Some Thoughts on the Music Biz...

This New York Time article http://bit.ly/dz8Yw generated 171Comments: http://bit.ly/N2wJ2 which spotlight the issues that music and its industry face today! I read ALL 171 of them! It took me time, but you don't have 2 read it all at once:)! I hope you will read them too and will share those links, or and a link to this page

The Music Recording Industry, as part of Music Business, is an endless topic and I appreciate all efforts to draw attention to it. I have a lot to say on it, as do many of my colleagues, but "Time Is Of The Essence" [my habitual Michael Brecker pun]...

Below are a few of my thoughts, as they come (work in progress, so keep clearing your Browser Cache, and Reloading the page to see its latest version)

  • More and more often musicians pay out of their own pockets to record their music. The days of "recording deals-contracts" are fading away, and quickly!
  • Not all musicians have "sugar daddies", wealthy families, etc., or nepotism and other connections to help them get ahead in the line.
  • The sponsorship grants, public and private, are ever harder to find, particularly in bad economy!
  • If the music involves other musicians, instead of mostly computers, or a singer accompanying him, or herself on a guitar, or a keyboard, it costs more $ to make. If those other musicians are playing "live", in person, in real time, as opposed to "overdubbing", the costs are even higher!
  • Yes, technology made it cheaper to record, but the professional musicians gotta get paid in order to stay Full Time artists, or else they'd have to take a "day gig", which takes time away from their craft etc. Life is getting more expensive, and I don't mean just the Health Insurance!
  • If the recordings, self-financed, or not, become mostly "sonic business cards", then the costs of producing such giveaways is less likely to be recouped! Why a business card analogy? Cause when we give someone a business card, do we expect to be paid for that? Of course not! Same with flyers, and other promotional material! Yes, it's easy to just dismiss it all as Advertising, and thus a Cost of Doing Business... But then, imagine that you own a store -- people come in take bunch of your flyers, don't buy anything, and occasionally take merchandise without paying for it?! Your store won't last too long! And there are countless other analogies out there to describe the recorded music and movies piracy!
  • Playing live is becoming the dominant way to earn a living. I, like most musicians, want to play live, but only BIG NAMES pack the arenas! Small venues don't pay much, and it's even less if it's to a BIG NAME, who can draw a bigger crowd! BIG NAMES can afford to give away CD's, cause they can charge a lot for a tickets, T-Shirts, and other merchandising... Prince is an example of that! But how many artists can afford doing that, or something like this: Beatles USB Limited Edition Apple Collection?!
  • If travel is involved, that's another obstacle, particularly if it involves flying with musical instruments, especially internationally!
  • Teaching can be rewarding sometimes, but getting a teaching job is not a primary goal for most musicians who record their own music!

Thus a Vicious Cycle...

We, the musicians particularly, can NOT just sit on sidelines, and hope that such New York Time articles and the Comments, etc. will fix this situation for us! That article left a lot of holes, but I just don't have the time to opine on it, and get into debates! I am swamped with my music! Still, I am glad to see such discussions out there, and so I made this webpage to help to draw more attention to this topic.

It's not just about the musicians, and the artists in general, paying rent! It's about a role of a culture in the world, which is a two way street between the artists and the society, the "civilians"!

The more world recognizes that Dilemma, the better it is for everyone! Till then, for most musicians it's like passing a hat, or a tip plate! Everyone is trying to get noticed, with their own websites, FaceBook Fan Pages, Twitters etc, to survive as an artists, while the bills keep coming, as they always do...

As I am working towards recording my future Albums, I am constantly, and intimately aware of all these nuances, even when I sleep! I suspect that most musicians are that way! Still, I can't allow any of that negative stuff to stop my artistic goals, or force me to get into the "guessing game" of making a hit, looking for a Gimmick, or a Schtick!

When my Album is on iTunes, and the shrink-wrapped CD's are on CDBaby etc., ready to be shipped worldwide, I will be one of the countless many wondering how many people will either buy or "borrow"(steal?!) my music, while I am working towards my next Album!

Hopefully most people will pay for it, so that I can keep making my recordings. Hopefully they'll see that each track on my Album is like a chapter in a book. Skipping even one chapter breaks the "storyline".

Another of my own homemade analogies is this: a song is like a limb on a body! Buying an "arm", or a "leg" is cheaper, but it "kills" the "body" and thus the soul of the artist's larger work! That's how most musicians think of their Albums! It's not like buying just white or dark chicken parts in a supermarket!

Musicians are not looking to sell a few good tracks in the otherwise bad Album, or to stick a few bad one's into otherwise good Album! The same goes for the great classical composers. They didn't look to have a few great areas in an opera, or a good movement in a symphony! Maybe that's how some fruits and vegetables are being packaged, where some good looking tomatoes, or strawberries, are supposed to hide some rotten ones? But, I can't imagine musicians being that slimy! Plus, unlike food, music, like all true art, does come with an expiration date! It is supposed to be TIMELESS! Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, The Beatles, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Michael Brecker..., and the list goes on, and on, with all our favorites, who will be around forever, inspiring the musicians worldwide! That's why, as I read all 171 Comments in that NYT article, which, I think, took me a couple of hours, I took a strong issue with that particular notion of singles, B-sides, and buying just a few tracks! Maybe sometime a listener needs to come back to a specific track again, on another day, and see if they "get it", understand it better then!? It's sometimes sad to see people listen to the same hit tracks again and again, being bombarded with them on the air, and then the artist is mostly associated with a few "hits" that they are forced "boxed" into! Another vicious cycle!

But, of course there are exceptions to that, when one needs a particular track only, example:

when musicians needs to learn a particular song that a bride requested as her first dance at a wedding:)! Chances are that the musicians will never again need to hear, or play that song, and thus no need to buy the entire Album, particularly if one is not exactly a fan of that particular artist:)! Same goes for the DJs, but that is a whole other topic:), and we can't be here all day:)!

A quick analogy regarding the Music Piracy, DRM, Intellectual Property. It is based on the Comment Number #165 in that NYT article:

We can loan our cars to others all the time, but we can't make copies of our cars, and sell, or give those copies away to others, because people would stop buying cars, when they can get free cars from a few of us who buy those cars! Also, that would kill the car industry!

Of course that whole topic of Fair Use is a huge "Can of Worms", with lots of gray areas, plus we all leave in "glass houses", and thus shouldn't through too many stones! But to completely ignore this issue, and totally rely on the "honor system" is not a solution either!

Yelling the suggestions about the Albums prices dropping to $5, i.e. 50 cents per song download, might sound great on paper, but not to the artists who need to survive! And even then, there will be those who will call for even lower prices! After a certain point, the calculators don't lie, as the bills keep coming, cause they always do...

Can you hear me now?!

And I can go on and on about this and related topics! But most of my fellow musicians already know all this, and I don't want to sound like a professional complainer:)! It's the general public, the "civilians" who I'd love to read this, and then start a conversation with the musicians who have to live with this every day!

This page is how I try to help spread the word! Instead of foaming at my mouth, and giving speeches every time this topic comes up in person, or on the phone etc., I just refer people here, to this page http://arkady.com/musicbiz, and hopefully they will become a part of the solution. My Twitter Page is out there 24/7/365, which also helps! And if your search Twitter under Key Words such as: music piracy, you will see that Arkady is not alone talking about this! There people out there that think it's a good thing, and that they are helping the artists!

Until you have a better idea, and share it in your Comments on my FaceBook Fan Page, feel free to send your friends here to this webpage! It's an easy to remember web address: myname dot com slash musicbiz -- simple, right?

Of course everyone is welcome to Comment on my FaceBook Fan Page on this particular Topic, and on my previous writings on the Discussions Tab on my Fan Page!

Thanks a lot for taking time to read this!

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Arkady, New York City, USA, Earth...

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