Sure thing seem bleak, and yes, nobody actually buys music anymore, but 15 years or so into the age of piracy, I don’t really get the impression that the industry is going to collapse on itself more than it already has or that we should all get real jobs.
The point that nobody seems to want to make about the current state of the music industry is that we’re viewing the past with rose tinted glasses. Whenever we let older musicians talk about the music industry we forget a fundamental aspect behind whatever point they have to make, they were successful then given the complete revolution we’ve had, why should we expect them to be successful now? Maybe it’s just because I’m 18 an think I know everything (Hell, I know I know everything), but all the signs seem to be suggesting that things are actually getting better.
Legendary producer and musician Steve Albini recently said that the internet has solved what he called ‘the problem with music’. A lot of people seemed to think what he was saying was ridiculous, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized he was right.
See, we forget that in the past a lot of fairly big name rock bands still worked jobs when they got off tour, or otherwise lived in poor conditions. The thing is that now we’re just more aware of these problems because there’s so much more of everything. In this time more than any other in human history we have tons of touring bands and as a direct result of that we, as fans, are more likely than ever to be friends, or at least acquaintances, with someone in a touring band. Suddenly, the basic problem of poverty that musicians have faced for years becomes a lot more clear.
The fact of the matter is that nowadays, with the internet, bands have more reason to stick around. While in the 80s a band might go through a handful of incarnations before getting signed or breaking up, nowadays bands can immediately find their market or at least have the hope of finding the three or four other bands in the world who fit their niche and working with them to grow their respective fanbases. Though the concept of a ‘superstar’ may be dying, suddenly a lot of that money and interest is being expanded to independent artists (Which is part of why it’s more important than ever to have a promoter or an agent) So suddenly, being an independent artist is more viable than ever, but that still doesn’t mean it’s very viable. People in the Western world, in America especially seem to have this twisted sense of entitlement, that they as ‘artists,’ whatever that’s supposed to mean, are not supposed to work. If every person who I knew trying to get a job in the music industry got one, then this would be literally the biggest industry on earth. Sadly it is not, and most of the people who try to get jobs in this industry are, frankly, usually lazy stoners, which nowadays, given the level of work and dedication required, makes working in this industry harder than ever.
There’s a couple things you have to consider when making an argument that it’s still possible to make money off of music. First off, technically it is fairly feasible for a mid level band with around 20,000 Facebook fans to not have to get real jobs in the conventional sense. Admittedly this means they need to tour up ten months a year, but it’s still technically possible, it just won’t be easy. Bands like KEN Mode prove this, they’ve figured it out such that they only really tour 6-8 months a year most of the time, but still don’t need real jobs. But think about it this way, what other job would you expect to only have to work a couple months a year and still make a decent living? Going on tour is brutal and profits are small, that’s why if you want to make money off it you have to do it a hell of a lot. It’s like any other low paying job, but that being said, you get to play in front of a whole new crowd of fans every night, and really, who doesn’t want that? The best job in the world has to have some downsides right? Anyway, for now at least it seems like touring is the only way to make any sort of real living purely as a musician.
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