Records on the Wall Mean Kids Run it All

There is something about Sunday's that I love. Not sure what it is, but I've always liked Sundays. Sunday's are sort of a lazy day I guess, and I'm sort of a lazy guy in some ways, so I guess that's where my train of thought comes in. As I sit here looking at the walls around me, with framed records and framed 8'11" autographs on them, I look at the artists they represent and realize things are so very different now then when they were up and coming artists.

One thing that comes to mind immediately, almost in alarm, is that the MUSIC INDUSTRY IS NOT IN TROUBLE. The RECORD INDUSTRY is. There is a misconception brought on by the media covering the major record labels that the music industry is in a state of emergency, this could not be further from the truth. Labels are having a hard time selling records, nothing else. The music industry consists of touring, merchandise, records, television, publishing, producing, and so many other things. If one piece of the pie is gone, it doesn't mean the pie is no longer edible.

A long long time ago, when a record came out, if I bought the record it was mine. If I lent to someone to listen to, I no longer had that record. That was the beauty of the record industry. In order to get the music, you HAD to buy it. Now a days, if I give someone an mp3 to listen to, I still have it and so do they. This is the problem the record industry is facing right now. The thing is, it's not going to be the dinosaurs at the major labels to come up with a new business plan on how to do things, it's going to be a young mind, maybe a band, maybe not, that comes up with the plan that revolutionizes the way we do business in the industry.

Bands and artists these days do things like sell ad space on their trailers to fund tour marketing, play elks lodges and vet halls so kids can get in cheap, and they sell a ton of CD's that way. Bands let fans pick the set list for the show, allow fans to design their own merchandise to buy, and do as much as paint their entire van/converted school bus to be one huge rolling advertisement for their band...and then EMI lays off employees to cut expenses down.

It's so sad, and this may be stretching it a bit, but it's so sad that you might have better luck putting a 17-year old lead guitar player who handles the business in his screamo band as the CEO of Sony/BMG, EMI, Universal, or Warner Bros, and get better results than your getting at the present time.

Be innovative. Cut the shit.