By "Big Box Retail" (BBR), we're really only referring to 2 companies: Walmart and Best Buy. Yes, that's what the music industry has come to in 2010: Down to just 2 major companies, neither of which specialize in music (nor much care, as CDs are a low-margin item anyway), selling the CDs that used to make record companies, and some artists, very rich.....
Decades ago, Big Box Retail sold music as an afterthought, a loss-leader to get customers in the door and steer them towards bigger ticket items like stereo systems, TV's, or a washer and dryer. By leveraging those big-ticket items, they discounted the CD to bare-bones pricing. This strategy, combined with the overall decline in CD sales, helped to drive big-chain record stores like Virgin, Tower, and Warehouse music out of business in just a few short years. Now, with no CD stores left to compete against except themselves, BBR are still using CDs as a loss leader, AND they've begun shrinking the shelf space that was once reserved for music. The simple formula of Major Record Label to Retail Record Store has all but collapsed.
This new reality has not escaped many veteran artists now compelled to bypass record labels completely and sell directly to Big Box. Artists like AC/DC, The Police, and others have offered their CDs exclusively to Walmart and Best Buy, respectively. And why not? With the state of the physical CD retail business, there is only one other possibility (okay, two if you count Target) outside of the "exclusive" retailer anyway. These artists have opted to skip the label, skip the record distributor, and simply ship CDs direct to one Big Box Retailer hub. Yet another nail in the major record label coffin...
So what's it mean for music? Unfortunately for indie and emerging artists, this new landscape in retail does not add up to a favorable situation. Most indies don't have the pull to approach BBR directly. And, with fewer outlets to sell a CD, and less labels and distributors to approach, selling a physical CD at a retail store has become that much more difficult. Despite all this, physical CDs still make up the 60% of music sold in the U.S., and although this percentage is falling every year, there are still a good number of consumers who will always prefer walking in a store to buy the CD. So does this mean in a couple more years you won't be able to get the CD anywhere? Nah, don't worry, guess which online retailer will fill this void? It’s www.thegoodzonline.com who will compete with the likes of Itunes.com and Amazon.com, whose tied with Walmart for overall sales (CD + digital) and right on the heels of Best Buy for CDs in the first half of 2010.
If you want to become successful in the music industry, there are many
things you need to know and do, but even if you get all that right,
you can prevent yourself from reaching big success by making
critical mistakes along the way (and there are many potential
mistakes one could make, when not being careful).
After coaching and mentoring many musicians and bands seeking a
career in music, the same patterns of false assumptions, problems
and mistakes appear over and over again. Here are my top 10! I hope
they help you too, by giving you insight on what to and not to do.
Mistake #10 - Not having a compelling image that is congruent with
your music. Most musicians (and bands) severely underestimate the
importance of their image. Yes, music is about 'music', but music
business success is about a total package that includes music,
image and visual stage show among other things that need to be
fully developed in a congruent way.
From basic to elaborate, we have highly skilled PHOTOGRAPHERS at all levels! Tell us what you DESIRE & your budget & PRO MUSIC RECORDS maximizes your look
to fit your targeted Audience!
Mistake #9 - Trying to 'get your name out there'. Although this
seems to be a main goal of most musicians and bands, it is the
wrong approach to start with. Before trying to be seen and heard as
much as possible, it is often more important to focus on
'converting' the people who hear and see you into becoming actual
fans. This 'conversion' is the first key to your promotional
success, NOT getting seen or heard as much as possible.
Mistake #8 - Believing that social media websites are the keys to
online music promotion for musicians and bands. Social media
websites are a tool. They are ONE piece of the online music
marketing puzzle. Music industry companies (record labels, artist
managers, booking agents, etc.) are far more interested in the
popularity of YOUR website, not how many friends you have at
MySpace, YouTube, Facebook or any other website that you do not own
and control. Want to impress the industry with your band's
promotion? Build a website and then build your website traffic.
Mistake #7 - Not investing enough time into building your music
career. Most musicians spend most of their time on music, but put
very little effort into the many other critical elements needed to
make it in the music business. If you are already a talented
musician, you should invest at least 50% of your time into starting
or advancing your music career. If you are still developing your
musical skills, you should still invest around 25% of your 'music'
time into building a future music career.
Mistake #6 - Surrounding yourself with people who are negative,
lazy and lack ambition. If you are very serious about becoming a
professional musician and building a great career in music, then
you absolutely must surround yourself with like-minded musicians.
(This one alone is just sooooo important that I cannot stress it enough!)
Mistake #5 - Having merely mediocre live performing skills. Many
musicians, who are not yet in a good band, put off developing their
live performing and stage presence skills. This is a big reason why
talented musicians don't get into really good bands that they
audition for. Your music may be good, but a live 'show' requires
more than great music. If people only wanted to hear the music,
they would listen to you at home. Both fans and record labels want
(and expect) to see a REAL show. Neglecting this area results in
talented musicians and bands becoming quickly forgotten.
Mistake #4 - Focusing on increasing the 'quantity' of fans instead
of the 'intensity' of your fans. The 'number' of fans you have
should always be your secondary focus (not your primary one) if you
want to become successful in the music industry. The fact is, it is
not the number of 'fans' that matters most, it's the number of
FANATICS which will contribute more directly to your success (or
lack of it). This is particularly true in the beginning of a band's
music career. Focus more effort on converting your existing fans
into raving fanatics. Learn to do this and the number of your
overall fans will increase through powerful word of mouth.
Mistake #3 - Not enough cash flow to support your music career.
Like it or not, it takes money to build a music career. Even if
other people/companies are paying for your record, tour support,
merchandise, etc. you still need to have the freedom to pursue
opportunities as they come. Sadly, many musicians miss
opportunities because they can't afford to take advantage of
them. In addition to a decent income, you also need the flexibility
of being able to take time away from that income source to go into
the studio, go on tour, etc. That is why learning how to teach
guitar is such a great way to achieve both if you learn how to
become a highly successful guitar teacher.
Mistake #2 - Not enough depth in your music relationships. There's
an old expression, "It's not what you know, it's who you know." In
music this is often modified to, "It's not who you know, it's who
knows you." The truth is, it's not about either. The most important
aspect of connections within the music industry is how deep are the
current relationships you have now and will develop in the future.
You don't want to simply know people or be known, you want people
who know you to have a real deep connection with you so that you
are always on the top of their mind when opportunities present
themselves. Ask yourself, "What can I do right now to deepen my
existing relationships further on an ongoing basis?"
Mistake #1 - Having a fundamental misunderstanding about what
record companies look for - and expect from new bands. This is a
huge topic, but in a nutshell it's very useful to think of record
companies like a bank that lends money to people or small
businesses. Record companies make most of their decisions about
whom they will work with and what the terms will be in much the
same way that a bank will determine who they will loan money to and
what the terms of the loan will be. Both record companies and banks
basically want to see 3 things:
1. How much value do you bring to the deal right now.
2. How much risk do you bring with you right now.
3. How much potential value and risk might you bring to them in the
future after they invest in you.
If you want to buy a house, the bank wants to know a lot about the
specific house you want to buy and EVEN MORE about YOU. Record
companies are the exact same, they want to know about your music,
your talent and your band, but they also care as much (or more)
about YOU (and your band mates) as people. What about YOU makes a
record deal a good or bad investment for them.
To learn more about avoiding these big mistakes and building a successful
music career, take a look at our website www.promusicrecords.com Pro Music Records primary purpose is to help independent artist and small to mid-sized labels increase their revenues and profits through the development of our easy-to-use, yet extremely powerful marketing software systems and processes that deliver effective, comprehensive online marketing solutions.
Much Love & As Always.... Grind and Don't Stop, You Can Have Anything
in This World That You Want.. As Long As You Are Willing to Work Hard,
Kick-Ass And Stay Focused! Go Get It, The World is Yours For the Taking!
1) The music industry has changed because of the internet. The days of music artists requiring record labels, magazines, radio stations, or MTV to become well-known are fading.
2) There are new models evolving and musicians are finding new ways to make a living, whether through fan-financed projects, donors, merchandise sales, sponsorships, or other innovative approaches. While this is empowering for musicians, it's also overwhelming for them and music fans who want to discover new music.
3) With all these digital changes, the distribution power is shifting from record labels and record stores to online channels like http://www.apple.com/itunes , http://www.amazon.com , http://www.myspace.com , etc. But these are big, corporate entities, too. How much can really be different about who decides who should get attention? Does this defeat the purpose of having a new distribution channel in the internet? What does it mean for independent artists now and in the future and how we, as music fans, will discover new music?
4) As mainstream media outlets struggle with incoming advertising revenue, independent media outlets have sprung up, like music recommendation engines, podcasts, mp3 blogs, bloggers, iphone apps, email alerts, etc.
5) In general, most venture capital firms are interested in funding music-related projects that will increase in value so they can sell them and make a profit. There are numerous companies working without the support of venture capitalism such as http://www.reverbnation.com, http://www.rhapsody.com, and http://www.nimbit.com just to name a few. (As Brad Powell of Calabash Music and Microfundo recently said to me, if these three well-entrenched guys can't get venture capital support, how will we? While discovery methods like http://www.pandora.com and http://www.last.fm have funding or corporate support, there are far more ventures that operate below the requirements of venture capital firms because they don't yet have a large user base.
6) There is a growing gap between how musicians used to make a living (either wildly successful or just middle class) and how they are now relying on to make money, through live appearances, merch, licensing, mp3, etc., but ultimately we, as music fans, need to discover them before we can ever spend money with them and keep them going.
7) Instead of a few online corporations becoming the new record labels, wouldn't the future be better for musicians and music fans if a wide variety of tools and technologies were available?
THE SOLUTION
1) Given the nature of the internet and technology, there are, and will continue to be, hundreds of new tools and technologies for music lovers to discover new music, but these sites and technologies need time to grow their audiences until they can be sustained by advertising, subscriptions, sponsorships, grants, merchandise sales, or whatever ways they can monetize their ideas, just as Pandora has done.
2) Like the start of an entirely new business economy, these developing channels need an initial source of funding that can help bloggers, podcasters, and developers of new technologies turn their part-time passions into full-time jobs. This will be a positive step toward altering the music "business" for independent musicians by sending music fans directly to the musicians themselves where they can sell music or merchandise. This is the business model thatwww.promusicrecords.com has built. With changes like this, there is a chance there can be middle-class musicians, instead of just the mega-rich and "starving artists."
3) Instead of leaving it all to chance and having great ideas die on the vine, we, as music lovers, need the help of a handful of “guardian angel” musicians who were successful thanks to the old model and whose generous and philanthropic financial support will help new music start-ups develop new platforms, new models, and new technologies for the benefit of generations of music lovers to discover great music for the next 50 years....Please add your own suggestions of musicians or companies that would be generous of such a cause:
