While this might come across as something, I’d carve into an oak tree during the last week of summer camp, it’s really more of a professional statement. In a recent Digital Music News post, I read the following:
“80 percent of all records released are just noise — hobbyists,” Silverman told Wired. “Some companies like Tunecore are betting on the Long Tail because they get the same $10 whether you sell one copy or 10,000.”
And the swiping continued. “Who uses Photobucket and Flickr? Not professional photographers –those are hobbyists, and those are the people who are using Tunecore and iTunes to clutter the music environment with crap, so that the artists who really are pretty good have more trouble breaking through than they ever did before.”
Tommy Boy is totally right. And while I admire the optimistic/entrepreneurial spirit inside every musician, you’ve got to admit he’s got a point. The surplus of shit in the music industry cockblocks the better music from getting to your ears. And that hurts everybody.
Companies that make tangential promises of success (I won’t name names, ‘cuz Tommy does it for me) are more than willing to take your money and offer you the same odds you’d get at the roulette table. Maybe worse. But being the refreshingly straight-shooter that he is, Tommy goes on to say that if you’re not gonna sell 10,000 units, you’re nothing more than a hobbyist who nobody is going to take seriously. Again, I gotta stand up and applaud this guy. If you can’t make that much of a dent in the industry, then you’ve got to wonder how viable a career path this is.
In any other field, this would be completely obvious. Would you see a doctor whose main job is being an auto mechanic? Â How about going to a restaurant that only plans to have a couple people like the food? Neither the doctor or head chef would be in business very long — but yet we seem to think that musicians can have this long tail longevity because the barrier to entry is that much lower.
As an industry, or at least as individual artists, perhaps it’s time we raise our collective standards a bit higher. I’ll be checking out Tom Silverman’s “New Music Seminar” next week in New York City. It’s a great opportunity to talk with the folks who have raised their standard, are working hard to succeed, and aren’t slowing down everybody with their own mediocrity.
Think your stuff is good enough? See you next week in NYC …
