07-05-2016, 16:30
Jerome Wrote:You are right. But unfortunately that's the way of the world now. The traditional model of the music industry is basically screwed and they don't have a clue what to do about it."Traditional" is relative. When people bemoan the state of the music industry in the 21st century, I always suggest they put it in perspective. Most of us grew up in an era when musicians, and especially record company executives, could makes fortunes by selling copies of their music on vinyl or CD that people could buy and take home to listen to whenever they chose, and we forget that this state of affairs only commenced about the middle of the 20th century.
I recommend everyone to seek out the 6-part BBC series "Howard Goodall's Story of Music", which can be found on Youtube (not available any more on the BBC site). In the introduction, he reminds us that in centuries gone by, people would commonly go for weeks on end without hearing any music at all. Even in the 19th century, you might hear your favourite symphony perhaps four or five times in your lifetime. The modern era of recorded music is very short in terms of human history, and it may be we will see a return to an earlier model in which most musicians are musicians part-time, and a select few are able to make a good living from live performances. Already we are hearing less of bands "touring to promote the album" and more of "touring to cash in on the album" - that is, the album is driving ticket sales, rather than the other way round.