Sink or Swim

I am lucky to have been involved in the Music Business during a time of incredible creativity & exponential growth.  I hear people complaining about the business “not being what it was” and to some extent I agree.  But there is more music around now than ever: more people are listening to it, and more people are MAKING it.  It’s a question of how you approach the new business model.  You can sink or swim - it’s your choice. 

True, there are going to be fewer "Music Millionaires" with the current state of the industry.  But people will always want to listen to music, and they will always want to go and see artists perform.  It really IS just a case of re-invention.  

The old model was broken anyway. The artists were not making the bulk of the money: the record labels had become a law unto themselves, and were robbing both sides - the public were having to pay through the nose for sub-standard product and the artists were obliged to hand over a huge proportion of their earnings to "promote" their product (and finance A&R department junkets).  It was only a matter of time before both sides found a way to circumvent the middle man.  

We are now looking at a system based on a Global Village Model: if you are enterprising enough, and have the ability to self-promote, you can actually make a living.  OK, it probably won't be millions, but let's face it, only a few artists really did that with the old model.  We just aspired to be like them.  We're looking at a virtual redistribution of wealth.  Maybe not such a bad thing: if more of us stand a better chance of actually making enough to live on, then how can that be anything but good?

So, you won't have your A&R man "holding your hand" through it all, but surely you can do this......?  Of course you can!  The day of the A&R man is long gone.  The last true great (musical) A&R man was Muff Winwood.  The age of the musically-adept record executive is in the past.  You're on your own, kid.  But it's an exciting prospect.  no?