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As technology continues to radically reshape existing entertainment and media business models musicians are heeding calls from fans and their accountants to lead the charge to find new ways of doing business.
Madonna reportedly will make a $100+ million deal with concert promoter Live Nation to both promote her tours and be her record label. Although Madonna's CDs have sold respectably well, it's her concerts that really butter her bread and where fans most consistently clamor to hear her music. As the New York Times reports:
Madonna is about to become the latest music superstar to defy the music industry’s traditional structure by exiting her longtime record label, Warner Brothers Records, for a lucrative deal that relies heavily on her longevity as a live-concert attraction.
Live Nation is pursuing this ground breaking deal with perhaps the most powerful female musician in the world even though it might lose money.
Singer/Songwriter, Jill Sobule, best known for her hit song "I Kissed A Girl," is seeking a little geek advice:
For us, in this YouTube, long-tail, Kara-and-Walt world, it’s an exciting time. But it’s also confusing. How do I release my next recordings? Do I still put out a CD in the traditional way, or just go digital? Do I send demos one last time to the remaining majors or go indie (this time with a company that lasts longer than a year) and get a, say, 50/50 deal? Do I just finance the whole thing myself–musicians, studio, marketing, publicist, radio, promo, video, etc.? And where do I get the money? How do I pay the rent? How do I support my gambling and morphine habits?
Activist singer/songwriter Billy Bragg is challenging social networking sites such as MTV Flux and MySpace to ownership of music rights:
With a potential shift in power away from the labels and towards the artists, it becomes crucial that new talent coming into the industry retains the right to exploit the material that it creates. The rise of social networking sites offers unknowns the opportunity to build a career via the new medium. Artists no longer wait to be discovered, short-circuiting the old routes by posting their songs and videos up on to sites like MySpace and Bebo where they can gain a following through peer-to-peer recommendation. Already, the vast majority of those uploading their work on to the net have no contractual agreements with anybody: no publishing deal, no record contract, no lawyer or manager advising them and that is as it should be in the spirit of the internet - let a thousand flowers bloom.However, some social networking sites are making claims of ownership on the material that users make available through their services.
Prince is recognizing that connecting with fans where they are is the way to keep his career thriving:
Prince has remade himself as a 21st-century pop star. As recording companies bemoan a crumbling market, Prince is demonstrating that charisma and the willingness to go out and perform are still bankable. He doesn’t have to go multiplatinum — he’s multiplatform.... Prince’s priorities are obvious. The main one is getting his music to an audience, whether it’s purchased or not. “Prince’s only aim is to get music direct to those that want to hear it,”
Eminem is a highly paid, high profile artist suing Apple over digital download royalties. CNET points out that "[h]ighly paid musicians won't get much sympathy from most of their fans. But not every performer or writer is living in a palace, argues songwriter Rick Carnes."
In an article about a single mother against whom the recording industry won a $222,000 judgment for file sharing, AlterNet points out the tension between art and commerce:
The recording industry has been having a difficult time adjusting to the modern world. Digital technology and the Internet make it possible to instantly and costlessly transfer recorded music, movies, videos, and other material anywhere in the world. While this is great news for consumers, and those who value freedom of expression, as well as writers and musicians who want their work to reach the greatest possible audience, these technological developments are really bad news for the entertainment industry.
In a post on the Freakonomics blog, Fredric Dannen, author of the book Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business sums it up well:
You can always count on the record industry to cling to the past, and to fight innovation. (Apart from resisting the LP, the cassette, and the CD, the industry also fought MTV.) The industry
