The financial decline of the music industry and two possible consequences

[edwardc77]

First Consequence:
The end of big budget productions.
It will be very difficult to hear in the future complex albums that require months of studio sessions and lots of money to fund. Albums like Sgt pepper’s lonely hearts Club band, The Dark side of the moon, Loveless and The Fragile to name but a few.
If I remember correctly the total cost in 1967 for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club band was around 50 thousand pounds (the equivalent of 750 thousand dollars today) for 5 months of studio time.
This would not be possible today, not for a rock band at least.
Nobody would risk so much money for one album.
….and it’s a pity, because I believe we will probably miss out on a lot of potentially good records.
The other consequence will be that artists will not be given a second chance.
The Fugees first album (Blunted on reality) and The Beastie Boys second record (Paul’s Boutique) were both commercial failures when they came out. Nevertheless they still received another chance. They both received 100 thousand dollars and plenty of time to work on another project…. and the result was great albums!
It probably would have never happened today, we would simply not have had albums like The Score or Check your head.
So guys, what do you think, are my preoccupations real? And do they really matter?

[Scarlett O'Hara]

Dude you need to change that font it's hurting my eyes.

[Zer0]

Some of my favourite albums were recorded on tiny budgets compared to some of the albums he's mentioned. I don't care if record sales and financial returns decline as long as quality music is still being made whether it's recorded in a big-budget studio or on a cheap laptop.

[Trollheart]

Big record companies have had it their own way for too long. Artistes like Marillion, Radiohead and Joseph Arthur have shown that a new financial model can work, that you don't have to pay massive sums to labels to get your records produced. And the idea that a big concept album will be more expensive to produce seems to me to be ill-founded. Why should it? Jeff Wayne in 1978 made certain sound effects on his classic "War of the worlds" album the old-school way; didn't cost a fortune.

If you want me to cry into my beer because the poor Record Executives will be buying smaller personal jets or holidaying closer to home because their bubble has finally been burst, and their chickens come home to roost, you'll have a long wait.

[Screen13]

I'm not certainly crying. There's a lot of great music being made, but I understand where you're getting at. It's great to see the excellent music make it out in the public, but it's not going to be that way much now. I'm happy about that in a good way - at least the real listeners will get it.

I'm tired of seeing great musicians get wither forced to make a Corporate album or get treated like crap from the industry for not going along with the game. True, there were a few good big budget albums through the years, but most of them were pure product. I don't really want to see a return to the days seeing a good band forced to play the mega-bucks game and winding up owing a ton of money in the end with the label possibly blaming the musicians as they go on their next star search for their next Bieber Boy.

If the majors would have not spent so much on mega-priced and over-produced videos back when they were an ongoing thing, there possibly might have not been a major financial decline. That and all of the over-hype and promotion they did for their mega-stars and those they felt deserved that hype. They built their Rome, and it fell, and now they have to make sure that it stays afloat.

This is from a US perspective, but I'm sure that it actually effects a number of other markets.

A lot of the major business is possibly ran more by bean-counters than anyone really interested in music. They possibly threw out the concept of the "Company Freak" that let in the interesting sounds. No room for alternatives, just the hits and the Idols.

Up until The Late 90's, there used to be a feeling of something of a "three-album wait" going on until the label decides to drop them. Today, everything has to be a mega-hit or it's gone. The concept of the "Regional Hit" was long gone when MTV was at it's height. Soundscan possibly has it's crap that would possibly never be corrected as long as it's in the major company's favor - The higher ups love to look at the numbers, after all.

My opinion of today's music industry it this: throw out all of the originals, rip off and neuter whatever is hip and new (This goes for the tech as well), and see to it that everything is all a tight fit with what the higher ups want, and leave out anything seriously subversive and interesting. If it's a band, make sure that they will not cause a serious stink - maybe a little trendy eye opener now and then, but certainly nothing left of center.

It all goes down to the connections, who's in charge, and the hype available to make things work...if they are interested and know that they could get you to work for them.

Music is now more of an Independent thing. It's possibly not going to go into the mega-million world again with the occasional exception, but I'm sure that there will be a lot of great albums around. Sadly, many of them will possibly not be a part of the Pop Culture. I'm from The Late 70's-Mid 80's, and I saw the signs even then in the Post-Disco/Early MTV era. (I'm a Music Fan from way back when.)

A bit of trivia for you...

The saddest thing about the Beastie Boys album (apart from the troubles with all of the samples crammed into the album. The album's great and the samples were well-placed, of course, but you know what I mean) was that 1) The President of Capitol when they signed up got fired shortly after the album's release and 2) The new President of the label wanted to push Donny Osmond's return. Reading I Want My MTV, the updated edition (P. 424, Adam's own words) seriously fills in a lot of gaps of that time when it comes to the facts. The lucky thing was that it was respected enough that another chance was given, after Mr. Osmond went into the cut outs for a second time in his career. Another lucky thing was that it was at that time more second chances were given.

If the Early 90's had 2013 standards, I don't think that The Beasties would have been given a push with their second chance with Capitol unless if someone in the media likes them (you know how the companies hold back records they feel is not in their priority), although Donny O. would have had a couple of more chances - talented as he is, you know where his entertainment stands.

(Trivia Fact: The Donny Osmond video to "Soldier of Love" was Directed by Michael Bay. No opinions, just the fact.)

[edwardc77]

Originally Posted by Vanilla

Dude you need to change that font it's hurting my eyes.

Yes you are right regarding the font,I'm trying to change it!

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by edwardc77

Yes you are right regarding the font,I'm trying to change it!

Let me know if you need a hand.

[edwardc77]

I think I managed to change it ,thanks!

[edwardc77]

Originally Posted by Zer0

Some of my favourite albums were recorded on tiny budgets compared to some of the albums he's mentioned. I don't care if record sales and financial returns decline as long as quality music is still being made whether it's recorded in a big-budget studio or on a cheap laptop.

A lot of the records that I love (like all the punk stuff) we're done dirt cheap too.
However even though I'm not a sound engineer , I still think that to achieve a certain sound,or certain sounds you still might need time and money to work things out.
In a way it's a little bit like film making,you can make a great indie film for no money,but if you want something like "Full Metal Jacket" or "The Godfather Part 2" you need big bucks.

[Screen13]

I had no problem, but...

Anyways, here's a more informative view of what the industry was all about back in the 90's. Steve Albini has produced a number of albums that did very well, but he knew what was happening from the front lines as well.

Check this out. I don't think you would want a return to big budget albums again, seriously. This was back when "Alternative" was a big word in the industry.

The Problem With Music :Negativworldwidewebland