I mention the things that I do because most people don’t realize the extraordinary amount of effort that goes into album and touring productions for for artists, causing some ill-informed vendetta against record labels and their trade association. If 100,000 people refuse to buy an artists album because of X reason that they read off the internet and instead download the mp3, it hurts venue selection, royalty-generating outlets, ability to get major media interviews, etc.

I can’t say what the solution is, but I think we first have to get both the “Stop Stealing!” RIAA and the “Screw you, it’s just data!” consumer off their respective high-horses if we really want to support the artist. I think both groups are equally out of touch.

Having used about every method of acquiring music that exists, I would rather rip than search/download and still spend hours at Waterloo and Encore in Austin (local promo!) browsing around. I think it’s far more fun and social, but maybe I’m just a bit dated. :)

Some self-motivated artists have long managed their own business. Nothing about that is unique to the digital age. Likewise, you may find someone else to perform these services for you, whether you contract out or go to a label, small or large.

But from tiny labels to massive labels, the RIAA has been the most visible front for the whole industry. And I think it’s done a phenomenally bad job talking about what that industry is about. They have these resources to try to tell exactly the story commenters here are describing. Artists have an obligation to educate themselves. But if even artists have misconceptions about the record industry, you have to place some of that blame on the highly-paid individuals running their PR – or on the legal departments that have been stealing all the headlines.

most artists don’t record, mix, master, graphic design, make merch, market, organize tours, handle accounting, run lights, run sound, paste flyers, design websites, etc.

But of course, artists today face a choice between doing all or nearly all of those things, and turning a profit doing them, or finding another line of work in order to make enough money to live.

We (my musical partner and I) maintain a decent recording studio, own all of our own backline, are designing and will maintain our own website, are learning all about DMX so that we can program lighting displays, have designed promotional materials of all kinds, hire and work with video designers and live videoists. We get involved in the booking of most of our live shows. Our record label helps a great deal, pays for some production costs and makes their studios available to us, and in general contributes a lot (otherwise we would not stay with them), but they are miserably unprofitable and understaffed and not well-heeled enough for us to depend on for many or even most of what needs to be done.

There is nothing more childish in all of this debate than the ficticious opposition between artists and record labels. I suspect that this fantasy originates from people who do not have and probably could not get a recording contract. Musicians who have shopped around for such contracts and who have obtained them will have learned that record labels today are frail entities that go bankrupt in a heartbeat. They are nothing like the big-corporation cartoons that are painted about them on the internet. The first record label I was signed to was at one time a reputable and prosperous independent label, that produced quite a few successful artists. It folded, like a lot of lesser labels, and although our current label is doing fine for the moment, I worry constantly that it too will fold. If and when it does, we will have even more work to do and even more weight to carry.

In all of what I’ve written above, what is missing? Only the music.

-wlh

The “failed business model” statement is, more often than not, followed by: “I get more exposure by downloading therefore I buy more music.” The problem with that is is usually doesn’t happen in reality and then the statement becomes “Oh I don’t support labels because they don’t support the artists enough,” when what they _really_ mean is “I already have it in the format I like, so why would I buy it just to make more work for myself?” In a perfect world, people would listen on myspace, imeem, last.fm, etc…and then run to the store to buy what they enjoyed. To those who don’t remember, this is the same thing we used to do at CD stores with listening stations, so music exploration of indie artists is hardly a revolution….only now you sit on your butt while exploring and the artist doesn’t have to press a CD to be heard, which IS the revolution.

Just remember, folks…most artists don’t record, mix, master, graphic design, make merch, market, organize tours, handle accounting, run lights, run sound, paste flyers, design websites, etc. Artists make music and whether or not you agree with the costs required to do all of the above things that artists need to make a living, they still exist. The RIAA members, misguided as they are, funnel a WHOLE lot of money toward artists, which is more than I can say about many so-called fans.

-wlh