Responses to Blow's Music Industry Death Watch

-
A couple of weeks ago, I posted a note questioning Charles Blow's assertion in The New York Times that the recording industry is on its last legs. Responses from Times readers to Blow were mixed.

Of course, letters from industry muckety-mucks such as Mitch Bainwol, Chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, found Blow to be "unduly pessimistic" and spoke euphemistically about "transformation" (this from Rich Bengloff of the American Association of Independent Music).

Bill Rosenblatt of GiantSteps raised a good point that the "business-to-business side" of the music industry is booming, with streaming services providing constant and growing revenues. As I said in my original post, these streaming companies are customers.

Those without supply-side skin in the game were much less enthusiastic, and cited their own reasons for the decline of the industry. One reader bemoaned "the growing unavailability of music we might like to buy"; another blamed the inferior sound quality of digital downloads.

Sheila Johnson was a little more hopeful, noting that, as a classical music fan, she prefers listening to CDs, and reminded readers that it's not just "the 13-to-17 demographic" that buys music.

Age aside, there are fans of particular artists in any genre that will buy their albums, either as CDs or as downloads. Imogen Heap has developed a huge online fan base in advance of her album release later this month (thanks to Taylor at Naxos for pointing this out), and we've seen the success that Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, and AC/DC have had, in their own ways, over the last couple of years hocking their wares.

If you really want to read more about this, there are more responses online at the Times website.

Popular posts from this blog

What Are the New Models of Professional Musicianship?

-
On his own blog, my colleague Nate Zeisler describes two models for musical careers . In the first model, musicians are mechanics, creating within "a very narrow, accepted window of performance practice which has been dictated by your teacher, conductor and the music written on a page." In the second model, musicians act more like designers, and come up with "new ways of thinking about the art form" by drawing on new genres of music and artistic disciplines. For Nate, the path toward a successful career is to fuse the two: In the field of classical music, there is very little room for people who can’t infuse qualities from both sides of the aisle into their career. Great designers in music will have little to say and won’t have credibility in the field if they aren’t great mechanics. Great mechanics, for the most part, won’t have a sustainable career if they’re not thinking as designers. I agree that the most successful musicians will be able to be both mechanic
Read more

Taking a Break

-
I may return to posting, but, for now, I'll be packing it in. It's been harder than I thought to keep blogging up since moving to Los Angeles and taking on a new job at the Colburn School. If you want to get in touch, or just want to keep up with me, follow me on Twitter @berrymark, or find me on Facebook. Thanks for stopping by.
Read more