Is The Music Industry In Distress? Maybe it’s time to get back to basics.
By Martine Ehrenclou
Something is afoot in the music industry. There’s a drought of up and coming pop stars who used to release big hits. And it has managers and A&R executives plenty worried. “The market is dry as fuck,” an A&R executive turned manager said to Billboard. “The front-line label business, signing new artists, is in trouble,” he added. There are too many songs and not enough hits.
Just about anyone can be a pop music artist, whether they have talent or not. You just need a laptop and Pro Tools. Unlike in the 60s, 70s or 80s, there aren’t nearly enough gatekeepers (record labels) now to sift through aspiring artists, weeding out the not-so-good and the downright bad. Now, they’re all on Spotify and other streaming services, obscuring some of the better artists.
Why?
There’s a glut of music uploaded to Spotify and other DSPs. 100,000 songs every single day. Only 18 months ago, the daily number was 70,000. If this trend continues, it’s not going to get better. The pop music market is diluted. How can any new song by an aspiring artist rise to the surface with that kind of competition?
“Due to the sheer number of things coming out, songs that were shoo-ins for being hits five to ten years ago, now have to fight to see daylight,” veteran producer Warren “Oak” Felder (Usher, Demi Lovato) told Billboard.
Part of the problem?
Maybe the masses are tiring of the soulless, homogenous pop music manufactured by technology. If there are 100,000 songs uploaded to streaming services each day, they can’t all be Taylor Swift or Harry Styles. That means that water is being poured into the cream, and we know what happens then. It doesn’t rise to the top. Whether you think pop music is cream at all is another story.
It’s a harder road now for music industry execs and managers to push their up-and-coming artists’ music into view. TikTok is considered the hit-maker for pop music. Why something takes off is a mystery to music industry insiders. They can’t seem to orchestrate hits that go viral like they used to.
Even with the aid of TikTok for exposure and marketing, it’s the same aforementioned principle. More than 1 billion videos are viewed every day on TikTok. How do new artists compete with 1 billion?
None of that spells “good” for music industry executives who rely on superstars to pay their bills.
Maybe it’s time for the music industry to get back to basics —find real talent with real musicians and grow with them, instead of focusing on molding artists so they produce the next big hit. Perhaps it’s time to rethink the process and instead nurture highly talented artists from the ground up. Let me add, that maybe it’s also time to focus less on image and personality and on actual true music talent.
It doesn’t hurt that blues/rock guitarist, singer Ana Popovic is very attractive as is rock guitarist, singer Orianthi. But both are extraordinary musicians. They have the goods to back up their appearances.
Some believe that certain ground breaking rock bands or singer-songwriters from the 60s, 70s and even 80s will never surface again. People claim that there aren’t bands/artists now like the Allman Brothers, The Who, Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt, Creedence Clearwater and others.
But maybe there’s more to that story.
I interviewed blues and blues/rock artist Jeremiah Johnson today and he brought up an interesting point. He said, “There was a time when a band would spend six months to a year working on an album. A lot of those great records from the 60s and 70s is because record companies were allowing the artists plenty of time to work on those records to make them the best they can possibly be.”
Johnson brought up Led Zeppelin and how they worked on and perfected those songs for a long period of time. He added, “There are exceptions obviously–the first Black Sabbath album. They went in and did it in a day or two and it’s a legendary record.”
Isn’t there something to that? Investing in an up-and-coming artist/band and growing with them? And allowing them the time to create a batch of outstanding singles that are part of a great new album?
If the music is great, if the artist/band is great, they stand a better chance of dazzling crowds at their shows, right? That’s very different than a pop artist whose voice was Auto-Tuned to sound a whole lot better and performs to concert attendees who respond with “WTF?”
Look at blues and rock artist Christone “Kingfish” Ingram. A major talent if I ever heard one. And it isn’t image that’s selling him. In pop, it’s your image, your personality, and maybe some talent. But with Ingram, it’s his massive talent and soulfulness, his mind-blowing guitar chops, rich vocals and inspired songwriting.
Ingram has a solid, highly respected record label behind him that invested in him from the beginning. Alligator Records president Bruce Iglauer discovered him. He brought in a Grammy winning producer Tom Hambridge, great musicians and the label released truly outstanding Christone “Kingfish” Ingram albums. The old school way. Believing in an artist and nurturing him/her along the way.
Ingram has won a Grammy Award for his latest album 662 in the Best Contemporary Blues Album category, and his debut Kingfish was nominated for a Grammy. All this at age 23.
But Ingram is not just blues, so you can’t go down that road of “blues is dead” and “for old people.” Ingram just released “Another Life Goes By (Mississippi Remix)” with hip-hop artist (Big K.R.I.T) and it’s outstanding. He blends rock, funk and jazz into his music. More to come of that, I’m sure.
Maybe back-to-basics also includes loosening the tight grip on music sharing by fans without the threat of copyright infringement. So fans can once again be part of the momentum with word of mouth, which in my opinion, certainly helps promote the artist’s music. I’m not suggesting that music pirating is okay in any way.
Now, music streaming is siloed. If you stream blues/rock then Spotify recommends more of the same. That’s how their algorithms work. Because of that, how can you be exposed to new music in a different genre? If you grew up in the 60s, 70s and even 80s, think about how you and your friends shared all kinds of music—from Carlos Santana, to Led Zeppelin to whatever.
For me, I was exposed to a number of artists’ music in different genres. My mother played James Taylor, Neil Young, Bill Withers, and James Brown. My friends shared Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Parliament-Funkadelic, Grover Washington Jr, Weather Report and more. That’s a varied list.
Do you get that kind of variation on Spotify?
I realize it might be too late to un-ring the bell. The music industry has changed so much. And executives like their million dollar incomes. If those are threatened, and pop music becomes less popular and creating hits becomes even more challenging, maybe they’ll rethink their approach. I hope so.
I welcome your thoughts and comments below.
Well explained Martine. The options are so many these days. Makes me think back to saving up for a new 45 record when I was a kid, to all the mediums there are now. I have had giant collections of everything, and today I stream. We can only listen and absorb so much music a day.
Grew up in the 60s cut my teeth on the Beatles & Stones. As we moved into the mid to late 60s the music continued to evolve along with the quality. The 70s arrived and the amount of music coming out continues with new and different artists arriving weekly…. And most had their own original sound. It was quite normal to listen to an FM station for several hours and not hear a replay or a group that cloned another band… and That is the massive difference between then and now…. Most pop as you mentioned is manufactured with heavy body image emphasis and nothing on originality..
If they want there pop paydays they better find another Taylor or Bruno…… Or in other words real musicians and vocalists….
Cheers
GK…
With the popular streaming services, it’s all about the number of plays and the ensuing algorithms that determine what you’re fed as the next song. This works OK for the youngsters, I suppose. And I get it, that they indeed possess a ton of buying power, and thus industry attention. But true music aficionados that are tired of the SOS actually DO have other tools, if they sniff around a bit. One such source is the very website you’re reading right now: Rock & Blues Muse has opened my eyes considerably in the past several years, and I also strongly think public radio will have a larger and greater effect on the artists that we see rise to the top.
I live in a Philadelphia, PA suburb, and am blessed to have one such radio station tuned in whenever my radio is on. WXPN radio out of the University Of Pennsylvania (88.5 FM, http://www.xpn.org for streaming) has in my opinion been at the forefront of this dilemma for years now. Because they are member supported, they don’t have to follow the corporate machine, but instead listen to their own members. They take great pride in wading through the myriad of new songs and artists that emerge every day, and have a very good feel as to what they should raise up the flagpole to see if it sticks. Not everything does, but for the gems that do, I’m super pleased! I’ve had the pleasure of knowing about Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Adele, Kathleen Edwards, Lukas Nelson, and SO many other emerging artists pretty much before ANYONE else even heard their names, and before they became “big”. It’s funny to hear them in the following months emerge onto the mainstream FM stations as the next big thing in music.
While it’s not a panacea, for the sake of this conversation, I think public radio is an excellent alternative, if not a guiding light, as to what music has in store for us tomorrow, as well as into the future. It’s a force that should be recognized and applauded for helping us sort through the musical flotsam.
Remember when every music fan, serious or not, had a stereo system (with big speakers, power amp/ receiver and a turntable)? Remember when fans bought albums for the entire experience of communing with an artist (loving liner notes & photos)? Unfortunately those days are gone, never to return. Why? The internet & streaming changed how people listen to music. Vinyl exists as a niche, like Jazz & Blues but the masses of youth are online. That’s the only reality they know. In this era, the music industry follows the market, not the other way round.
Great article. I know all my kids and their friends do nothing but stream their music. I am not sure how to get the younger people to change the way they listen. I get most of my new music influences from RBM and couple of other publications. I also rely on word of mouth from other people we meet at shows. I purchase all my music in cd or vinyl format. It does frustrate me when an artist I really like only releases their music through downloads. I think it will be hard to transition from where we are now because the consumers are streaming everything so how do you soften that demand and create the demand for more carefully produced music.
Jocelyn and Chris Arndt are a true example of what the music industry needs today!!! True talent at its finest!
Once upon a time (on MySpace) I think, you could take a genre add a country and be brought to a list of that country’s best in that genre. It was a GREAT discovery tool and FUN! It no longer exists because the music on MySpace is all promotional label music.
Indeed very good and interesting post
and it is like for any kind of music; not to mention about distribution which is more and more hectic
I am of course talking about physical stuff; it is more and more difficult to find it, especailly for new artists
I am turning 60 this year-end and yes i am old school, yes NOTHING will ever replace to me the pleasure that is going to a shop search for a record (cd or vinyl) , discuss with the vendor, sharing feelings about it, etc ..
excuse me for the words, but what the fuck brings me this streaming thing …. nothing except to repalce my old walkman of portable cd by my smart phone
it is a shame how music business has turned and it is a shame for borth musiciens, producers, labels, shops, and of course us music lovers
This a good discussion. Journalist have to understand that they can either be a guiding light or they an be a gatekeeper as well. All stakeholders/participants in this music industry have to look at what role they are playing…
Many times at the local level which in my opinion is the most important things for the support to come… Even when the artist is a beginner and just starting out haven’t gotten the accolades yet.
There are literally thousands of great artists writing and recording music. The music industry is in the state it is is NOT because the artists aren’t doing their part.
EVERYTHING when it’s comes to the commerce of art EVERYTHING IS SUBJECTIVE.
Which makes it tough for some to make their mark until they find the receptive audience of supporters to help them along their journey and to reach their goals
This is food for thought.