sixteen weeks, three hours a week? Not many. But Holodigm Artists get that training before they start the arduous climb to artistic and financial success. Thy do not run blindly, lost in the fog of showbiz. Their goals are clearly defined and supported by a game plan that can be conducted at a livable pace, under their direct control.
The Holodigm is their sanctuary and provides continuous career direction as each enterprise grows. We hold no equity interest in the activities or entities produced by "Academy" and "Society" members. When appropriate, we may invite partnerships with promising talent through our professional division Holodigm Media. The business that is built will belong to those who build it.
Our staff of coaches and consultants is being implemented at this time and will provide a constant source of seasoned professional advice to our members online. Additional services and products provided below market price will facilitate production and marketing activities ensuring a faster rise to profitability. Individual successes and failures will be shared among the membership through The Holodigm Forums, Blogs, Social Network and Chat Rooms. The members, pursuing the same goals, each get to benefit from the other's learning experience. There is no template to follow; it is a real-time live experiment.
With a clear focus on the two primary activities of recording and performing, combined with effective Internet marketing, the team can build and operate its own business. The mystical fuel of "talent" drives the engine and combined with other "star" factors, like, great songs, charisma, sex appeal, hero worship, authenticity, passion and desire, they can build a fan base.
Nepotism, personal wealth, sponsorship, talent TV and personal relationships can enhance and accelerate the process. However, these are stairway to heaven possibilities that will not exist in most cases. Generally speaking, The bands and managers will have to do the work themselves.
Traditionally, investors want something for the risk they take. And that is only fair. However, during my fifty plus years in the music industry I have never seen a record company make a fair deal with an artist. And, I have never seen private investment pay off for the artist or the investor.
The money will want a permanent piece of the company. Unless they contribute something else to the artist's enterprise this will become inequitable eventually. In an industry where only ten percent of the artists will survive there won't be much venture capital available.
The Holodigm concept concentrates the artists and managers on the job of building a viable live act, in local and regional markets, around which products can be developed and sold. It focuses on do-it-yourself systems, mechanics and protocols. And, it forces the players to run their enterprise as a business without giving away equity to third party service providers.
Artists who wait for investors will be doomed to fail. Those who take action on their dreams will create their own destiny and they will reap the reward. They will own their masters and publishing and the most talented will build a permanent annuity to support them in their old age.
I totally understand the pressure you were under the day we met. I am a long time observer of your significant accomplishments and hold you in the highest regard. The work you do in support of the continued growth and development of our business is significant and necessary. In time the labels will let go of the old paradigm and embrace digital download distribution for their catalogs. And, they may even be able to buy up a few new acts as they emerge. But, it will never be the same.
The music industry is thousands of years old and will not expire under the weight of digimodernization. The record business is just over a hundred years old and will surrender to the digital sword. In the transition the business of recording will fall to the hands in which it belongs, the men and women who create music.
New artists will no longer be imposed by record company moguls or A&R producers of the month. They will be discovered, nurtured and revered from the fan base up. The information super highway is the arena and the Internet is the rocket.
I hope you will visit www.HolodigmMusic.com and consider that perhaps the new paradigm exists and only has to be implemented. This concept evolved from an historical observation of the effect of new technologies on the record business pre Napster; and, on my personal experience directing careers as an agent and personal manager in the postmodern era.
The invitation to speak to my class still stands.
Pax et Amo. Hartmann
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Music Business FAQ - February 9, 2010
HolodigmMusic.com
Cyber-Bucks
L. Grandy asks:
You mentioned in your blog in 12/10/09 that, "The big four stalled at Napster and allowed download distribution to be developed by others. By trying to preserve the highly lucrative CD market they let the big cyber-bucks get away." Do you think there is any way for the 'big four' to regain the cyber market? or are they doomed to control the less lucrative CD market?
Hartmann responds:
The Big Four record companies attempted to destroy Napster before they understood what it was truly all about. The governing executive corps of the postmodern label system lacked the long term vision to imagine a music world without plastic and paper. RIAA lobbyists attached the appellation "theft" to the file "sharing" process and sued their customers. The backlash from this futile tactic ensured their eventual demise. By the time the dust settled, Napster was a shadow of its former self and various similar systems took up the slack and made music free for the taking.
The old paradigm could only have been preserved if the global fan base embraced the idea that sharing was stealing. However, that did not resonate with the cyber-youth culture that simply and irrevocably considers the information super highway their indomitable domain. If it is on the web, its free for the taking. This is demonstrated millions of times a day, as music lovers explore the myriad of genres and styles instantly accessible and forward their discoveries to their friends.
Never in recording history has so much music been available to so many people at such a low cost. The obligation to pay lays between the mind set of the consumers and their affection for the act. Everybody under thirty knows how to load a song on their iPod or install it on their computer. They can stream it any time they want and pass it on at will. There is no guilt or hesitation involved in the exchange. The participants recognize that they are supporting the artist by distributing their music to a wider audience and no power on Earth can stop this practice.
This places the advantage clearly in the hands of the musicians and bands that are willing to recognize the Internet as the new radio. Except the airplay is free and record companies have no control over the system. The power now belongs to the artists who accept the challenge to create their own business enterprises, without investment from third parties. In the end, ownership of their masters and copyrights will far outweigh the value of a label's contribution to a band's career development. A tight bond with the fan base is all their survival will recquire.
The artist + fan connection is forged in the crucible of concert performance. Without a strong and entertaining live show an enduring relationship between the two will never form. When it does happen, it must be nourished and maintained through direct communication on the Internet. A band's fans are the lifeline to their survival. Once acquired a fan must be invited to join the act's support mechanism. Membership should be valued and specific. Symbols of partnership and specific identification of status and priority must be awarded to the most ardent supporters.
No major paradigm shift happens in a vacuum. The transition out of the postmodern era into the music renaissance will not be accomplished by the flip of a switch. The major labels will endure for another decade as digimodernization slowly swallows their extant catalogs. The older generation might repurchase their favorites for awhile longer, but in the end downloads will be the only delivery system for music. The artists will market their CDs and ancillary products directly to their fans from self owned and operated web sites and at live events. Only the most talented will make a profit and survive. The less talented will give up and join the army.
Thousands of laid-off record company employees will lead the vanguard of entrepreneurs who will attempt to revive the old way or try to invent the new paradigm. The Big Four have the most incentive to create a new system, but are not likely to accept the loss of high profit CDs as part of their formula. This lack of imagination will precipitate their downfall. The concept of 360 degree participation is a good idea, but an act doesn't really need a label to establish such a program.
The artists will be better served to create their own record companies dedicated to their success. New bands will be built one at a time by managers in partnership with the act. If the CEO's survival depends on the artist's success a band's business will be assured of full time attention.
The labels are the traditional enemy of the artist and they are not going to have a long term place at the table. The subscription and advertising based distribution models being devised today will slip away and artist direct streaming will dominate. The labels will die off because of their failure to engage in artist development and the participation of big business will fall to the ISPs and telephone companies. The big winner is the music fan who will decide where it all goes form here.
Cyber-Bucks
L. Grandy asks:
You mentioned in your blog in 12/10/09 that, "The big four stalled at Napster and allowed download distribution to be developed by others. By trying to preserve the highly lucrative CD market they let the big cyber-bucks get away." Do you think there is any way for the 'big four' to regain the cyber market? or are they doomed to control the less lucrative CD market?
Hartmann responds:
The Big Four record companies attempted to destroy Napster before they understood what it was truly all about. The governing executive corps of the postmodern label system lacked the long term vision to imagine a music world without plastic and paper. RIAA lobbyists attached the appellation "theft" to the file "sharing" process and sued their customers. The backlash from this futile tactic ensured their eventual demise. By the time the dust settled, Napster was a shadow of its former self and various similar systems took up the slack and made music free for the taking.
The old paradigm could only have been preserved if the global fan base embraced the idea that sharing was stealing. However, that did not resonate with the cyber-youth culture that simply and irrevocably considers the information super highway their indomitable domain. If it is on the web, its free for the taking. This is demonstrated millions of times a day, as music lovers explore the myriad of genres and styles instantly accessible and forward their discoveries to their friends.
Never in recording history has so much music been available to so many people at such a low cost. The obligation to pay lays between the mind set of the consumers and their affection for the act. Everybody under thirty knows how to load a song on their iPod or install it on their computer. They can stream it any time they want and pass it on at will. There is no guilt or hesitation involved in the exchange. The participants recognize that they are supporting the artist by distributing their music to a wider audience and no power on Earth can stop this practice.
This places the advantage clearly in the hands of the musicians and bands that are willing to recognize the Internet as the new radio. Except the airplay is free and record companies have no control over the system. The power now belongs to the artists who accept the challenge to create their own business enterprises, without investment from third parties. In the end, ownership of their masters and copyrights will far outweigh the value of a label's contribution to a band's career development. A tight bond with the fan base is all their survival will recquire.
The artist + fan connection is forged in the crucible of concert performance. Without a strong and entertaining live show an enduring relationship between the two will never form. When it does happen, it must be nourished and maintained through direct communication on the Internet. A band's fans are the lifeline to their survival. Once acquired a fan must be invited to join the act's support mechanism. Membership should be valued and specific. Symbols of partnership and specific identification of status and priority must be awarded to the most ardent supporters.
No major paradigm shift happens in a vacuum. The transition out of the postmodern era into the music renaissance will not be accomplished by the flip of a switch. The major labels will endure for another decade as digimodernization slowly swallows their extant catalogs. The older generation might repurchase their favorites for awhile longer, but in the end downloads will be the only delivery system for music. The artists will market their CDs and ancillary products directly to their fans from self owned and operated web sites and at live events. Only the most talented will make a profit and survive. The less talented will give up and join the army.
Thousands of laid-off record company employees will lead the vanguard of entrepreneurs who will attempt to revive the old way or try to invent the new paradigm. The Big Four have the most incentive to create a new system, but are not likely to accept the loss of high profit CDs as part of their formula. This lack of imagination will precipitate their downfall. The concept of 360 degree participation is a good idea, but an act doesn't really need a label to establish such a program.
The artists will be better served to create their own record companies dedicated to their success. New bands will be built one at a time by managers in partnership with the act. If the CEO's survival depends on the artist's success a band's business will be assured of full time attention.
The labels are the traditional enemy of the artist and they are not going to have a long term place at the table. The subscription and advertising based distribution models being devised today will slip away and artist direct streaming will dominate. The labels will die off because of their failure to engage in artist development and the participation of big business will fall to the ISPs and telephone companies. The big winner is the music fan who will decide where it all goes form here.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
MUSIC BUSINESS Q&A - January 23, 2009
HolodigmMusic.com
MUSIC BUSINESS Q&A:
Kaitlin Curtin asks:
In terms of the Big Top you said that about 10% make it and they make 99% of the money. The music industry has changed so much over the last few years in terms of how money is being made -- has that changed the percent of profit that the Big Top musicians are making? In other words, are the musicians who are not considered to be at the Big Top making more money these days because of things such as MySpace, Facebook, and other such technologies, or is the division of profit still about the same?
Hartmann responds:
If an artist lacks ambition and wants to sit around and wait for the business to come to him, find another act. This is the most competitive environment on the planet and with the easy entry provided by digimodernization only the most aggressive and inspired artists will reach the survival plateau.
Only 10% of the bands competing will make a living from music without having to have a day job. They will share 99% of the money spent on music. The other 1% will be earned by the remaining 90% who will compete for a time and then get sucked down the black hole of broken dreams. Bands marketing themselves on MySpace, Facebook, will split that 1% without record company support. The ones who are truly talented will grow there fanbase and reach the survival level.
The tough part about this equation is that the top 1% of artists will split 90% of all money spent on concerts and recordings. This is a core principal that does not change. It is a very small, elite group who battle their way to The Big Top, and to whom most of the fame and fortune accrues.
We are experiencing the emergence of an entire generation of musicians who have received an extraordinary amount of musical training. They start younger with "toys" like Guitar Hero and Rock Band and many, experiencing the thrill of performing are inspired to take up "real" instruments. These fledgling artists enter the competition early and grow faster.
With thousands of colleges and universities around the country presenting majors in songwriting, recording and performing curricula, these musicians are learning more than the few chords utilized by the originators of rock & roll. These students are also being taught the systems, mechanics, protocols and politics of the every evolving music industry.
After graduation, college educated musicians will combine their musical talents with their accumulated knowledge of how to execute business strategies. They will create a new, sophisticated quality of music that will inspire their peer groups to support their favorite bands. It is even possible that the bonding experience created at live performances might inspire the public top pay for the music.
They may already have "shared" the artist's music, or why are they at your show in the first place. However, the connection between artist and audience is strengthened at live events and the fans saw MTV, they know when they buy the CDs and T-shirts at your gig that they are contributing to your survival. The artist's survival will depend on their ability to attract, nourish and maintain a relationship with the fans who respond to their music and are willing to come back for more.
MUSIC BUSINESS Q&A:
Kaitlin Curtin asks:
In terms of the Big Top you said that about 10% make it and they make 99% of the money. The music industry has changed so much over the last few years in terms of how money is being made -- has that changed the percent of profit that the Big Top musicians are making? In other words, are the musicians who are not considered to be at the Big Top making more money these days because of things such as MySpace, Facebook, and other such technologies, or is the division of profit still about the same?
Hartmann responds:
If an artist lacks ambition and wants to sit around and wait for the business to come to him, find another act. This is the most competitive environment on the planet and with the easy entry provided by digimodernization only the most aggressive and inspired artists will reach the survival plateau.
Only 10% of the bands competing will make a living from music without having to have a day job. They will share 99% of the money spent on music. The other 1% will be earned by the remaining 90% who will compete for a time and then get sucked down the black hole of broken dreams. Bands marketing themselves on MySpace, Facebook, will split that 1% without record company support. The ones who are truly talented will grow there fanbase and reach the survival level.
The tough part about this equation is that the top 1% of artists will split 90% of all money spent on concerts and recordings. This is a core principal that does not change. It is a very small, elite group who battle their way to The Big Top, and to whom most of the fame and fortune accrues.
We are experiencing the emergence of an entire generation of musicians who have received an extraordinary amount of musical training. They start younger with "toys" like Guitar Hero and Rock Band and many, experiencing the thrill of performing are inspired to take up "real" instruments. These fledgling artists enter the competition early and grow faster.
With thousands of colleges and universities around the country presenting majors in songwriting, recording and performing curricula, these musicians are learning more than the few chords utilized by the originators of rock & roll. These students are also being taught the systems, mechanics, protocols and politics of the every evolving music industry.
After graduation, college educated musicians will combine their musical talents with their accumulated knowledge of how to execute business strategies. They will create a new, sophisticated quality of music that will inspire their peer groups to support their favorite bands. It is even possible that the bonding experience created at live performances might inspire the public top pay for the music.
They may already have "shared" the artist's music, or why are they at your show in the first place. However, the connection between artist and audience is strengthened at live events and the fans saw MTV, they know when they buy the CDs and T-shirts at your gig that they are contributing to your survival. The artist's survival will depend on their ability to attract, nourish and maintain a relationship with the fans who respond to their music and are willing to come back for more.
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