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The Dream Is Over: Music Labels Have Killed Their Digital Future

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Re: The Dream Is Over: Music Labels Have Killed Their Digital Future

#21

Post by mitjak »

henrikschroder wrote: post #8

Google music. Who cares? Oh right, you guys don't have Spotify. I don't know anyone that has it that bothers with iTunes or actually buying music anymore. Get the free version, and get any music anytime and the occasional ad. Pay a few bucks a month, and you get any music anytime with no ads.

Spotify is great as long as you don't step out of the narrow scope of the music offered. Try finding anything released <6 months ago and report back. rdio and MOG are even worse in that respect. Grooveshark is the only service that has a decent though a Kazaa-like chaotic catalogue.

Re: The Dream Is Over: Music Labels Have Killed Their Digital Future

#22

Post by alexophile »

henrikschroder wrote: post #8

Google music. Who cares? Oh right, you guys don't have Spotify. I don't know anyone that has it that bothers with iTunes or actually buying music anymore. Get the free version, and get any music anytime and the occasional ad. Pay a few bucks a month, and you get any music anytime with no ads.

There's http://www.rdio.com -- The library isn't exactly mind-blowing, but they put up fresh music every week (Recently: Maximum Balloon, Engineers, Ice Cube's new independent album, Neil young, Lil Wayne, Clapton, Mark Ronson...) and seem to work with some decent independent labels (Ghostly comes to mind.)

Re: The Dream Is Over: Music Labels Have Killed Their Digital Future

#24

Post by bambax »

Isn't this just wishful thinking? Everybody hates labels, and so wishes them dead (and for the record, so do I). But just because everyone wants them to die doesn't mean they will die.

Labels sit on content, and their monopoly is protected by the full force of the law. The number of startups in the field or the evilness of label people does seem a little bit irrelevant.

There is only one way labels can die: if they cease to have a monopoly on music content -- which means, either the world gets rid of copyright, or (young, new and aspiring) artists stop signing with labels.

None of this is happening anytime soon. (It may happen, but in a rather distant future.)

Re: The Dream Is Over: Music Labels Have Killed Their Digital Future

#25

Post by ethank »

bambax wrote: post #24

Isn't this just wishful thinking? Everybody hates labels, and so wishes them dead (and for the record, so do I). But just because everyone wants them to die doesn't mean they will die. Labels sit on content, and their monopoly is protected by the full force of the law. The number of startups in the field or the evilness of label people does seem a little bit irrelevant. There is only one way labels can die: if they c…

A question, honestly: have you ever visited or spoken to anyone at a label?

Re: The Dream Is Over: Music Labels Have Killed Their Digital Future

#26

Post by warfangle »

agentultra wrote: post #7

The point about the labels doing it to themselves is probably only half the story. The other half is the culturally ingrained phenomena of "the dream." Many artists jamming in their basements dream of "signing," and expect a big advance, tours, radio play, and all of that old-world stuff. Many today of course realize that there's the Internet and they can afford to distribute their work for pennies and market to thei…

There are several reasons that "signing" is the next, big logical step.

Larger venues (most of which are owned by Clearchannel) will not give you the time of the day if you don't have a label behind you. It doesn't matter if you consistently sell out of venues a tier below them. Their booking agent won't even take your call. Sell a million mp3s of your song online? If one of the subsidiaries of the Big Four aren't behind you, forget getting to play a place like Bowery Ballroom. The "break-in" venues like CBGBs don't even exist anymore.

In order to tour, and I mean really tour - spend six, eight months on the road - you need a lot of money. To haul equipment. To pay people to schlep your equipment. To deal with contracts with venues. To deal with venue management. To make sure you don't get screwed by the venue management. To book the shows. It's really, really hard for even a locally established artist to tour. That's where the label helps out. I'm not talking stadium shows. I'm talking about shows that break even, where 200-300 people show up.

Re: The Dream Is Over: Music Labels Have Killed Their Digital Future

#28

Post by jobu »

digitallogic wrote: post #4
1010011010 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Me too. iTunes is just horrible. I'd love a non-iTunes way of getting my music onto an iPod.

Then allow me to make your day: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_iPod_managers

The iTunes UI is horrid, but I have yet to find anything that does everything iTunes can without being crashy, slow or non-intuitive.

Re: The Dream Is Over: Music Labels Have Killed Their Digital Future

#29

Post by thought_alarm »

digitallogic wrote: post #4
1010011010 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Me too. iTunes is just horrible. I'd love a non-iTunes way of getting my music onto an iPod.

Then allow me to make your day: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_iPod_managers

Yes, trying out other music managers is a very good way to come to appreciate iTunes and how it works. I encourage everyone who thinks they're unhappy with iTunes to check out these other applications.
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