There is no winning in music.
Music is not only for everyone, it is supposed to be shared. At its base, it’s played to be shared. Ideally in its most raw state of being it creates community in the collective sense. Complexity ensued when music became a business in terms of authorship as well as ownership. The thought process was (and still is) that of the 12 notes, while we don’t own the chords, we can own the melody in the chords as well as the composition in context. This has been a blessing overall for music as it has provided a trade for musicians to earn a living. Musicians can make a living with music as the primary activity to feed their families in theory. This concept is the other side of music theory. It is theorized that, when the musician performs, there are rights to be claimed and pursued within the rules of labor as well as trade (like any other skill). While this theory makes perfect sense, it often doesn’t make sense for those that do not understand the commodity side of the business outside of musical performance. The performance side is straightforward (to an extent), but the derivatives of music are not. Like derivatives in business outside of music, they are not completely understood in whole or in part. Especially by (but not limited to) senior executives in record labels, distribution, and live venues that report to publishers. Therefore, if the top managers of music don’t understand nuance and its context, the musician is left creating a product far more valuable than they realize upon creation (much less distribution). This in turn leads to some dark outcomes that affect both sides of the business. The opportunity cost alone is far from reasonable on each side. As technology has increased, so has the dysfunction of music in terms of business. Technology has merely accelerated this process and, in many instances, made it more difficult to contain.
The solution is finding the business in music and having a clear focus on the direct-to-consumer product in contrast to the broad strokes of advertising campaigns repeating the past to represent the future. Music, in general terms, speaks to the masses the way clothes do. The key distinction is that fashion has found a way to make a consistent sale to the consumer that’s not based on anything but the season in conjunction with pop culture (which has always been led by artists of some kind).
There is an art to every business. Yet the biggest, most profitable business isn’t art. It’s finance. Finance is more artistic than art itself. There is no better way to analogize this point of view than to look at finical derivatives at their base.
A derivative security is a financial instrument whose value depends upon the value of another asset. This operates similarly to a record label and its value being contingent upon its ownership of artists’ catalogs. I deduce this to be the single biggest misstep/failure of the music business. Opportunity cost on both sides has risen as a result of negligence and lack of structure when it comes to valuing the asset of distribution as well as music authorship and ownership. The solution here is allowing musicians/artists to own their assets and increase their valuation within the structure of a distribution deal that benefits the investor (which, in music’s case, is the label). This way, the label doesn’t need to take the lion’s share when they have nothing to do with the creation of the product (music).
Neither side can win in music because it is a source that has infinite business capabilities and, equally, infinite musical capabilities. Music is not a competition for #1. The charts and metrics people have put in place trying to assess a quantitative idea of artists are factually false. Many groups have demonstrated that it’s possible to tour for decades — into their 70s and 80s — with a solid fan base and catalog of songs that have never “charted”. Yet they achieve more financial assets, stability, and longevity than artists currently hitting top 10 on the charts.
There are many varying degrees of business and music within art. “Winning” is not a metric in music or business. That’s why, from the beginning, I’ve always chosen to carry out my music business independent of label representation and will until the end. When I was younger, I entertained label relationships in several instances while working with associates of my mine to get record deals for them. For me, however, I simply knew my music would always be independent. I started creating music at nine years old. I’ve always known that, for me, holding onto that asset long-term would have tremendous value in the future. I knew it would increase tenfold because of my ability to hold a position as well as the flexibility to diversify genres in which I’m not only capable of performing but composing (a luxury rarely afforded to artists on a label with an expectation to keep re-creating the same style that got them popular in the first place). If pop culture can show children examples of myself to hold a position, think of the long-term, and think small and slow instead of fast and getting to the “top” (which in essence is counter-intuitive to music as a whole), there will be much more success and longevity in music careers and music as a business.
The label is a financial asset at most and a distribution network at least. Nothing more. Artist development and all other aspects of traditional record labels are money pits that have done nothing but convolute the structure of the financial institution they are and have always been. The concept that they care about anything but money and how much they can gain from an artist’s lack of education on their product is borderline criminal. The reason I say “borderline” is that it’s not exactly theft. You can’t say you were robbed if you give your PIN code to someone who says that they’re family, they want the best for you, and will give you anything you desire (including feeding your ego)…that is, as long as they get your PIN and personal banking info.
Responsibility must be taken on both sides. For the musician, youth, ignorance, and desperation are the trio that consistently lead artists to finical dependence in perpetuity.
