A few years ago, I worked with a program director named Buzz Knight. Buzz and I never really saw eye to eye on much, but I was always impressed with the results his team managed to generate. He was quite fond of catchphrases, and most of ’em bordered on silly, but one stuck with me: be brilliant at the basics. This message has been dispensed in various forms, but lately it’s reminding me of the guiding force behind our economy and specifically the music industry.
A long time ago, in ye olden daze, We had major labels which drove music to the masses primarily via radio. These labels were marketing and promotion machines with more access to things than the KGB. But the labels also acted as gatekeepers, and they released a far smaller amount of music than we have floating around the radio, retail, and online spaces today. That limited supply led to an increased demand. See where this is going yet?
When you only have a limited amount of spaces open, it forces the occupants to be better, stronger, faster, and good-er than the rest. With the advent of technology, anyone can release an album. But that doesn’t mean they should!
The major label system of the past grew greedy, screwed over a lot of people, and yes, made artistic sacrifices in the name of profit. That being said, have we released a Pet Sounds lately? How ’bout another Electric Ladyland? I’d like to see another Nevermind, but I’m not so sure it’s going to happen.
As more and more people fail to perceive value in music, and insist that it be free, the entire concept of supply and demand falls by the wayside. As an industry, we stopped being brilliant at the basics, and continued to find new ways to do less and make more. Instead of saying that music shouldn’t be free, that the effort of the songwriter and musicians should be directly rewarded -and- appreciated, folks jumped on the easiest bandwagon possible: just give it away.
Again, I don’t applaud the major label system for much, but in its heyday it was able to foster and support great talent to even greater success. It did this with large amounts of money obtained primarily from music sales. What the BitTorrent crowd refuses to understand is that the music business is still a business – and goodwill doesn’t pay the rent. Now that the supply is massive, the demand (and by default the quality) is lower.
We stopped being brilliant at the basics, and look what happened…
You’ve had this thing for something like a year an you’re only now “shamelessly promoting” it? I wish I’d known–I could have been making snarky remarks for MONTHS.
A link to this will go on DesignerBlog before the end of the day.