We dont want you to start thinking we worship Stebe Albini, no no. But browsing a few of the clips of him on You Tube we found this one, and we thought it was well worth posting. In it, he advises artists and bands to handle and manage as much to do with their band as possible, as this leaves you in control to make the decisions which will have a large effect on how you develop your music. The “system”, by which he means the industry built up around providing services to bands (booking agents, tour managers, publicity people) is designed largely to support itself. A provocative clip, to be sure, and a somewhat prophetic one. 5 years ago maintaining control over your music through “DIY” management would be a harder feat that it is today. With all the new services popping daily to help artists and bands with not only managing their band (Bandize), but marketing it (social networking sites, music sharing platforms, reverbnation) and distributing their music, the tools and support for artists who which to “go it alone” have never been more available.

The term “unsigned” has historically been used by the music business as an almost derogatory remark to denote artists and bands who haven’t yet signed to a label, be the label independent or major. Almost as if to say that the band isn’t “good enough” to be offered a record deal or that since they haven’t signed a deal, they have not yet reached “success”. There are a number of things wrong with this.

Firstly, there are many great bands and artists without record deals playing superb music on local scenes and circuits around the world. Playing smaller and more intimate gigs, they are the lifeblood of local scenes and perform a important cultural role. Moreover, the internet has served to make a lot more music open to discover by a lot more people, and we realise there is a wealth of talent out there untapped by record labels. Being signed to a label is by no means a necessary measure of an artist’s talent or their capacity to create great music.

Secondly, there are a number significant benefits to the independence associated with being unsigned, and it is possible to enjoy a successful career in music without signing to a Record Label.

(more…)

A little while back we wrote an article about the so called “music like water” debate. The idea behind “music like water” is that instead of paying a per unit price to purchase music, listeners instead pay a fixed price to stream music from an existing library. For some, this set up signals the future of the music consumption. For some, the reinstatement or a centralised distribution/consumption oligopoly.  However, these fears should be allayed, for there are some great streaming services now on the market, such as Spotify, Last FM , Deezer, Lala, Napster which are determined to keep their library open and diverse.

From a listener perspective, streaming services have some distinct up-sides. Subscription based services generally allow streaming of unlimited amounts of music until the subscription expires – this makes the music they listen to “feel free” even though the artists are earning money from their music. Advertising based services work in the same way, though you might have to put up with advertising in between songs or some banners here and there. This “feeling free” aspect is quite in tune with how many listeners would prefer to engage with music, and may well dissuade them from not paying for their music – which is great for artists. Though pay out structures vary between services, artists usually receive money based on the percentage of times their music has been played relative to total plays.

Streaming services provide a viable option to those who would like to listen to music for a fixed cost or don’t mind advertising. Streaming services which are similar to radio in that they decide what track comes next (e.g. Last FM) lend themselves well to music discovery, whereas click-to-play services (e.g. Spotify), allow people to chose exactly which track they want to play. All in all, providing the mechanism is in place to make sure artists receive their share from the revenues, and that streaming libraries remain open and accessible, streaming services provide a good balance to the per-unit structure many of us are accustomed to.

There has been talk recently about whether the internet is making the “hit” irrelevant. The manufacturing of the “hit” is associated with the times where major Record Labels had an impressive control over consumer behaviour. It was that elusive formula which guaranteed blockbusters, that formula which enabled their marketing departments to create and predict demand for music to an almost scientific certainty.

However, now the ideology of the hit seems to have lost it power. As the story goes, by the year 2000, a new autonomous realm largely outside the record industries control was beginning to take a toll on the hits effectiveness. This new realm was not based around the “cult of the mainstream”, could not be cracked by mass marketing strategies; this new realm was the internet. The internet is the “hits” worst nightmare. The internet has produced far more choice in what music is available. Consumers became less susceptive to the neatly packaged mass marketed mega bands, now able to exercise more freedom in what music they put on their play list. WIthin the internet developed a whole new culture, one of file sharing, ipods, bloggers, myspace, home recording, user recommendations, net hypes, podcasts…No longer satisfied with the limited music available through the tradition channels, music taste, and the identifying process involved, has become far more diversified. What was once the cult of the mainstream has now fragmented to a dazzling array of subgenres each with their own “micro-hits”. These days, the “top 40” has become irrelevant to the new generation of internet savy music fans, who actively engage with music in diverse ways; the cult of the mainstream has become the cult of the “niche”.

So does this signal the end of the “hit”? Yes, well, kind of…its hard to say. The internet music community is growing steadily, as is the digital download market, which is growing exponentially. For many, the authority of the traditional “hit” seems superfluous compared to the massive amount of choice the internet offers listeners. The “hit” will remain in some sense, but it seems likely that the mechanics helping to produce it will have changed to become more in line with the online environment.

Part of the vision of the brave new music industry is a belief in the power of social networks and communities to spread the word and hype new music, as opposed to the traditional channels favoured by the music industry of old (such as radio and TV). These new channels are far more open and inclusive mediums, available to all artists who put the relevant time into networking with similar minded users, and generally don´t cost a penny. An interesting contrast is that whereas the traditional channels rely on key opinion formers at the top spreading the word and guiding opinion, online channels are often driven from the bottom up by the collective wisdom of people who are part of them. Commercial Radio may pride itself on keeping its ear to the ground and feeling the pulse of the present musical zeitgeist, but this doesn’t really compare to the dynamic opinion forming of dedicated music fans on social networks. Besides, on many radio stations one actually has to pay to get airplay – this is not the case on the internet, even with influential music bloggers and podcasts.

The internet is designed for exploring, and there are many great environments for exploring new music which are available to all artists, not just those with a large marketing budget and a major label behind them. Services like Last.Fm, iLike, MySpace, Imeem, Twitter, You Tube (and many more) provide an invaluable resource to all artists serious about developing a solid fan base, both local and global. Beyond this, there are also a huge number of networks and services driven by music lovers on a local level, organising and promoting concerts and blogging to the world about their local music scene for the sheer joy of it. What is also exciting is that the new generation of listeners will be completely adept at navigating this new autonomous user generated environment, so it looks like the potential of the online music environment is just coming to fruition. The same is new for the new generation of musicians.

We are excited to announce that one of the Sweden´s foremost media news sites has written about Record Union!  Dagens Media (translated Todays Media) is well respected for providing the low down on innovative new internet media enterprises and marketing ideas. For you who speak Swedish, you can view the article here. We are very pleased for the exposure, and hope this will prompt others to write about our service, which will be up and running shortly!

Interestingly, the article draws a parallel between Record Union´s goal to democratize the distribution music, and Spotify, a streaming service which is democratizing the consumption of music. Spotify allows unlimited streaming of music from a vast and ever expanding library, all for a fixed and very affordable monthly cost which guarantees every artist a cut. Record Union and Spotify are going to work with each other in the future to make sure lots of indie and niche music has the chance to make its way into the Spotify library.