“First Post: Ketchup!” or “Music Trends You Want To Think About”

I’ve been out of the blogging game for a while. To start things off, I want to write a little something about some “new” trends in the music biz. I’ll show you two “good” things, two “supposed to be, but not really good” ones, and two “just-plain-bad” ideas:

The “Good”:

1. Bandfind — A Social Network

Touted as “the world’s first fully integrated social network designed specifically for musicians, bands, and the professional music industry,” Bandfind allows artists, managers, and label reps to find each other — without the clutter of fans (call me old-fashioned, but I think certain business should be conducted behind closed doors, and finding a skilled new guitarist in your area is one of them). Bandfind is doing for music what sites like RentACoder and Share Your Look have done for software and modeling, respectively. Thanks to Mashable for the tip!

2. Ninjam — An Online Jam Session

I found out about this one a while ago, but haven’t blogged about it because I never had a blog to write on! Ninjam is a tool that allows you to create a virtual jam session with your bandmates. While some people may regard this as worthless — what good is a band if they can’t play live shows together in their home city? — to see the true benefit of platforms like this requires some forward-thinking: if this gets adopted, I could easily find a Chinese pipa player and an African drummer to help develop a piece. It’s not ready for recording just yet, though… Thanks to Wired for the tip this spring!

The “Supposed To Be, But Not Really, Good”:

1. The “Radiohead” and “Nine Inch Nails” approaches to sales

You’ll probably disagree on this one, but hear me out: this is temporary. Everywhere I go, I hear about how Yorke and Reznor are “changing the music business.” The truth is, they’re not. My dad blogged about this a while ago with a snappy point about the Little Rascals doing it first; I just need to add that PWYC (Pay What You Can) shows have been around for ages, showing that asking users to pay a subjective, “deserving” amount is a viable model for the music biz. Sure, these may have been the first “major” albums to think outside the music industry’s box, but they’re still using cardboard and packing tape.

2. “The Latest Album From…”

I don’t just think that this sentence should never be used in any music marketing campaign, ever, but I think that most of the time, the anticipation that people seem to get about the “latest” material is unwarranted. I have a theory as to why follow-up/”we’re back after 5 years of hiatus” albums tend to disappoint, 49 times out of 50, and I’m going to expand on it in a later post. To keep it short and simple for now, let’s just say that there are creativity-related reasons as to why a follow-up album should usually stay off your wish-list. The argument will be posted early next week, at the latest.

The “Just Plain Bad”:

1. Major labels’ obsession with “breaking” iTunes

Reported in more places than you can shake your mouse at (two examples), the “Big Four” are all searching for ways to break iTunes’ monopoly on digital sales. Why they don’t actively seek an alternative situation where their life expectancy is greater than five years is beyond me. Thanks, Bert, for the initial tip that this issue is still going (oddly enough).

2. Major labels sticking around

Again, this is one of those things I don’t feel the need to source, because it’s quite obvious that EMI/Warner/Universal/Sony BMG are still very obviously alive, and most definitely still kicking, screaming, and generally throwing a temper tantrum. Again, a nod goes out to Bert for pointing out that “record labels, especially majors, have little-to-zero brand equity” (perhaps the point has been made before, but he put into words what I, and I’m sure many of us, are thinking). In an increasingly conversational marketplace where the “big brands” have lost both their referent and expert influence on consumers (due to the diversification of consumers’ tastes, another topic which I plan on covering in depth in the coming week), I would think that it only makes sense to ditch the “mass marketed” look of the parent label, and instead put some focus back onto the micro-labels that they all hold (for a fairly comprehensive list of these and other RIAA members, see here). The only way I can actually see these labels surviving is by regaining some brand equity and actually making labels matter to the consumer… Something the “big boys” will not be able to handle, and a fair number of the “indies” have been handling quite skilfully

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Expect more from me at least thrice weekly, if not every weekday. This week doesn’t count, though, because it’s technically already Saturday…